On natural disasters and the Avalanche

This Canucks’ season has borne many similarities to a natural disaster, which isn’t quite as bad as it sounds. Like many an avalanche, there were great expectations for its power and force at first, which were somewhat muted by a slow start and an extensive injury list. The initial snowball just kept rolling though, gaining strength and force as the season went on and getting closer to what was initially predicted. It’s perhaps appropriate that Saturday’s 8-2 victory came against the Colorado Avalanche [Mile High Report], who despite their name, have gone the other way; they started off with no expectations and quickly became one of the league’s hottest teams, but have been in a bit of a slump ever since and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. It’s not like they decided to take the night off, either; as Adrian Dater reported [All Things Avs], head coach Joe Sacco called this one a “must-win” before the game.

Saturday’s win showed off pretty much everything that could be hoped for from the Canucks. They got strong goaltending from Roberto Luongo, solid defensive play and a huge amount of offence [Sean Zandberg, Nucks Misconduct]. The first line led the charge, with Henrik Sedin potting a hat trick, but grinders like Ryan Johnson (three assists) and Tanner Glass (one goal, one assist) also played crucial roles. Even the defence got into the act, with Mathieu Schneider recording a goal and an assist and Kevin Bieksa adding two assists, and less-prominent players like Steve Bernier (two goals) and Jannik Hansen (one goal, one assist) turned in solid nights as well. That kind of scoring in depth is crucial if the Canucks hope to find a lot of success this year.

Before getting too euphoric about this though, remember that the Avalanche have been in a deep slump lately. Also, the game was at an unusual time for them (8 p.m. Mountain Time, thanks to Hockey Night In Canada’s broadcast of it), and they actually pulled within two goals in the third period. They also outshot Vancouver 34-30, and 27-17 over the last two periods. This was a good win for the Canucks, and it certainly demonstrated their potential, but a big part of the magnitude of the victory was a natural implosion on the part of the Avalanche, not a man-made explosion by the Canucks. It’s far from time to start planning the parade [Cam Davie, Canucks Army], especially considering that the team is 10th in the West and out of a playoff spot at the moment. The Canucks need to keep working hard, and they can’t start believing their own press clippings the way they did at the start of the year.

As star players come off the injured list, there’s a natural tendency for teams to relax and assume that everything will be all right. This often causes problems, as the returning players can’t do it all on their own. The Canucks need to stay medium, not getting too excited about either wins or losses. If they can do that and keep building on their momentum, we might just see the full potential of their avalanche yet.

Tags: Colorado Avalanche, Henrik Sedin, Jannik Hansen, Kevin Bieksa, Mathieu Schneider, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Johnson, Steve Bernier, Tanner Glass