Three terrific hockey games opened this year's playoffs on Wednesday night.
Columbus and Dallas both put up good fights against their favoured opponents, but the big story is Dale Weise's overtime-winner for Montreal. Today, the Canucks' castoff is Canada's hero.
In case you missed it:
The Lightning blew their coverage on the play, for sure. Three guys digging behind the goal line left Weise wide open. Here's Weise, from
NHL.com:
"I knew I was wide open and I saw it coming to me and my eyes got real big. I knew I wasn't going to miss from there. I got down on one leg, the old Brett Hull, and I just ripped it."
Going into the game, I saw Weise described as a "useful checker"—not exactly the same image he had here in Vancouver before he was traded. Remember, Mike Gillis sent out a bulk email asking if any team was interested in taking him off our hands?
Weise played a total of 13:21 on Wednesday, which is not unusual for him in Montreal's recent games. He missed a few games with injury in late March and early April, but averaged about 12:30 in Montreal's last three regular-season games—and had three goals since mid-March before last night's game-winner.
That's the same number he accumulated in 44 games in Vancouver, where his ice time only hit double-digits one time after Christmas.
So...the obvious question. If Dale Weise wasn't good enough to play for the Canucks, what the heck is he doing getting ice time in a playoff game—and making the most of it?
Just to be clear, it's not like Weise's game-winning shift came after a long period of riding the bench. He had seven shifts in the extra frame, though his ice time did dry up for a stretch in the third period after Steven Stamkos tied the game.
If Michel Therrien has confidence that Weise is a useful player and isn't scared to deploy him, do the Canucks' on-ice issues really come back to depth? Or is it about deployment?
This seems like some new evidence to add to the cluster that suggests that the Canucks' team-wide struggles this season are a direct result of coaching.
Tonight we'll have a chance to watch Torts' old team, the New York Rangers, and see if they can score some goals this year. Last season, they put up 26 goals in 12 playoff games, for an average of 2.17 per game.
Wouldn't it be ironic if we saw some heroics tonight from Raphael Diaz, the player the Canucks acquired for Weise, then shuffled off to New York a month later?
Comets Dream Dies
No playoffs for the Utica Comets this year. They're four points back with two games to go, but sitting in 11th place. Their 4-1 loss to Rochester on Wednesday was enough to mathematically eliminate the team.
Lack to Play for Sweden at Worlds
Add another Canuck to the list of players to watch at the upcoming World Championships. Eddie Lack has been given the nod to join Team Sweden. I believe this is Lack's first-ever opportunity to play for his national team at any level.
We'll hear more news about national team rosters as the days unfold, though my understanding is that the Sedins won't be skating for Sweden this year. The tournament starts May 9.
I'll wrap up with a pretty funny exchange between Lack and Roberto Luongo from Twitter on Tuesday. After Florida won the draft lottery, Luongo tweeted:
Lack's immediate response:
And Luongo fired back:
Clearly in response to this photo:
Lack has also changed his Twitter background, replacing the selfie of him with Luongo for a shot of him in his Heritage Classic uniform. The lovefest continues, but time marches on.
I guess after what happened at the Olympics, Luongo is not especially interested in suiting up for Team Canada in Minsk?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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