A Second Consecutive ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Season

Vigneault, the twins and their teammates are putting together a second straight season to remember.

Much was said about the Vancouver Canucks setting franchise records with 54 victories and 117 points last season. With a 17-1-2 stretch from late November through late January, and a 12-1 roll in March a year ago – the Canucks were doing things no team in the franchise’s 40-year history had ever accomplished. And it all added up to an NHL best record and the first President’s Trophy in the hockey club’s history. But you know all of that. You also know that when the final buzzer sounded on June 15th, none of that mattered.

Read on past the jump!

Still, as far as regular seasons go it was unlike anything that anyone in Vancouver had ever witnessed and the thinking heading into this season was that the 2011-12 Canucks should be very good again, but none of what they did last season could possibly be duplicated. Teams simply don’t get on those types of rolls last season’s Canucks had year after year. Or do they?

With Thursday’s 3-1 victory over Colorado, the Vancouver Canucks are on an 8-0-3 run. They are 12-2-4 since the beginning of January and 18-4-4 starting with a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 at the Air Canada Centre on December 17th. In fact, wind it back even further – to a 3-2 loss in St. Louis on November 4th which left the Canucks wallowing at 6-7-1 through their first 14 games, the team is a remarkable 30-8-5 since then.

The Canucks are now 36-15-6 on the season good for 78 points from the 57 games they have played so far. And with their latest stretch of success (8-0-3), the Canucks are currently on pace for a 112 point season. But consider that 14 of their final 25 games are to be played on home ice and it’s not hard to imagine this team pushing its projected point total skyward.

With 25 games remaining in the regular season, the Canucks require 39 points to match the 117 they accumulated a year ago. Does it matter a lick if they get there? Nope. Nope, not at all. But suddenly last year’s once in a lifetime point total is within reach. To get there, the Canucks need to go 19-5-1 over their final 25 games and 20-5 to eclipse last year’s total.

Considering the team has gained 40 points in their last 26 games, that is certainly within their grasp. Will they get there? Probably not. But it’s not out of the question especially if the Canucks take care of business on home ice down the stretch, if the Sedins awake from their slumber and the power-play shows signs of life again. If that happens for the hockey club, then maybe just maybe last year’s once in a lifetime occurrence will occur again for a second straight season.