Thursday December 4: Vancouver Canucks 3 - Pittsburgh Penguins 0
It's getting harder and harder not to be impressed by this year's version of the Vancouver Canucks.
The team with the league's best road record sauntered into an arena where the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost just three games in regulation this year. They emerged with a 3-0 shutout win for Eddie Lack—their third goose egg in the last five games and the first of the season for the backup.
Here are your highlights:
I write about the Penguins regularly for Bleacher Report, so I've been following the team pretty closely. Their injury situation reminds me a lot of what was happening to the Canucks after Christmas last year, where they're losing another player almost every game.
They survived the loss of Olli Maatta for a couple of weeks without incident and looked like they'd be able to get by without Pascal Dupuis. Until Chris Kunitz also went down. And Beau Bennett. And Kris Letang. And Robert Bortuzzo got suspended. Then their shiny new acquisition Patric Hornqvist got knocked out of last night's game after a collision with Ryan Stanton.
Bottom six guys like Blake Comeau, Nick Spaling and Steve Downie have been doing their best to fill in, and the lineup has been augmented by minor-leaguers like Jayson Megna and ex-Canuck Andrew Ebbett.
The situation has become dire enough that Pittsburgh made a move today, acquiring utility winger Rob Klinkhammer from Arizona in exchange for prospect Philip Samuelsson. Chances are, he'll get a look on Pittsburgh's top six immediately: their next game is Saturday against Ottawa.
I mention all this because I was touting the Penguins as potential Presidents' Trophy Candidates just a few days ago. Their bad fortune may be short-term, but the Canucks certainly had no trouble dispatching one of the strongest groups in the Eastern Conference.
Willie wins Round 1 against his old friend Mike Johnston, and maybe inspires a little remorse in Pittsburgh that they let him get away. And I'm starting to think these Canucks are for real.
It's so nice to see different players stepping up every night. Brad Richardson had a couple of breakout games at the end of October but between November 1 and 20, he didn't have a single game where he was a plus player, and he was getting hammered regularly in the faceoff circle.
In the six games since, he's been a minus player only once (minus-one against Washington) and has been 50 percent or better on his draws in all but one game. His linemate Shawn Matthias has also been terrific, and the pair were the difference on the scoresheet last night. Richardson had two goals and an assist, while Matthias had a goal and an assist.
Following up on a strong performance from the Sedin line (and the power play) against Washington and the second line against Columbus, the Canucks are following through on the mantra that they can get offense from all four lines and play a balanced game.
Even the goaltenders are getting into it, now that Eddie Lack has posted his first shutout of the season.
I think we're all happy with a 3-1 record through the first half of this road trip. The idea that the Canucks are now the best road team in the league at 11-4-0 certainly flies in the face of conventional wisdom.
Our team is going to get a lot of attention this weekend as it lands in three big Canadian markets: Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The national press seems to be noticing that the Canucks and the Calgary Flames just might be for real this year. Hopefully they'll show what all the fuss is about.
Here's a little perspective on the team's success so far this season.
We all remember that the Canucks were quite decent before Christmas last year, but that was largely due to their impressive 10-1-2 run in December.
Their last game of November was a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers, who played backup goalie Cam Talbot, and gave them a 13-10-5 record. In my game preview before their game in Carolina on December 2, I noted that the Canucks were fifth in the Pacific Division—three points out of the last wild card playoff spot.
Today, our Canucks are ranked third in the league and first in the Western Conference. That's an achievement that's worth acknowledging. Impressive work from the new regime so far!