It's a long way to the top
Entry posted by Andrew Bucholtz
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The Canucks have been one of the league's hottest teams recently, led in particular by stellar play from the Sedin twins and <b>Alex Burrows</b>. <b>Henrik Sedin</b> <a href="http://canuckscorner.com/2010/01/08/king-henrik/">continues to make his case</a> as a <a href="http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=2613">Hart Trophy candidate</a>, and the team's also getting extremely solid performances from the likes of <b>Christian Ehrhoff</b> and <b>Alex Edler</b> despite <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2010/01/25/droppinglikeflies/">an injury-plagued defensive corps</a>. When things are going this well, teams just seem to find a way to win; despite falliing behind 3-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period of the first game of a brutal road trip Saturday and pulling <b>Roberto Luongo</b>, the Canucks <a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/1/31/1285563/sunday-morning-coffee-the-comeback">clawed their way back</a> with <b>Andrew Raycroft</b> in net, preventing Toronto from scoring another goal and notching five straight goals of their own en route to their seventh consecutive victory.
Those kinds of hot streaks can't last forever, though. Four out of those seven wins were by one goal, and there were signs of weakness even in the lopsided victories. The NHL has enough parity and a long enough season that most games can go either way, depending on a few bounces. You can't just go through the schedule checking off the teams below you in the standings as guaranteed victories; in fact, as I <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2009/12/10/prey/">wrote earlier this season</a>, one of the Canucks' frequent issues has been been competing hard against the lesser teams.
The Montreal Canadiens aren't an awful team, as their 58 points currently have them in playoff position, but they are 12 points behind the Canucks and it's hard to argue that their roster possesses more talent. Still, <a href="http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=515992&navid=DL|VAN|home">Tuesday's game</a> showed that standings and individual skills don't always make the difference. The Canucks played reasonably well and launched a season-high 47 shots at the Habs' net, but <b>Jaroslav Halak</b> did an excellent job in goal for Montreal, the Canadiens got a few bounces and the Canucks made some mistakes. In the end, that was enough to give the Habs <a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/2/3/1290897/wednesday-morning-coffee-the">a 3-2 victory</a>.
That doesn't mean there's anything particularly wrong with how the Canucks are playing, though. Sure, there are a few issues here and there,
such as the lack of secondary scoring, the <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2010/2/3/help-wanted-3rd-line">poor performance by the third line</a> and the amount of injuries they're dealing with. There's always tweaking that can be done, even when you're winning, and this loss will hopefully be a reminder that they can't take anyone lightly. However, the Canucks are doing a lot of things right at the moment; they're leading the Northwest Division with 70 points, they're 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and they have perhaps the best forward line in the league. Above all else, they need to <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2009/10/27/staying-medium/">stay medium</a> and not get too wrapped up in individual wins and losses. There are a lot of games left, and this massive road trip will test them, but things aren't all that gloomy. It's a long way to the top, but these boys can rock and roll.
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