Highlights

Quick Hits

• The talk of the town today was Willie Desjardins switching things up in his top-six forwards. The plan was to play Alex Burrows with the twins and Radim Vrbata with the second line. Well, the best laid schemes of mice and men… As it turns out, Vrbata would miss tonight’s game with illness. You know, of the Buckley’s variety. Taking Vrbata’s spot on the second line was Linden Vey, which only goes to show players like Zack Kassian that you have to both prove yourself and exhibit the qualities of a prototypical power forward to be given top-six consideration. It certainly doesn’t hurt to be a former Medicine Hat Tiger. 
• As an aside, Vey had quite the night on Nick Bonino’s right flank. No complaints with his performance whatsoever. Vey potted the game winning goal, had two shots and was a 73% possession player, with a grueling 33% OZ starts.
• Kassian himself was rocking some kind of game tonight. It was a peculiar sight, watching the cerebral Kassian try his best to look like the power forward everyone wants him to be. In one instance, I watched Kassian pass up a blatant opportunity to make a net-drive play that would surely endear himself to both the coaching staff and media, for a pass from the half-wall into the slot. These plays come naturally for Kassian. Then there’s Kassian unleashed, trying his absolute best to destroy the Isles player at the bench and nearly losing his own torso in the process. Physically, Kassian has the attributes to make that kind of a play. They just don’t come naturally to him, though, and this should be fairly obvious by now to anyone who watches him play with any regularity. Like, you know, the teams coaching and management. Lets end all this “power forward” nonsense and let the kid play his game. I’m looking at you, Imac.

• It was nice to see Nick Bonino find his game offensively again. One needn’t take hallucinogenics to see the monkey peeled from “Bones” back following his first goal in seven games. If we’re using Benning’s logic regarding garbage time points, it’s been 23-games since Bonino scored. Or something. Nearly as encouraging as Bonino’s goal tonight was the five shots that accompanied it. 
• This season has been especially difficult for the waning community of Kevin Bieksa fans, which includes me, myself and I. If we’re in the finger pointing mood, which we of course are (because Vancouver), it’s Bieksa who was directly responsible for the Canucks two goals against on the night. The first goal, surrendered on an Isles rush play in the first, saw Bieksa get out-muscled by noted face puncher and board smasher, Matt Martin, for a pass in the slot which would be redirected past a sprawled Lack. The second Isles goal came on a lazy attempt at a zone-exit by Bieksa, who coughed the puck up at the blue line only to see it past Lack second later.
• Stick-tap to Lack. The lanky netminder was able to celebrate his 27th birthday, which came yesterday, with a solid performance in net tonight and a W for his troubles. His sv% of .916 is starting to look “real good” and I have to wonder if Lack will get more starts as the season winds down as a result. He’s certainly earned them, and Ryan Miller seems to have realized that fatigue management is pretty important for someone who’s close to 85 in goalie years. The crowd let loose with the “Eddie! Eddie” chants tonight, so he’s no shortage of backers anyways. 

Conclusion