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Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Streak Stretches to Six; Henrik Out of Sochi

February 7, 2014, 2:46 PM ET [338 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thursday February 6: Montreal Canadiens 5 - Vancouver Canucks 2

What's that you say? The Vancouver Canucks are still playing hockey? Funny—the standings haven't changed for goin' on two weeks now.

If you're feeling as checked-out as the Canucks' players seem to be, here are your highlights from Thursday night's strange loss in Montreal:



Vancouver had some bounce in its step as it outshot Montreal 44-29, including a rare outburst of 17 shots in the third period. And the Canucks scored two power play goals on six chances, which moved them all the way up to a lofty 26th in the NHL standings. I have to admit, I missed the second goal as I stepped away to take out the garbage, but what were the chances?

In the end, this game will be remembered for Vancouver playing the role of the Washington Generals to Max Pacioretty's Harlem Globetrotters. The 25-year-old U.S. Olympian posted his third career hat trick with a power-play goal, an even-strength marker and an empty-netter. He didn't even need the two penalty shots that he was awarded over the space of two minutes in the second period.

NHL.com gave Pacioretty a highlight video all his own:



On that first power play goal, could Jason Garrison and Ryan Stanton have been any more passive as Brendan Gallagher provided the screen in front of Roberto Luongo? I know we're shorthanded on the blue line, but there's no effort at all being made to clear players from the goal area. When someone as diminutive as the 5'9" Brendan Gallagher has no qualms about getting in deep enough to take a goalie interference penalty, which he did in the third period, it's no wonder that Luongo's starting to get floppy again.

It's no way for him to be preparing for the Olympics. I'm curious to see how he'll perform with a proper blue line in front of him in Sochi.

The Canucks have one more game to get through before the Olympic break finally kicks in. No one will be watching in Toronto on Saturday, will they? And the Leafs aren't going to still be out for vengeance after the drubbing Vancouver laid on them back in November?

Here's hoping nobody else gets hurt.

Trades? Crickets

As the clock ticks down to the Olympic trade freeze, we have silence all around the league. Chicago made a minor deal last night, acquiring Peter Regin and Pierre-Marc Bouchard for a draft pick. They may have been forced to take Bouchard—he's being assigned directly to AHL Rockford.

That's it. All the other pre-Olympic news is about injuries.

Even though he's back playing with the New York Islanders after missing most of the season with a concussion, Lubomir Visnovsky was forbidden by his team from heading to Russia to play with the Slovaks.

In the midst of a great season, Valterri Filppula fractured his ankle Thursday night, so he won't be playing for Finland. Mikko Koivu also announced Friday that he's given up trying to be ready for the Olympics, so that's another blow to the Finnish forwards.

We all know Steven Stamkos won't be ready to play for Canada; Marian Gaborik has thrown in the towel for the Slovaks; and Henrik Sedin bowed out for Sweden on Thursday afternoon.

Here's Henrik after the Montreal game, talking about how he came to his decision to skip the Games:



My poll was running pretty much even yesterday when the announcement came down, so there's definitely an element of surprise to the decision. It seems so strange to think that Daniel will be playing for Sweden on his own

If you think we're taking it hard, Sweden is in crisis. Its paper Aftonbladet sums up this situation like this (translation by Google): "The worst possible news for Tre Kroner." Click here to see the whole article.

At this juncture, I think the decision has to be considered to be a positive for the Canucks. Henrik clearly needs some time to heal. He could be a real boost to the team when they try to start fresh after the break.

One glimmer of good news comes from the Dan Hamhuis front:




I've been dragging my heels a bit on this blog today in hopes that I'd catch a big deal before the trade freeze, but it looks like that may not happen. I do know that the Canucks were gathering intel at the Kings/Blue Jackets game in L.A. last night:




Tomorrow will be another late blog. I'm DJing tonight, then up to cover more figure skating for most of the morning. Game time's early tomorrow—3:00 pm—so we'll likely have more of a pre-game setup than usual.
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