It was everything a battle for the Northwest Division lead is supposed to be, and then some.

The Canucks and Flames battled over 1^st place in the Northwest Division last night, and neither team was willing to give up an inch of ice to their opposition.

Rick Rypien and Brandon Prust fought twice in two long, spirited, tilt, and when they kept their gloves on the rest of the Canucks and Flames did battle, throwing hit after hit in a fierce battle at GM place.

Renee Bourque opened the scoring half way through the first period, as he straight up beat Shane O’Brien wide on the rush and lifted one up past Luongo.  O’Brien looked like his “old” self last night, taking four minutes in minor penalties and getting beat for the goal, surely a game Shane would like to forget. O’Brien has been playing some of his best hockey lately; hopefully last night was just a minor hiccup to begin a consistent second half of the season.

Speaking of playing well lately, Mikael “$&#% themselves” Samuelsson continued his streak of solid play, netting his 15^th of the year off of an attempted wrap around by Mason Raymond, who also has been on his ‘A’ game since Christmas.

In the second period, the Canucks top line of Sedin, Sedin and Burrows had some magic in store on the rush, Christian Ehrhoff sent Henrik Sedin in alone on a partial break against Miikka Kiprusoff, but Henrik elected to bait the first defender rushing to catch him, leaving the puck and a gaping cage to his brother Daniel, who simply buried the puck as if both brothers knew how the play would end. While being twins sure helps, the chemistry and playmaking between the twins is unbelievable at times.

Five minutes later, the Flames surprised not only the Canucks, but the CBC crew and myself as well, scoring at 9:54 of the 2^nd before CBC could finish its piece on Glen Hanlon, and before I could get back to the couch from the fridge. Don’t you hate when that happens? Jamie Lundmark put a faceoff deflection on net which found its way through Luongo’s pads. Not a good goal for Luongo, especially up a goal in such a tight game.

The Canucks carried momentum throughout the rest of the 2^nd period, but were unable to turn their energy into any goals. Daniel Sedin was robbed by Kiprusoff on the power play late in the 2^nd, another potential Canucks’ game winner stolen by Miika Kiprusoff, are the Canucks as tired of getting robbed by Kiprusoff as I am tired of watching him rob them game after game?

The third period was 20 minutes of pure hockey war, both teams brought tough hits and intense forechecking, but were both unable to find the back of the net and put the game away. In overtime, both teams seemed to sit back and wait for the shootout, I wish they hadn’t.

A penalty shot is one of the most exciting plays in hockey, the shootout however makes me want to puke. 65 minutes of hard fought hockey, and the game (and a vital extra point) is going to be decided by a shootout? A manufactured scoring system used in order to end games early, so that broadcasters don’t have to push back another episode of Coronation Street? Gross. It is so wrong to end a game as intense as last night’s with a shootout, think Rick Rypien and Brandon Prust wanted to fight TWICE just so the game could be decided on a glorified skills competition? . Thank Gordie that come April, the games will be decided that right way.

Long story short, the Canucks fell 3-2 in a shootout and I don’t like it. All I will say about it is that Luongo has got to stop at least one of the three shots he faces in order to help this team win the skills competition shootout. Loser points, appropriately named, are for losers. The Canucks don’t need any more of them.

It’s only fitting that I go from the shootout to the fan idiot with the laser pointer at the game last night. The only thing more disgusting about the shootout last night was the dumbass sitting in the front row with a green laser pointer trained on Miika Kiprusoff’s head. I am all for team spirit, dressing up in team colours, wearing green jumpsuits, yelling at opposing players, chanting opposing goaltender’s names, it’s all good times and I’m all for supporting the home team (or the away team, if you’re brave enough)and I commend those who go to such lengths to support the Canucks.

However…

IN NO WAY SHOULD A FAN USE A WHISTLE, LASER POINTER, OR ANY OTHER DEVICE TO INFLUENCE THE DIRECT OUTCOME OF A SPORTS GAME. EVER. Even if it is against the evil Flames. These laser pointer shenanigans are just another episode of Canucks fans gone wrong, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. That clown should have been beat up or tossed out by the first REAL Canucks fan or GM Place security guard who saw the laser. This individual can be added to the list of garbage hurling idiots who were at game 5 last year against the Blackhawks, you’re not welcome back.

Canucks Fans: Our passion is rarely rivalled by other fans in the NHL; let’s keep it that way with positive support of our team, not like the cheap trick attempted at GM Place on Saturday. Never throw anything on the ice either. Unless it’s a teddy bear for a fundraiser, or a hat to salute a three goal scorer, just keep it to yourself.

I’m honestly at peace with the Canucks shootout loss because we deserved it, the shootout is a coin toss, and we lost. The hockey gods flipped a coin; on one side was a laser pointer wielding idiot, the other, Jamie Lundmark. Guess which side landed up.

As mentioned earlier, Rick Rypien and Brandon Prust had two beauties last night, dropping the gloves twice in one of the most intense, spirited games of the season from the Canucks and Flames. Here are both fights in all their glory.

The first fight of the night, I thought Rypien won the fight early and late, but Prust did have a good rally in the middle, however I thought it was mostly built upon Rypien vulnerability after getting up off the ice after slipping. The votes are split 42% Rypien, 40 % Prust at hockeyfights.com.

The second fight of the night between these two, Rypien holds 55% of the votes over at hockeyfights.com in this one.

Injuries, News and Notes

• Evan Oberg has been re-assigned to Manitoba; Sami Salo should be ready to play on Monday against the Predators.
• Aaron Rome is still day-to-day with a head injury suffered on a hit from Taylor Pyatt on Thursday.
• Ryan Johnson and Pavol Demitra are still out, however Demitra has been skating with the team and is slowly progressing towards a return.
• The Canucks are 5^th in the Western Conference after last night at 56 points, The Blackhawks lead the West with 66 and the Red Wings are just outside a playoff spot with 52.