The Vancouver Canucks were coming off a 3 - 1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings in a game in which many would feel they deserved a better fate. The Canucks played extremely well but had problems finishing their chances in recent contests. There was no such problem in Colorado on Saturday night as the Canucks exploded for 8 goals on their way to an 8 - 2 victory in the mile high city.
Henrik Sedin scored the first two goals of the game and Jannik Hansen made it 3 - 0 Vancouver midway through the first period. Mathieu Schneider increased the Canucks lead to 4 - 0 in the second period. The Avalanche had trouble generating many chances through the first two periods, the Canucks looked good and were forechecking well but the Avs looked far from the team that was sporting one of the best records in the Western Conference.
In the third period, the Avalanche started to get things going, they drew some penalties as they finally started moving their feet in the attacking zone, and Marek Svatos scored on the Power Play to get them on the board. 5 minutes later Matt Hendricks inched the Avs closer making it a 4 - 2 hockey game. The Canucks didn't waste any time answering back as 25 seconds later Steve Bernier scored his 5th of the season to restore the 3 goal lead. Henrik Sedin notched his first career Hat Trick later in the period on a beautiful cross seem feed from Alex Edler.
Steve Bernier scored another and Tanner Glass added a goal to help the Canucks cruise to an 8 - 2 win. The Canucks needed this effort. They needed to get their confidence back in the offensive zone, Mason Raymond was all over the ice and if it weren't for Henrik Sedin's effort, he would have been the best Canuck on the ice.
Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa have started to improve on the back end as well, which is definitely a positive for the Canucks as they like to roll their top 4 defensemen throughout the game and rely on Bieksa and Edler heavily to log important minutes. Whether they continue to play well remains to be seen, as the knock on both of the blueliners is their lack of consistency.
The Canucks have hit another strange lull in their schedule and don't play until they host the very same Avalanche at GM Place on Friday night.
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