Any time your power play is effective 80% of the time, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re going to wind up with two points for the win. Which is exactly what happened last night. The fact that it happened against the Oilers made it even better. While having a four goal lead after the first 12 minutes of the game is great, it’s not always the best position for the Canucks to be in. Once they have a lead like that, they can have a tendency to try and sit on the lead, which is a dangerous tactic to try, regardless of whether you’re playing San Jose or Toronto (okay, maybe not so dangerous against the Leafs).

After Gilbert Brule gave the Oilers some vague hope of at least scoring, Tanner Glass restored the four goal lead, and that appeared to be the end of the Oilers.

Then the second period started. And in a span of just a minute and four seconds, the Oilers were within two, and I’m sure the tension was starting to creep back into GM Place. They couldn’t really blow a four goal lead, could they?

Thankfully, that didn’t happen, with Alex Edler and Mikael Samuelsson contributing to the effort to put the Oilers away, for the Canucks’ fourth win in five games.

It was a night when a number of players got the scoring monkey off their backs. Daniel Sedin finally got his first of the year, Edler got his first dating back to last year, and Alex Burrows seems to have benefited from Daniel’s return, scoring his second goal in as many games.

A lot was made about the fact that the Oilers were a tired, injured team, and while that might be the case, I don’t remember hearing the Canucks using the injuries as an excuse when they had a lot of regulars out of action. They just sucked it up and kept playing. Did pretty well, too, if I recall.

The game against the Sharks tonight should be really interesting, as San Jose had an emotional win over the Oilers themselves a couple of nights ago. The Sharks are looking like the scary team that they were at the start of last season, although maybe not quite as completely dominating, but you still can’t dispute their record. If the Canucks want to show what they’re capable of doing, tonight’s the night.

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