Let's start with a few newspaper stories.
Courtesy Vancouver Province
Where do you begin to assess the rejuvenated Canucks?
The gang that couldn't shoot straight has transformed itself into a band of merry sharpshooters during a spirited 9-3-0-1 post-Christmas surge.
It's made a Western Conference playoff position more probable than laughable. After all, the Canucks have won five of their last six games, won three in a row on the road and are fourth in goals scored (151) after 52 games. They've improved from 26th to 11th overall in power-play percentage and have 16 goals from blueliners in their last 14 outings.
Not convinced? How about the fact Todd Bertuzzi has the hottest current NHL point streak at 10 games and defenceman Mattias Ohlund is next at six games?
Kind of makes you want to do the following:
- Check the water bottles.
- Examine the composition of those high-tech sticks.
- Take a whiff of what's in that dressing-room coffee pot.
"It's confidence for sure," Canucks assistant coach Mike Johnston said Thursday. "Because of our start (3-8-1) and the scrutiny you're under defensively, everybody was back on their heels a bit.
"The passes that are going tape-to-tape now we were missing by a foot before and they were hitting skates. It's feeling good about your game."
Nobody is feeling better than Bertuzzi. After being assessed a 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a late-game melee against Colorado on Oct. 13, the winger has got his head and his game together.
"I thought after the suspension he was playing his best hockey but people are recognizing it more because the points are coming," said Johnston. "He's really improved his defensive play and he's not a liability out there. We knew he could create offensively but we wanted him to be solid defensively."
Bertuzzi has 34 points (13-21) in 37 games since the suspension and, just as importantly, is a plus-5. The winger's current 10-game streak totals 13 points (4-9).
Bertuzzi isn't the only hot Canuck. From first to fourth lines, from Markus Naslund flirting with the NHL scoring lead to defencemen and fourth-liners contributing offensively, scoring has become contagious.
A high-tempo, four-line philosophy hasn't hurt either. Nobody is bagged come crunch time and the Canucks pressured the Stars to death Wednesday in an impressive 4-2 win at Dallas.
"We really like our lines the way they are now and the chemistry is going real well," said Johnston. "[Trevor] Letowski, [Artem] Chubarov and [Matt] Cooke are a great line and you can't call them a fourth line."
Then there's the defence.
"Our defence used to be very active offensively and get up in the rush to support but with our lapses they wanted to be careful when they jumped up," said Johnston.
"It took away from a real good aspect of our game. And you're a tough team to play against when your defence is active because it makes it difficult for coverage."
- Johnston said there was no thought of playing Peter Skudra (slight knee strain) on Wednesday instead of rookie Alex Auld, because he wasn't totally healthy.
- The Canucks have recalled winger Mike Brown from Manitoba (AHL) and have placed Cloutier on injury reserve retroactive to Monday to create a roster spot.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE!
The Canucks have gone goal crazy with 56 in their 13 games since Christmas, for an average of 4.30 per outing. The suddenly offensive Canucks have:
- A captain who's flirting with the NHL scoring lead with 51 points (22-29), just two points off his pace of last year.
- Outscored the opposition 53-29 after the first period, a league high.
- Gone on an 11-for-32 power play run to improve to 11th overall.
- A league-best 47 goals in the new year.
- A league-best 34 goals from blueliners.
- The NHL's hottest player in Todd Bertuzzi, who's on a 10-game point streak.
bkuzma@pacpress.southam.ca
Courtesy Vancouver Province
Where do you begin to assess the rejuvenated Canucks?
The gang that couldn't shoot straight has transformed itself into a band of merry sharpshooters during a spirited 9-3-0-1 post-Christmas surge.
It's made a Western Conference playoff position more probable than laughable. After all, the Canucks have won five of their last six games, won three in a row on the road and are fourth in goals scored (151) after 52 games. They've improved from 26th to 11th overall in power-play percentage and have 16 goals from blueliners in their last 14 outings.
Not convinced? How about the fact Todd Bertuzzi has the hottest current NHL point streak at 10 games and defenceman Mattias Ohlund is next at six games?
Kind of makes you want to do the following:
- Check the water bottles.
- Examine the composition of those high-tech sticks.
- Take a whiff of what's in that dressing-room coffee pot.
"It's confidence for sure," Canucks assistant coach Mike Johnston said Thursday. "Because of our start (3-8-1) and the scrutiny you're under defensively, everybody was back on their heels a bit.
"The passes that are going tape-to-tape now we were missing by a foot before and they were hitting skates. It's feeling good about your game."
Nobody is feeling better than Bertuzzi. After being assessed a 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a late-game melee against Colorado on Oct. 13, the winger has got his head and his game together.
"I thought after the suspension he was playing his best hockey but people are recognizing it more because the points are coming," said Johnston. "He's really improved his defensive play and he's not a liability out there. We knew he could create offensively but we wanted him to be solid defensively."
Bertuzzi has 34 points (13-21) in 37 games since the suspension and, just as importantly, is a plus-5. The winger's current 10-game streak totals 13 points (4-9).
Bertuzzi isn't the only hot Canuck. From first to fourth lines, from Markus Naslund flirting with the NHL scoring lead to defencemen and fourth-liners contributing offensively, scoring has become contagious.
A high-tempo, four-line philosophy hasn't hurt either. Nobody is bagged come crunch time and the Canucks pressured the Stars to death Wednesday in an impressive 4-2 win at Dallas.
"We really like our lines the way they are now and the chemistry is going real well," said Johnston. "[Trevor] Letowski, [Artem] Chubarov and [Matt] Cooke are a great line and you can't call them a fourth line."
Then there's the defence.
"Our defence used to be very active offensively and get up in the rush to support but with our lapses they wanted to be careful when they jumped up," said Johnston.
"It took away from a real good aspect of our game. And you're a tough team to play against when your defence is active because it makes it difficult for coverage."
- Johnston said there was no thought of playing Peter Skudra (slight knee strain) on Wednesday instead of rookie Alex Auld, because he wasn't totally healthy.
- The Canucks have recalled winger Mike Brown from Manitoba (AHL) and have placed Cloutier on injury reserve retroactive to Monday to create a roster spot.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE!
The Canucks have gone goal crazy with 56 in their 13 games since Christmas, for an average of 4.30 per outing. The suddenly offensive Canucks have:
- A captain who's flirting with the NHL scoring lead with 51 points (22-29), just two points off his pace of last year.
- Outscored the opposition 53-29 after the first period, a league high.
- Gone on an 11-for-32 power play run to improve to 11th overall.
- A league-best 47 goals in the new year.
- A league-best 34 goals from blueliners.
- The NHL's hottest player in Todd Bertuzzi, who's on a 10-game point streak.
bkuzma@pacpress.southam.ca
