(You can view this post with embedded videos at Canuck Puck).

<i>If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by/You're thinking like a fool cause it's a case of do or die/Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had/You think I'll let it go you're mad/You've got another thing coming.</i>

<i>-<b>Judas Priest</b>, "You've Got Another Thing Coming".</i>

The Canucks could take a lesson from Judas Priest these days. They're certainly sitting around as the world goes by, as they haven't scored the first goal of a game in <a href="http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=2801">three weeks</a> [<b>J.J. Guerrero</b>, <I>Canucks Hockey Blog</i>]. Counting Tuesday's game against the Lightning, they've given up the first goal in their last seven games and <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/First+things+first+Canucks+score/2540335/story.html">in 12 of their past 14 contests</a> [<b>Gordon McIntyre</b>, <i>The Province</i>]. After that game, they'd also <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Provies+nightly+awards/2544205/story.html">led for a grand total of two minutes and four seconds</a> [McIntyre] on this Road Trip From Hell . That's certainly a worrisome trend.

What's to blame? Well, the Sedins have cooled off recently and they're sure not getting a lot of support from the bottom half of the lineup. Guys like <b><a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/2/10/1304485/wednesday-afternoon-coffee-wait">Kyle Wellwood</a></b> [<i>Nucks Misconduct</i>] and <b><a href="http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/kurtenblog/archive/2010/02/08/canucks-week-at-a-glance-feb-8-15.aspx">Steve Bernier</a></b> [<b>Mike Halford</b>, <i>Orland Kurtenblog</i>] haven't lived up to their promise. At least the third line's been okay defensively. The fourth line, on the other hand, is <a href="http://trevorpresiloski.com/2010/02/the-sinister-six/">producing next to nothing</a> [<b>Trevor Presiloski</b>, <i>The Internet Trashcan</i>] at either end of the ice. In fact, the Canucks just aren't scoring goals at the moment; they have <a href="http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=con#&amp;navid=nav-stn-conf">185 goals in 58 games</a> so far this year, a healthy average of 3.2 goals per game, but <a href="http://canucks.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm">in their last four games</a>, they've scored one goal against Tampa, two (not counting the shootout winner) against Boston, one against Ottawa and two against Montreal. That isn't going to lead to a lot of wins, considering how even the best goaltenders (and <b>Roberto Luongo</b> is certainly in that class) tend to have a goals-against-average above two (Luongo's <a href="http://canucks.nhl.com/club/stats.htm">is 2.33</a>).

Perhaps the bigger issue at play is the Canucks' tendency to play down to the level of their opponent, though. The teams they've played on this road trip <a href="http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20092010&amp;type=LEA">are ranked</a> 29th (Toronto), 17th (Montreal), 11th (Ottawa), 21st (Boston), and 19th (Tampa Bay) in the league in overall points. As I <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2009/12/10/prey/">wrote</a> earlier this year, this is something we've seen over and over again from this team; they tend to perform well against top teams, but they often take it easy against the bottom feeders, hoping their talent will carry them through. Sometimes it does; they wake up after allowing early goals and storm back to win, the way they did against Toronto and Boston. More often, they dig themselves into a hole and can't find their way out.

However, all is not doom and gloom. Despite this abominable stretch of recent play, the Canucks are still somehow 2-3-0 on this road trip and 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. They're also only two points behind the Avalanche for the division lead. They still have one of the best lines in the league, one of the league's top goaltenders and a solid defensive corps. Sure, there are issues that need to be worked out, but most of them are effort issues as opposed to talent issues, and those are much easier to overcome in general. It's easier to get a good team to play like an elite team than to get a bad team to play like a good team. Tonight's game against the 26th-ranked Florida Panthers should provide an excellent measuring stick. Will we see a new and improved Canucks' squad, or the same team that's slow out of the gate and caught up in circles time after time?