Roberto Luongo – Game 1 OT behind the back save
Roberto Luongo – Game 4 Breakaway Save that would make it 3-1
Roberto Luongo – Game 6 Ridonkalous save on Ryan Smyth while down and out

Steve Bernier – 4 Goals in the Series
Mikael Samuelsson 7 Goals and 11 pts in the series
Daniel Sedin – 10 points in series
Henrik Sedin – 8 points in series

the Swedes came to play and Steve “Stone Hands” Bernier seems to have found some finish Great Great Series and Congrats to All Kings Fans that easily could have gone to the Kings but we just had the difference makers that came up big when it counted. Kings going to be dangerous in the next few years. Not ONE minus player on the Canucks.

GO CANUCKS GO

After reading a really good article from a Chicago Blackhawks Site www.paintitblackhawks.com, we wanted to give a top 5 Canucks Thingy that we learned about our team this year that may help them or may hurt them in the playoffs this spring.

1. Cardiac Canucks
2. Home Sweet Home
3. Road Kittens
4. One line team no more
5. Confidence and Health

1. Cardiac Canucks - There was NO team better than the Canucks this year at overcoming deficits going into the third period of play. The Canucks won 11 times when trailing going into the 3rd period. Since the 1997-98 season, only six teams have had more come-from-behind wins than the Canucks.

Thoughts: This can only be good for our home town heroes. They know they can come back from almost any deficit (see the Colorado 6-4 win game when they overcame a 3-0 1st period deficit)

2. Home Sweet Home – Canucks were 30-8-3 at home, second only to the Capitals (30-5-6). This will bode well for confidence and home ice advantage to at least the conference finals should we make it there.

Thoughts: You gotta win at home to prove you can go far in the playoffs. And the Canucks did it in spades this year. What a home stand.

3. Road Kittens – Canucks were 19-20-2 on the Road this year, good (or bad) for 17th in the league. We have to point out that 1 game under .500 on the road is not terrible by any means not at all, its just plain average. What is terrible is the way they played on the road this year. They barely scraped by one of the worst teams in the League (Maple Leafs) after falling behind 3-0 in the first period and lost to THE worst team (Oilers) in the league 3-2. This team was Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to home and away hockey. At home they are the most dominant force in the league. On the road they more resemble one of the bottom half.

Thoughts: The way they played on the road this year was too inconsistent and if they cant come fast on the road soon they will not do anything in the playoffs. Lets look at the last 5 stanley cup champions road records

Penguins 20-15-6
RedWings 25-12-4
Ducks 22-14-5
Hurricanes 21-14-6
Lightning 22-12-4-3

Not one of those teams had a subpar road record (the Penguins being probably the worst of the bunch) and its no fluke. YOU HAVE TO WIN ON THE ROAD.

4. One Line Team No More - The Canucks were the second highest scoring team in the league. They boast 6-25 goal scorers, the Art Ross Trophy Winner (Henrik Sedin 112 points) and have 4 of the top 10 +/- players in the League, second again only to the Capitals.

Thoughts: This team can score and in bunches. If that Can Hold up it might…. just might be able to over come #5.

5. Healthy Confidence – The Health of the Canucks backend is scary beyond belief. Willie Mitchell has not played in months and has most likely played the last game of his Canucks career (hopefully not) because of a concussion. Sami Salo says he is banged up but we all know that one bad luck moment and Sami is done like he has been every year he has played for us. At the start of the year we had a healthy line up of defensemen in order of team rank of importance  1 Mitchell 2 Salo 3 Edler 4 Errhoff 5 Bieksa 6 SOB 7 Schneider 8 Lukowitch 9 Rome 10 Baumer 11 Nycholatt 12 McIver 13 Oberg. Last game we played we had a line up of serviceable defensemen in order of team rank of importance 3 Edler 4 Erhoff 5 Bieksa ? Alberts (acquired at deadline) 10 Baumer and 13 Oberg with O’Brien back from banishment and Salo back from injury it doesn’t look as bad however having Rome and Alberts play on the same line really makes us nervous. The Confidence we speak of is of no other than our Captain and Gold Medal Winning Goalie Roberto Luongo. Can Luongo overcome a very shakey end to the season and come out of the shadow of a poor outing against the Chicago Blackhawks one year ago.

Thoughts: It will come down to our Defensemen and Roberto Luongo playing at their utmost best. Sure we can score in the regular season but the NHL is different in the playoffs and the lines will be matched better, the coaching is better and the players are better. Can we keep up the scoring? if not then our Defense and Goaltending must help save our bacon in that department. If not then we may not beat the Kings.