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Fuh-Quild...

Tale of the Tape
TSN preview
Sportsnet

The "surging", and "dangerous" Cannots take their 19-5-1 record (since Feb. 1) into the Excel Energy Center to take on divisional rivals, the Minnesota Effing Wild, against whom Vancouver has a 4-0-1 record this season so far. With a win, Vancouver can take the NW Division lead, after the Phlegms sputtered to a 2-1 loss last night against the Sharts. Fuh-Quild... Oh and with a win, the Cannots go 4-2 on the road trip...

Noted Canucks-killer Marian Gaborik is back and on a line with the younger and more talented Koivu brother; I'm guessing that AV will throw out the Sedins and Burrows against that line. The Wild will be absolutely desperate to get two points; expect them to throw everything at the Cannots in the first ten minutes, knowing that they can play with a lead as well as Vancouver can.

Keys to the game:
[*]Special Teams: An easy one; Vancouver cannot get into penalty trouble against Minnesota, a team that has trouble scoring at even strength (26th overall in GF, 13th overall on the PP). I think with every win on this roadtrip, Vancouver has either played better than or was even with their opponents on Special Teams; if they can continue that, they should be able to lock down Minnesota 5-on-5...
[*]Speed: I expect MayRay to get in some playing time over say, Hansen, who seems to bring some bad mojo for the team when he plays... MayRay also helps offset the speed of Minnesota...
[*]Get traffic in front of Backstrom: He's been playing well of late; I expect Kesler, Burrows, and Bernier to continue to go hard towards the net and create room for their linemates to make plays.

Fuh-Quild....

This has all the earmarks of another tight-checking 2-1 affair. I'll go out on a limb and predict a Vancouver win: Eleventy thousand, two hundred and thirty eight to three.

It would be really nice if someone could fire this up on Ustream.......someone local.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

I will chime in with some patented pessimism here... in this case it's more theoretical than gut instinct, 'cause I actually have a decent feeling about this game with the way the 'Nucks have been playing. But still, there are several factors working against the Canucks.

1) The Choke Factor -- This is it. It's no longer hypothetical or a prize upon which to keep eyes. The Canucks can actually move into first place in the Northwest. Confronted with the chance to make serious progress on Calgary before, for whatever reason (most likely coincidence, let's be honest, but still) the Canucks have often stumbled.

2) Law of Averages -- I'm well aware that the way I apply this law is actually the Gambler's Fallacy, but it still seems to work. The Canucks aren't really going to get out of the season without a regulation loss to a divisional rival, are they?

3) Karmic Imbalance -- Let's face it, Burrows should have been suspended. I have trepidation about the price we must pay to the Hockey Devils (there are no hockey gods) for apparently getting away with one, and the collector will come a-knocking sooner or later.

Fuh Quild!

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#1 The Choke Factor-Didn't GMMG tell you?We no longer look at the past.


#2-Law of averages-Yes they can.Cuz the Tuz says they can


#3-Karmic Imbalance-Because of Burrows past he has been the victim of many uncalled penalties that should have been called on those taking liberties with him since his emergence as an offensive force, because of his abbrasive style of play in the past the refs have looked the other way and these penalties weren't called so I think the karma balances out nicely.



The Wild suck badly therefore the Nucks will win big.


6-0 Nuckers!!




GO CANUCKS GO!!!!

Oh yeah!

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GO CANUCKS GO!!!!

Apparently the Ryper is in the lineup tonight!

I am actually stoked about this game---Jyrki21 I am with Tuzer on this one---Plus I don't think the Division title is really on anyone's mind---they weren't really expecting to win it---Last Luongo's performance in the last game was inspiring.I believe this is the beginning of a roll for him but only time will tell.

5-1 Canucks

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Zack Kassian for Cody Hodgson = Gillis on CRACK

Awesome!!!Hopefully he can play an entire game,He was on pace for like 54 goals this year I believe Seriously though,What I have seen of the ripper has been alright



GO CANUCKS GO!!!!

I had team 1040 on in the office all day. Tommy Larseid says the morning skate was the most energy he's seen from the Nucks in like forever!

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GO CANUCKS GO!

Here's one.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wild-hockey

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GO CANUCKS GO!

2 periods of watching a chess game.

Kesler the warrior takes a wicked slap from Edler on the point on the Nucks lone PP and stays out and pots a goal to make it 1-0 Nucks.

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GO CANUCKS GO!

Geez the 3rd isn't looking so good, almost 12 minutes gone and we haven't had a shot.

ah man, 27 seconds left in regulation and we get a penalty for putting the puck over the glass....you can see it coming.

not a shot in the 3rd?! at least we'll get a loser point

Hank with a personal best, and the winner in OT!!!

I only caught about half the third and overtime streamed, so I didn't see a single Canucks' shot until ?Edler? finally got one in OT.

Then nature called... I went to take a leak right after Luongo's nice save, figuring there'd be a moment or two before the faceoff and I could probably fit it in. I come back to relative silence on my computer wonder what the hell happened, only to see a replay of Henrik's goal.

Holy shit!

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So did Lui pretty much steal this one for us?

He was good for sure. Especially in the OT.

That was a sweet sweet goal in OT.

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GO CANUCKS GO!

Day late and a dollar short I see...looks like GH Metallica delayed my watching. First was nice all year I guess we kept it warm ya.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

6 games in 11 nights on the road at the end of the season against the most boring trap happy hockey team in the league.I guess this is all we can expect in this kind of situation,Boring as tofu but still quite sweet!!