Canucks notebook
Vancouver seeking improvement despite four straight wins
"There's still lots of improvement for (the Vancouver Canucks) to be a real top team in this league," captain Markus Naslund said. (Files)
Kevin Woodley
For myBC.com
VANCOUVER - It hasn't been hard to pick out positives during the Vancouver Canucks' current four-game win streak, but the brightest light may be that most players feel the team hasn't played its best game.
If last year's surreal 28-9-3-3 post-Christmas run represents the perfect 10, then Canucks captain Markus Naslund would put the current stretch somewhere between Roseanne Arnold and Bo Derek, circa 1979.
"We're still going up, but right now we're maybe at seven or so," Naslund said. "But there's still lots of improvement for us to be a real top team in this league. We're aware of that and we're working on a few things and we're still not satisfied, and I think that's the key."
Despite winning six of the last seven games, most players insists they can improve - and it all starts with better starts.
The Canucks have been outshot and given up the first goal in six of those seven games, including four first periods that ended with a deficit. Far too often they've relied on a league-leading penalty kill and the play of goaltender Dan Cloutier to keep things close until the first intermission.
"The second and third period have been decent for us, but the first period usually we come out slow and we don't have the intensity we need right away so that gives other teams too much life," Naslund said.
Lately it looks like the Canucks are feeling out the opponent to see if they can get away with the east-west, criss-cross, drop-pass hockey that plagued them so often earlier this year. Against the Rangers it was the power play that tried to be too cute and finished with no shots in three first-period attempts, largely because they looked for the perfect play and with cross-ice passes instead of point shots and dump-ins.
Then, as has often been the case of late, they came back after the second and settled back into the straight-ahead, get-it-deep and grind-it-out game that worked so well over the last 18 days.
"You'd love to have a good start, you'd love to get up two or three goals every game, but right now it just seems first periods are kind of a funk for us," summed up veteran winger Trent Klatt. "We know that, we've discussed it and guys have to be prepared in the afternoons and the mornings to have a better start."
Cooke only crushing food
After taking a Brent Sopel slapshot off the side of his face during the Rangers game, Matt Cooke said Tuesday it only hurts when he smiles or laughs. So it's probably a good thing he's already used to the predictable "Cookie crumbles" and "tough Cookie" puns and play-on-words that followed the painful injury.
"It's a pretty easy name to play with," said the man known as Cookie.
Unfortunately, the same thing can't be said of his noticeably swollen jaw, which was protected by a full-face shield during practice and could still keep him out of action against Chicago. Cooke, whose only taste of cookie will, ironically, have to be crumbled, crushed and blended for the next little while, was set to see a specialist Tuesday afternoon to double-check the large contusion.
"They just want to make sure it's strong and sturdy and is going to last another hit," said Cooke, whose irritating style has made him an enemy to enough people that a shot to the chops seems a sure bet in any game. "The only concerns they have is that if it's at a state where it's still really painful, then if I'm going to get knocked on it am I going to have to leave the lineup again and go get more x-rays and see if I broke it."
Early quote-of-the-year candidate
If it hurts to laugh, then Cooke was lucky to be out of earshot when veteran Murray Baron was spotted heading into the showers after already applying a wad of wet, white, gooey shampoo to his dry hair. Naturally someone asked if he was going for the Something About Mary look to which Baron quickly responded: "Yeah, I just got out of the coach's office."
Must be the Bs
With Chicago coming into GM Place Wednesday night (7:30 p.m. on Sportsnet and CKNW-AM/980) and Detroit in town Friday to round out a five-game home stand, the Canucks know they will have to better out of the gate. That will be especially true against a Chicago team that was unbeaten in six (4-0-2) prior to Tuesday's 3-1 loss in Edmonton, and sits one point back of Vanocuver in the early Western Conference playoff race.
Much like Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues, the most remarkable part of the Blackhawks' early-season success is they've done it without some of their best players and in the face of league-wide predictions they would stumble. They lost Tony Amonte in the offseason, replacement Theo Fluery hasn't played after violating the league's substance-abuse program, and Eric Daze played his first game Friday after missing the first 15 because of back surgery.
"They've been terrific and they've done it in the absence of some very key people," said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. "They're one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League over the last 10 games."
The Hawks have been doing it thanks in large part to goalie Jocelyn Thibault, who has a league-best three shutouts and an impressive 1.78 goals-against average. They're also getting strong two-way play from Alexei Zhamnov (17 points, including a goal and six assists during the six-game streak), and are finally seeing regular contributions from Steve Sullivan (five goals and two assists in the unbeaten stretch).
Probert's new gig
One player Chicago won't have on the ice Wednesday is Bob Probert and, as much as new Canucks tough guy Darren Langdon insists the game of hockey will miss recently retired Blackhawks enforcer, he's glad the 37-year-old fighting legend won't be on the ice.
Probert, whose future with the Hawks has been in limbo since training camp, ended his career ? for this season at least ? last week and joined the Blackhawks radio team as an in-studio analyst for home games.
"He was a great heavyweight and a great player at that, so it's nice to see that I don't have to play against him (Wednesday) night," said Langdon, who had his first fight in a Canucks uniform Saturday against his old Rangers team. "Growing up you, pretty well idolize Wayne Gretzky and them, but growing up everyone knew who Bob Probert and Joey Kocur and them guys were."
Like so many of his pugilist peers, Langdon, who dropped the gloves with Probert twice, gave the former undisputed heavyweight champ huge thanks for taking on so many young guys wen they were trying to make a name for themselves.
"It's going to be different with him not around because I think the younger guys still look up and see Bob Probert and they pretty well try to emulate the game after him," said Langdon. "My first game with him he could have said 'No, I don't want to fight you' because obviously you're trying to start out in the league and make a team, so you pretty well go after the best guys. He was nice enough to oblige me and he didn't really hurt me too bad, so I should thank him for that."
If this is indeed it for Probert, he finishes with 163 goals and 221 assists in 936 NHL games, not to mention 3,300 penalty minutes, fourth all-time behind only Dave "Tiger" Williams, Dale Hunter and Marty McSorley.
Get over yourselves
The only thing more comical then CBC's cries of gross injustice because Detroit coach Dave Lewis dared to keep Curtis Joseph out of his return to Toronto - and on Hockey Night in Toronto ? err ? Canada no less - was their griping about a Sports Illustrated "cover story" that criticized their beloved Leafs as "the NHL's most notorious band of whiners, divers and cheap-shot artists."
Not only was most of the article bang-on true, but it wasn't even newsworthy enough to demand a place on SI's cover, as CBC commentators (and a few others locally) insisted. The cover was actually dedicated to something far more important then Leafs hockey: high school sports. Toronto-bashing was reserved for page 48, but at least they got a teaser photo in the "Leading off" section.
ICECHIPS: Crawford has never been one to mess with a winning mix (the re-insertion of Daniel Sedin after a one-win press box sit-down being a notable exception), but there were signs sitting Swedish centre Mats Lindgren might get back into the lineup after watching the last four games. Lindgren has been skating regularly with Cooke and Trevor Letowski in practice and could take the place of Langdon, who skated as an extra forward with Jarkko Ruutu in practice Tuesday. ? Crawford said Tuesday that Canucks GM Brian Burke had interest in centre Andrei Nikolishin before the Blackhawks acquired him from Washington earlier this month. ? Suspended Theo Fleury created a stir when he skated onto the ice as the Hawks were completing their workout Saturday, but Sutter said his ice time just overlapped the rest of the guys. Fleury still can't practice with the team or give media interviews, according to the rules of his suspension for violating his substance-abuse aftercare program. One report out of Chicago said Fleury could join the Hawks on this trip. ? Wednesday's game will be the second of an annual two-week road trip for the Blackhawks, who always make way for the circus in November. This time they play seven games and all against western teams they'll be battling for playoff spots so they're hoping to avoid last year's fate, when they entered on a four-game win streak, but went 0-3-3 on the trip to spark a 0-5-4 slide.
Cheers,
Aquaman