Today is a huge day for the Vancouver Canucks, and things can certainly get much worse than they are right now. Down 2-0 in the first round to the 8th seeded Los Angeles Kings and headed into their barn at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, what's the worst that could happen? Well, they could go down 3-0 and statistically the odds would begin to crush the Canucks, as only three teams in the entire history of the NHL have ever come back from that defecit.
As I said yesterday, the Canucks showed signs of improvement in Game 2. That upward trend will need to continue tonight as the President's Trophy winners attempt to stake a claim in this series before it is too late. They know they will be doing it without the aid of winger Daniel Sedin, who did not travel with the team to Los Angeles and whose status for this series looks increasingly doubtful.
We do not yet know who will be between the pipes for Vancouver. Alain Vigneault was cryptic in answering the goaltending question yesterday, stating that he knew who he was going with but he had not informed his goaltenders yet. An answer that seemed to indicate he would be using backup Cory Schneider in this game. It's not an unprecedented move by Vigneault if he does to decide to go for it, but it does signify that he is going all in on this series with his job on the line.
Last year in the first round, the Canucks were heading into Game 6 in Chicago. They had just dropped Games 4 and 5 in brutally abysmal fashion, losing 7-2 and 5-0 with Roberto Luongo being chased from the net on both occasions. The team performed even worse in those two outings than they have in the first two games of this series, and the talk in both the media and the fanbase turned to what to do with Luongo and Schneider for Games 6 and 7.
Many agreed that Luongo should be given one more shot in Game 6, and if he dropped the ball once more, to let Cory Schneider try his hand at the winner take all Game 7. But Alain Vigneault shook things up; he used his thoroughbread backup goaltender in Game 6, avoiding throwing him into the elimination scenario of a Game 7. It also allowed Vigneault to play this hand without costing the Canucks the series, as win or lose, there would be a 7th game.
Vigneault now finds himself in the same scenario. If he uses Schneider tonight and the team wins, the Canucks go into Wednesday's game with a chance to even the series and Vigneault looks like a shrewd, Jack Adams winning coach (which he is). If Schneider goes in tonight and it fails to spark the team, Vigneault tried his best chance at shaking up the roster and can revert back to Roberto Luongo - the team's best player in Games 1 and 2 - for the elimination game with the Canucks' backs truly and finally against the wall in Game 4.
The one thing that needs to occur, no matter who is in net, is that the Canucks need to bring their A-Game. They have not forced Kings' netminder Jonathan Quick to work anywhere near hard enough yet in this series. True, they fired 47 shots at him in Game 2, but a stunning number of those were from the perimeter and Quick handled them with ease. There were a few goalmouth scrambles where the Canucks had a good chance. This was all the result of getting basic shot on net and crashing for a rebound. The Canucks need to do this at every opportunity, and they have plenty of guys willing to do it. Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler, David Booth and Zack Kassian are all players who make a living on going to do the dirty areas to score goals. Cut their leashes and let them do it.
But above all, the power play needs to up its battle level. It's one thing if it's so bad it is not scoring, but it's a whole different kettle of fish if it's so bad that it allows two shorthanded goals against. The Canucks can ill afford to continue to lose the special teams battle in this series, as that is where it has been decided so far.
The Canucks have better to give, and tonight they need to show it. We have barely seen a flash of the team that battled all the way to the end of the Stanley Cup Final last June, and we know that they are in there somewhere. Alex Burrows' overtime heroics, Ryan Kesler's ability to change a series, Kevin Bieksa's propensity for scoring big goals, Henrik Sedin's sublime playmaking, Maxim Lapierre's crushing physical ability, and whoever is in net's ability to make the big save.
It's all in there, it just needs to come to the surface. And the Canucks have not needed it to appear on any night this year more than they will need it tonight.
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