With targets on their backs as the defending Western Conference champions, the Vancouver Canucks have struggled against some eager foes. Last year, a win over the Avalanche seemed to snap their funk. The same thing may be happening this year.
DENVER – Digits have been replaced by targets on Vancouver Canucks uniforms this season. Figuratively speaking, of course.
But that is what happens when you're the defending Western Conference champion, the defending Presidents' Trophy winner (owners of the best regular-season record in 2010-11) and a team that came within one game of hoisting the Stanley Cup.
So it should not have come as a surprise to any of the Canucks that opponents are playing with more passion against them than the next team.
Maybe it also should not have surprised any skeptics that the Canucks would come out of their early-season funk with a vengeance, just as they did a year ago.
"We're pretty happy with our play and we need to continue with this," center Ryan Kesler said of the team's recent resurgence. "If we keep getting better every game, we're going to be right where we want to be at the end of the season, and that's a positive."
The Canucks might want to think about sending a thank-you note to the Colorado Avalanche. For the second year in a row, the Canucks have caught fire after knocking off the Avalanche, most recently a 3-0 win Wednesday in Denver behind the solid work of backup goalie Cory Schneider (pictured above).
The Canucks were sitting with 21 points in their first 20 games before entering the Pepsi Center, the same total a year ago before they skated to a 4-2 win against the Avalanche in Vancouver. The Canucks took off after that, running up an 18-1-2 record in the next 21 games to seize control of the Northwest Division and Western Conference. They followed that run with winning streaks of seven, six and five games.
The Canucks could be following a similar route. They have won six of eight games since tumbling under .500 on Nov. 4 and have outscored teams 10-1 during a three-game winning streak to improve to a more respectable 12-9-1 mark.
"Lately we've been playing a lot better the last two or three weeks," defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. "We're not where we want to be in the standings, but our game is coming along."
The Canucks have been doing it without No. 1 goalie Roberto Luongo, who is finally healthy after missing several games with an upper body injury. Several other key players are beginning to round into form.
Kesler, a 41-goal scorer and Selke Trophy winner a year ago, is finding his stride after recovering from offseason hip surgery; defenseman Dan Hamhuis hadn't been at his best until recently after undergoing abdominal surgery in June, and defenseman Keith Ballard missed several games because of back spasms.
"My game is coming," Kesler told Vancouver reporters. "It's a work in progress and it was tough not starting the season and getting the legs going and I've been feeling better each and every game, and that's a positive sign. I'm feeling more and more confident out there and I think it shows. I thought we generated a lot. for the past three games, improving every game and (playing) pretty sound defensively."
The Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, are as dangerous as ever. And the Canucks' special teams play has been terrific. Vancouver boasts the NHL's best power play (24.5 percent success rate) and the sixth-rated penalty killing unit (86.5 percent), having thwarted 13 consecutive short-handed situations during the three-game winning streak.
"They have a lot of high-end skill and they're tough on the back end and they have good goaltending," Avalanche center Paul Stastny said. "They have depth everywhere and they're a good special-teams team."
Sure looks like the Canucks are back, most likely for good.
Photos by Getty Images
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