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As the Sedin twins continue to struggle, so does their team as the Vancouver Canucks lost in regulation for a second straight game on Tuesday night - their first back-to-back regulation losses since November - this time to the Dallas Stars by a score of 5-2.
Unlike Vancouver, Dallas' top players led the way as J-Lo's ex Marc Anthony's twin Mike Ribeiro had 2 goals and 1 assist while Loui Eriksson finished with 1+1 and Michael Ryder had 2 assists. Rookie goaltender Richard Bachman made 29 saves for the win. Victoria's Jamie Benn was buzzing all night for the Stars and finished with a goal on five shots. Stephane Robidas hit the empty net to seal the deal for the reeling Stars who now lead the Pacific Division by two points over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Chris Higgins and Alex Edler scored for the Canucks who continue to get very little output from Daniel and Henrik Sedin; both are mired in a slump (at least by their standards). Henrik has been held pointless in six straight games and 10 of his last 13.
Questions arose when the Canucks traded their skilled third line center, Cody Hodgson, to the Sabres at the trade deadline. What if the top six forwards struggle to score? Who will step in if someone in the top six gets hurt?
With both of Vancouver's top centers struggling right now (both Kesler and Henrik Sedin have only one goal each in their last 13 games), the team needs some consistent secondary scoring, and the only player who was doing that in the past was the aforementioned - and newly departed - Hodgson.
Sami Pahlsson, a defensive specialist who was brought in to replace Hodgson, is to offense as what I am to a full head of hair. And his defensive and faceoff skills haven't been overly spectacular thus far either.
Zack Kassian has proven that we should expect very little consistency from him after being the best skater on the ice Saturday night against Buffalo, where he finished with a goal, an assist, three shots and seven hits, he followed that up with a statline of zero's across the board - all after being promoted to the second line.
Roberto Luongo stopped 24 saves in the loss which dropped Vancouver to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the surprising St. Louis Blues.
The Canucks continue their homestand Thursday night as they host the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in 16 years.
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