Canucks Can't Feel Bad About Losing To La

[Tm085]

we went to game 7 of the finals last year and you blame the Sedins? you're a joke, henrik sedin is as good a playmaker as Gretzky was.

[nuckin_futz]

Canucks will never win with the Twins..they are good hockey payers during the regular season but tend to disappear in the playoffs.

We need a captain that is a warrior...like a Shane Doan , a Dustin Brown etc

and you need a 1 st defenceman type a Pronger a Chara a Weber etc.

Until we have those 2 elements in place ..we will never win the cup.

We cannot score and our defense core is not physical enough.

[naslund.is.king]

Well i definatly am not feeling good about losing to la....

[lorentjd]

phoenix for the win

[Rick 2.0]

I debated on whether to chime in so late after its all done, but here goes.

Its sad, really... The Sedins, like Luongo, can't seem to buy respect in this market (at least by some of the comments on this board and other sources). They've been called sisters and pansies, and they've proven both terms to be completely inaccurate, and still they're expected to do it all. You shove any player in the spotlight in Vancouver and if they don't deliver the goods when expected, they're "lacking leadership qualities" or "can't perform under pressure". Meanwhile we all sit back in our rocking chairs and long for the glory days of McLean, Linden, and Bure leading us on to the great Stanley Cup Championship of 1994 and... Oh, wait, they couldn't get it done either. Yet they're classified as "heroes" in this town while the current players for the organization are constantly thrown under the bus when the results aren't there. Why?

The '94 team brought this city a taste of competitiveness and one wild ride to boot that's heralded as one of the best sports stories in Vancouver history (unfortunate rioting aside), but came up one win short. Meanwhile the 2011 playoffs - with the same end result as 17 years before - are viewed as a complete failure to bring home the prize. The difference? Expectations. Nostalgia. Two powerful entities that can skew reality for the weak-minded and cloud even the most grounded of sports fans into a disappointed stupor. The current core of this team has been fashioned and molded into one expected to net results - to win games and a championship. In the past three years they've done the former in spades during the regular season to great effect, setting new franchise records in wins, shutouts, points, and goals against, as well as numerous individual player awards. They are, statistically, the best team in franchise history, and yet its not enough in this market. The only thing that matters is the Stanley Cup. While it is the ultimate prize in the NHL and any player on the ice will say its the only prize that matters, its rather unfair to see how the players are treated sometimes by the fans and media when things don't go they way they expect (just ask Luongo on April 4, 2012).

Which brings me to the 2012 playoffs and the apparent complete collapse in the Western Conference Quarter Finals. Am I, as a Canucks fan of 25+ years disappointed? Absolutely. The team preached nothing but getting back to the Cup Finals all year while flying the flag of hard work, determination, skill, and finesse - all of which seemed to disappear in February. Ultimately a first round exit spells major disappointment for any fan, let alone the players. But after its all said and done they were simply outmatched, outwilled, and outplayed by a team that wanted that series more. You can chalk up any reason (or excuse) as to why the Canucks failed to even appear competitive in the series until Game #4, but in the end they were beaten by a better team on the ice.

Therein lies the foundation for my "feeling bad" about the Vancouver Canucks losing to the Los Angeles Kings. For all the talk, all the hype, and all the cliche-ridden press conferences preaching the desire to compete for the Cup all year, they failed to show up on the ice for the first three games of the Quarter Finals. Its the way they lost that disappointed me most. They arrived to the playoffs a lost team with an identity crisis and lack of focus. L.A. went in knowing how they had to play and stuck to that gameplan from the outset and adapted to any strategy the Canucks tried to use, while Vancouver tried in futility to play a physical, gritty game that was the opposite of what they're built for despite Gillis' dealings. Secondary scoring was gone. Powerplay scoring was gone. Defensive solidity was gone. Speed and skill through the neutral zone was gone. The only thing they had going for them was netminding (of which Luongo was a big part of in the first two games) and one Sedin trying to work with juggled linemates and no brother to pass to. Naturally injuries to key players played a big role, but they were not mentally or skill-wise a team on par with the team of last playoffs. The phrase "lacked heart" gets thrown around a lot... This time they just lacked more than that.

And so here I sit disappointed with how the Canucks lost, not that they lost, but hopeful that they can regain that skill and focus for next year. I feel they have one more solid crack at it in 2012-2013, and with the right tweaks to the lineup and a proper identity (i.e. skill/finesse or grit/physicality? Pick one!) and they could be right back in the Finals next year. Short of ranting and raving on social media and forums, hope is all I have as a fan and its what I hold on to even after years of "losing".

[Buddhas Hand]

i find no solace in the fact that LA are now doing the same thing to st. louis that they did to us , as other posters have pointed out winning 1 playoff game is not really an acceptble outcome for this team .

[soshified]

No. Losing 3 playoff games at home? Cmon!