Surviving the Homestand
We finally heard the crowd cheer on the Canucks at Friday’s game against San Jose, which arrived to officially kick off the season in Vancouver.
Thud.
That game was a mixture of good and evil — good that the Canucks can score 4 goals in a pinch; bad that Roberto Luongo can let in 6 on a crap night; good that Ryan Kesler was back without lingering injuries; bad that the defense allowed 37 shots against our net; good that Markus Naslund scored his 300th goal as a Vancouver Canuck; bad that…
Oh dear God, never mind.
Tonight’s game against Edmonton is a second shot to impress the home fans, and avoid dipping below .500. The season record at 2-2-1 is fairly respectable for a team that wants to depend so exclusively on defense (whether they get it or not) but there are troubling issues as well.
In broad terms:
1. Can Roberto Luongo stop a breakaway? On last week’s podcast, I speculated that Luongo was good on breakaways and crap on shoot outs. I was obviously completely talking out of my ass — our superstar goalie, for all his gifts, has a noticeable problem dealing one-on-one with a shooter, in all scenarios. (Top shelf, anyone?)
2. Our defense, the only thing between Luongo and 37 shots Friday night, allowed, well, 37 damn shots Friday night. And the trend for shots on goal from game 1-5 is: 28, 20, 35, 36, 37. Something is wrong with this picture.
3. Our offense. There is nothing to say about this that isn’t obvious to every single person in the hockey world: Vancouver barely has any offense. Although something like Daniel Sedin’s goal was worth the price of admission last Friday, not much else is.
By the way, Ed Willis’ column in the Vancouver Sun last Friday had this header: “The Canucks should celebrate their status as the most boring team in the NHL”. Am I the only person who has a problem with this?
I’d like to break down the performance of every player but perhaps I’ll leave it alone for a bit longer. I mean, what the hell do you say about a guy like Fitzpatrick? I still can’t even remember the dude’s number.
October 16th, 2006 at 10:15 am
Roberto was blaming his new pads for his crappy play on Friday. Since when do new pads have anything to do with a player going top shelf on him?
October 16th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Can Luongo stop a breakaway? I talked to a goalie coach and a friend of mine yesterday and we analyzed it all. I won’t repeat it all because I posted it today. But come check it out! It all comes down to goalie coach Ian Clark…
October 16th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Trini – I can understand if they create problems — those pads are so damn big and maybe it messes with your whole positioning, changing them. But you’re right anyway, since he changed into his own pads early on in the game (didn’t he?)
Zanstorm — That’s a good article - thanks! I was thinking on Saturday that Luongo’s goaltending coaches must have been worrying about their jobs surviving the weekend. It’s such a noticeable flaw in his game — I wonder how they worked on it in Florida? This must have been an issue in the past, as well.
October 16th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Yeah, so why didn’t Clark fix this issue in Florida? Maybe this is a newer style of goaltending technique that he is preaching. I am not sure. Maybe Luongo wasn’t listening, or sleeping in class!
October 16th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
[…] Surviving the Homestand […]
October 16th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
I’ve slowly been able to watch games…and I have to say this…
Game 1. Exciting and hard working.
Game 2. hard working
Game 3. hard
Game 4. uhhhhh
I said it this summer…there is no pop on this team and we are all going to have to get used to it. I think I remember asking people if they were prepared for the slow-it-down style of a coach with a mediocre NHL record. I love hard-nosed hockey just like the next guy/gal…but, it had better be hard nosed hockey with some offensive fire. People do not jump out of their seats and cheer for 3 minutes when someone poke checks a puck away at center ice…it happens when someone scores on YOUR team.
I love the ‘nucks…and we’ve been a bit spoiled the past few years. Hey…I’m a Cub fan too…I’m a patient fan. But, I really think that everyone was getting a little overly excited about this team before it took the ice.
When Josh Green is the forward with the most ice-time on the team, game after game…you have to wonder.
October 17th, 2006 at 12:20 am
I’ve agreed with you all along about this direction towards defense. It always felt too extreme to me, because it seemed (in a way) like everyone was willing to sacrifice 82 games of great hockey for the unlikely chance of playoff success.
What we have now could be the worst case scenario of this — or maybe it’s got potential. I don’t know yet. But when you consider game #1 in particular and now game #6 tonight, you can also imagine how things could work out.
Tonight’s game showed they could be defensive and offensive. And if that’s the case, we might still get some decent entertainment during the 82 game ride.
You’ll have to tell me what you think once you see game #6.