After an ugly start and an equally impressive comeback over the Leafs on Hockey Day in Canada, the Vancouver Canucks look to continue to improve on the road and overcome the .500 barrier away from GM Place.

Since news of Mike Cammalleri’s knee injury, the Canadiens are probably just looking to keep their head above water as they try to survive in an increasingly tight Eastern conference. Eight teams are separated by only FIVE points that stretches from 5^th place to 13^th place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Tonight the NHL’s leading scorer, his twin brother, French step-brother, and the rest of the Canucks take on the Montreal Canadiens, who look like they need a push off of the trade deadline fence. The Canucks seem to be very good at kicking personnel out of town this season. John Stevens, Andy Murray, and most recently the quartet of Maple Leafs (White, Mayers, Stajan and Hagman) have all been fired or traded immediately following losses to the Canucks.

I’d say it’s time to chase a couple ‘Habs out of town wouldn’t you?

Heads up, Carey.

After all the controversy and shenanigans that has followed Carey Price in his young career in Montreal, wouldn’t it be nice to do him a favour and send him off to another city? I honestly feel like Price could become a solid #1 in another city, the pressure of living in a fishbowl in Montreal was too much, can you really blame him? Losing doesn’t bode well with home town fans, and the man between the pipes is often at the top of the blame list.

But enough about the troubles of playing in Montreal, two points is up for grabs right now, that’s been the focus all year for the Canucks, and has been one of the reasons I think the Canucks have been consistently improving this year. Focus.

To most NHL teams, an incident like the Stephane Auger/Alex Burrows confrontation would be a recipe for disaster, however since that infamous game in early January the Canucks are 7-1, losing their only game in that stretch two days after the incident while the media circus was still in full swing. Hell of a turnaround from the guys, especially Burrows himself.

A red hot top line also helps too.

In their last five games, the Sedin Sedin Burrows line is a plus 23, combining for 26 points over that span. Three players averaging more than five points per game between them, wow. It’s no wonder the Sedins have gone from a west coast secret to the league’s new darlings. I can’t be the only one who thinks it is hilarious that #1 enemy of the state Alex Burrows is playing on a top line with the Sedin Twins, who are two of the quietest and cleanest hockey players the NHL has been able to market in years. Except for that #78 guy, what’s his name, Sidney something?

So while the Sedin twins and Burrows continue their scoring streak of late, the rest of the Canuck team has also been extremely effective during this recent winning streak. Mikael Samuelsson has been huge since he was snubbed off of the Swedish Olympic Team and told team management they can “go [Gretzky] themselves”. His line mates, Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond have also been solid recently. Kesler has six points in his last five, posting a +9. Raymond quietly put up 6 points and a plus 3.

*For the un-initiated, any use of Wayne Gretzky’s name or any part of his name used in square brackets is meant to hide colourful language. The stronger the word, the closer to the Great One’s full name, you get the picture.

While all of these players have contributed impressively to the Canucks recent success, a few names that are often left out of the conversation must also be mentioned.

Since Vancouver’s top three defensemen have all gone down to injury, the transition of call-ups Nolan Baumgartner, Aaron Rome and Brad Lukowich has been seamless. All three players have contributed significant minutes, often around 15 minutes of ice time a game, very impressive for players straight from the AHL. These guys aren’t playing garbage minutes either, without Mitchell, Salo and Bieksa the Canucks rolled all six defensemen generously, allowing everyone to get into the flow of the game play confidently. Give Alain Vigneault huge credit for having confidence in these guys, as well as the players themselves for stepping up big. Way to work guys.

Tough break for Baumer, he will be replaced by a healthy Sami Salo tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is called up again sometime soon, he was fantastic. His play sure makes me feel good about the Canucks’ organizational depth at defence, which could be huge down the stretch. Lukowich and Rome will hold down the third defensive pairing tonight.

It’s a big game for the Canucks tonight as they look to build on the last 40 minutes of the Hockey Day in Canada matchup against the Leafs. Look for the Canucks to have a sharp opening 20, correcting an awful start that almost lost the game in Toronto. It’s Pay Per View tonight, so pile into the bar or order the game with friends and enjoy, here’s hoping the Canucks take it to the ‘Habs, I can’t get enough of it.

News, Notes and Injuries

• Ryan Johnson will join the line-up again tonight on the 4^th line, taking back his spot from Tanner Glass who will likely be a healthy scratch tonight.
• As mentioned above, Sami Salo is back in, Nolan Baumgartner is out.
• Willie Mitchell is still out with an “upper body injury” as per Canucks.com. However I’ve heard it could be a back injury, or possibly concussion, time will tell.
• Kevin Bieksa is of course out indefinitely with an Ankle laceration.
• The new Canucks desktop Wallpapers are up for February, featuring six different wallpapers, one for each of the Canucks Olympic athletes (The Sedins shared theirs). Very cool stuff from the Canucks multimedia guys. As for me, I’m rolling with Louie.
• Tonight also marks the first meeting of Rick Rypien and Hal Gill since their epic “David vs. Goliath” fight in October. I don’t think there is a single hockey fan on this earth who wouldn’t want to see Rypien vs. Gill round two. Please Hockey Gods, make it so!

Until tonight, this should hold you over.