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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: Feb. 8 at Toronto, Out of the Playoffs |
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Vancouver Canucks at Toronto Maple Leafs - Saturday February 8 - 3:00 p.m. - CBC
Vancouver Canucks 27-23-9 63 points - fifth in Pacific Division - ninth in Western Conference
Toronto Maple Leafs 31-22-6 68 points - fourth in Atlantic Division - fifth in Eastern Conference
A Leafs/Canucks game is usually big news, but today we need to begin by addressing the obvious:
After two weeks of freefall, the Vancouver Canucks have finally dropped out of playoff contention. The Phoenix Coyotes earned their move into eighth place, too, shutting out Chicago 2-0 on Friday night.
The news could get even worse if the Canucks can't pull out a win tonight: they're currently sandwiched between the Coyotes and the Dallas Stars, with one point separating each team. Dallas and Phoenix play each other, so I'm envisioning some kind of horrible three-point outcome where both teams end up ahead of the Canucks as we stagnate for two weeks during the Olympic break.
Winnipeg's tied with St. Louis as I type this, but a win by the Jets and a loss by the Canucks would tie the two teams and put the Jets ahead in the standings as well. Worst-case scenario, Vancouver could be as low as 11th place by the end of the night.
Game Day:
The Vancouver Canucks have won the last 11 games they've played against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The last loss came over a decade ago, before the big lockout—on November 24, 2003. The Sedins are usually good for a show whenever they visit the ACC, but obviously that won't happen tonight. Daniel—are you there??
In the big picture, the body count should look a bit better. The Canucks will still be without Henrik Sedin, Mike Santorelli, Kevin Bieksa, Chris Tanev and Yannick Weber, but Dan Hamhuis is back in the lineup, and everyone else should play.
The goaltending matchup is expected to be Roberto Luongo vs. Jonathan Bernier.
Because of the pre-Olympic timing, the rivalry surrounding today's game might not hum as loudly as usual. A lot of the Toronto media types are already in Sochi covering the Olympics, so Twitter's surprisingly quiet, especially considering the opportunity for Leaf fans to kick us when we're down.
They were none too pleased about Vancouver's 4-0 win back in November, which triggered the beginning of a dark stretch for Toronto. Dave Bolland's still out of the lineup after the cut he suffered from the skate of Zack Kassian. The big man could find himself facing yet another team that's looking for revenge, with a few more tough guys in their lineup that the Edmonton Oilers.
If the Canucks can manage to take away something positive from this visit to Toronto, perhaps it should be the reminder that the Leafs are well familiar with these roller-coaster ebbs and flows in a season. They're riding another peak just now, with wins in 10 of their last 13 games, but were in a deep valley right before, with lots of talk about the utter hopelessness of the franchise and how every success is done with smoke and mirrors.
With the Canucks mired in their deepest slump in years, it's reassuring to think, at some point, this too shall pass. Surely the momentum will change after the break?
Not everyone will be getting time off during the Olympics. Players who qualify to play in the AHL—which is most of Vancouver's active roster, these days—can be sent down by their teams to get more game action during the NHL shutdown. I imagine the Canucks will release that list sometime after tonight's game.
#WeAreWinter
Men's hockey doesn't start until Thursday in Sochi, but there's already plenty to watch, with some great results by our Canadians.
- In the wee hours last night, I caught Mark McMorris' impressive final run to win a bronze medal in slopestyle snowboarding despite a broken rib.
- This morning, I watched our Canadian figure skaters keep pace with the impressive Russians in the new Team Figure Skating. They're well positioned to win silver when the event concludes tomorrow.
- As skating was wrapping up, two stunning sisters from Quebec picked up gold and silver medals in the women's moguls! So, that whole "How long will it take to win gold?" conversation is in the garbage, and Canada's sitting second so far in the overall medal standings.
- Oh yeah, the Canadian women's hockey team beat Switzerland 5-0 in their first game, too. But that was basically expected.
The action starts again at 10:30 tonight with women's slopestyle, men's downhill, women's hockey, biathlon, luge and lots more figure skating. Come on over—it'll be uplifting after what the Canucks might serve up tonight.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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