Game 5: Vancouver vs. San Jose

For the last 9 games against San Jose, it seems as though they have had Vancouver’s number. It either ends up being a close game or like the one the other night not so close. San Jose is off to an excellent start this season and they played much better in the than the Canucks and the Sharks deserved to win. [That Hertl kid is quite a talented hockey player hey?!]

Positives in this game included: Santorelli and the penalty kill continued to be reliable. That being said, they will need to put a much stronger effort on the ice when they face off with the Sharks again.

Streaks of all kinds [good & bad] eventually come to an end and eventually you will see the Canucks once again win against the Sharks.

Game 6: Vancouver vs. Montreal

If you watch the Montreal vs. Vancouver game, then you saw that it was not Vancouver’s night. It definitely was not the Canucks night when just about everything went wrong….including a costly defensive error on the game winning goal.

It was a very difficult game to watch following that ‘own’ goal…[it’s right up there with the one on Jonathan Quick last week]. It was purely a stroke of bad luck but Montreal pretty well controlled the momentum from there. It’s a tough goal to swallow but they happen to every team once in awhile, you just have to let it go and move on to the next game.

One positive from this game was the fact that Henrik Sedin scored not only his first goal of the season but his 799th career point! He may not have notched #800 Saturday night but he will most certainly earn it on the Canucks upcoming road trip. [**Side note…Daniel has 765 career points & counting…we will more than likely see him also hit the 800 points mark later this season!]

Moving Forward: The Canucks will have to shake off the dust from these two games as they prepare for their 7-game road trip. It is important to remember that it is still early in the season and the team is still adjusting to the new systems under Torts. A season is not built and decided upon 6 games…it is an 82 game journey. You cannot win every game. There will be good games and there will be bad games but EVERY game is a part of that journey.

The Canucks still have 9 games left in October and this upcoming road trip will be an excellent building block to turn things back in their favour. A key in moving forward is they need to start a new HABIT that includes not coming from behind every game…it is difficult to win if you are constantly having to come from behind.

Here’s to a great road trip by the team where some they learn to further adapt to the #TortsSystems and support each other both offensively and defensively.

As always, until next time, nuck said.

Sarah E.L.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all  my readers in Canada!