It was a disappointing loss for the Vancouver Canucks Thursday night in Detroit for a few reasons, but the toughest aspect of the 3-1 defeat had to have been that they just may have played their best game of the year. They outworked, outshot and outplayed the Red Wings but were unable to beat Jimmy Howard who stopped 31 of 32 Vancouver shots. Henrik Zetterberg danced between Kevin Bieksa and Willie Mitchell, and shelfed a gorgeous backhander behind Roberto Luongo for the game winning goal, eight minutes into the final frame. Tomas Holmstrom scored in the 1st period for Detroit who also got an empty-netter off a goofy bounce from a Niklas Kronwall clearing attempt late in the game. Mason Raymond continued his hot hand, scoring a goal in the 2nd to tie the game.
The Canucks complete their 5 game road trip Saturday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.
Our take: What a tough game to lose but with a depleted lineup and a bunch of guys who are struggling to put the puck in the net what do you expect? Kyle Wellwood played well but still has only an assist to show for it all year. Steve Bernier was inaffective and quiet once again. Kevin Bieksa was back on defense and was on the ice for both Detroit goals (with a goalie in net), completely forgetting to put a body or stick on Holmstrom in front of the net. Alex Edler was very good which was nice to see, but he will have to put a string of nice games together before we can say he has turned it around.
All in all Vancouver is simply icing a lineup that will have trouble scoring. They are essentially playing with two seperate 4th lines and 2 seperate 2nd lines - a concoction that is certainly not in the recipe for success.
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