We’re now through four games of the Stanley Cup final and the Vancouver Canucks have scored precisely five goals on Bruins netminder Tim Thomas. Of those five goals, only four of them were meaningful (the late goal in game 3 was scored in garbage time). Everyone is blaming Luongo right now (and there is validity to that blame), but they are not going to win this series unless they can score more goals. So this begs the question: how do the Canucks solve Tim Thomas?

Get more traffic in front of Thomas

This is the obvious answer, and the answer that is used whenever a team is struggling to score goals, but it’s true. Go to the net, bother him, get tip-in tries.

Don’t be so picky

Tim Thomas is a great reactionary goaltender, so the tendency is to try to overpass the puck, trying to get Thomas caught out of his net. While this is a good strategy, it’s only a good strategy to a point. Thomas gives up rebounds. If you throw enough to the net, you are bound to get a favourable bounce and that will result in a goal. Just like Daniel Sedin’s goal in game 2.

Better Ice

Game 5 will almost surely have better ice than we saw in game 3 and 4. Hot and humid conditions in Boston caused the puck to look like a tennis ball out there, bouncing off of sticks all over the place. While the conditions were the same for both teams, I feel like bad ice favours the Bruins. The Canucks are much more of a puck possession team, while the Bruins are a chip and chase team. Bobbling pucks gave the Bruins even more chances to physically punish the Canucks defense. Better ice will allow the Canucks to move the puck with more purpose, giving the puck to their talented forwards with speed through the neutral zone. Better ice will also allow the Canucks to move the puck better on the power play, important given how much pressure the Bruins are placing on them.

Play Your Stars

I think everyone was in agreement that it was a good thing when Manny Malhotra returned to the lineup because Alain Vigneault could play his fourth line more consistently. And he has. The problem with that is that it’s taking ice time away from their top three lines. But now it’s crunch time. The big guns for the Canucks need to play, and play a lot. I would like to see the Sedins and Kesler playing over 20 minutes next game.

Tim Thomas looks unbeatable right now, and so do the Bruins. But the truth of the matter is, Thomas is beatable. He has been beaten before, and the Canucks can get to him. If they can ever find a way to get a lead in game 5, look out.

Manny Malhotra was back on the ice practicing with the Canucks on Friday, doing line rushes with Victor Oreskovich and Jeff Tambellini. He has been cleared to play, so presumably he will play in game 2. We have seen this movie before of course, when Malhotra was cleared to play, but didn’t in game 1. But assuming that Malhotra doesn’t experience a setback between now and the pre-game skate, we will see him in the lineup for game 2.

The other lineup change for the Canucks will be the insertion of Andrew Alberts (not Keith Ballard) for the injured Dan Hamhuis. I can’t say that I’m shocked by this decision, but I completely disagree with it. I’m sure that Alain Vigneault wants to go with a more conservative defenceman, that can deal with the big Bruins forwards in front of the net. I think that’s the wrong approach, as Keith Ballard can move the puck out of the zone with more ease. In any case, Andrew Alberts isn’t a bad player, and they should be ok either way.

5 Questions before game 2:

Will Zdeno Chara be in front of the net on the Bruins power play?

I sure hope so. It appears that Bruins head coach Claude Julien is the only one that thinks this is a good idea right now. Chara has one of the hardest shots in the league, yet they have him parked in front of Roberto Luongo. I’m confused as to why they don’t put big Milan Lucic in front of the net and have Chara pound shots from the point.

Will game 2 be another goaltending duel?

It will be interesting to see if Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas will both be able to keep up their stellar play. Lost in the euphoria of the Canucks win in game 1 was the fact that Tim Thomas made a number of amazing saves to keep the Bruins in it. If he plays like that again, he is bound to steal games for Boston.

How will the Bruins deal with the team speed of the Canucks?

I think the most telling part of game 1 was how much faster the Canucks were than the Bruins. And the Canucks know it. It’s likely the reason that Jeff Tambellini has drawn into the lineup ahead of Tanner Glass.

How much will the Canucks fourth line play?

Speaking of Tambellini, he lead all Canucks fourth liners in ice time with 2:30. The Bruins, on the other hand, played their fourth line a lot more. Campbell, Seguin and Paille each played between 5 and 8 minutes each. That will likely change if Manny Malhotra plays. That will be a huge benefit to the Canucks, especially if the game goes into overtime.

Will the Sedins break out?

There seemed to be some suggestion by the media that the Sedins had a sub par game in game 1. While they didn’t score, and didn’t look lethal with the man advantage, I thought they were very strong at 5-on-5. Daniel Sedin had 8 shots on goal. My question is if they can solve Tim Thomas. His unorthodox style seems to match up well with their Sedin trickery. If the Sedins break out, this could be a very short series.

…I can’t get enough of that guy.

Season Series: 2-2.

As the second round begins Thursday evening, here’s a few quick hits on what to watch for as the Canucks try to move on to the third round for the first time since 1994:

10. Nashville’s Plumbers. I’m sure many fans were screaming at their TVs during round one: “WHO THE F*** IS BEN SMITH?” Well get ready fans. Nashville is a team of non-stars who do an amazing job playing a team game. Martin Erat and Patrik Hornqvist are two of Nashville’s leading scorers, Sergei Kostitsyn is the better looking brother (I’ve seen Andrei in person) with Russian flair, Joel Ward, Blake Geoffrion (unbelievable blood lines this kid has), Mike Halischuk are up front and find ways to score big goals. Often injured but uber talented speedster Steve Sullivan plays on the PP and the 4th line(!), and JP Dumont has been a healthy scratch, only seeing ice time during Erat’s injury. The defense aside from Norris favourite Shea Weber and US Olympic Team member Ryan Suter, are also a bunch of unknowns, unless you’re a Vancouver Giants fan, as junior stars Cody Franson and Jon Blum return, along with Kevin Klein (who?) and probably the most well known Predator to Canucks fans, Shane O’Brien (more on him later). I purposely left out three more of Nashville’s role players, which brings us to #9.

9. The Smithson/Tootoo/Spaling Line. This line was unbelievable in game 6 vs. Anaheim. Tootoo (1-4-5) and Spaling (2-2-4), along with Smithson forecheck their asses off and wreaked havoc on the Ducks D. Tootoo is a human wrecking machine and the Canucks D better keep their heads up.

8. Raffi Torres. Will Torres return to his old self and punish more opponents on the forecheck without crossing the line? Ever since the Seabrook hit, Torres’ physical play has tailed off. He came back with a good game 7, but it’s still nowhere near where it needs to be. If Torres can be as effective as Tootoo, that’d be a fantastic wash in my opinion.

7. Special Teams. Nashville was rocked by Anaheim’s PP to the tune of a playoff worst 63.6% PK efficiency, while Vancouver’s PK is 7th at 79.3%. These numbers stray dramatically from the regular season and will be undoubtedly a major key in how the games will be won (both teams’ PP% are at 22.2%). Duncan Keith exploited the Canucks’ weak coverage of the points in games 4 and 5, and it will be very important for the Canucks PK to not allow Shea Weber’s cannon of a shot to be unleashed. If Weber can be neutralized, I like Vancouver’s chances.

6. The Sedins. The twins lead the team in scoring against Nashville in the regular season, with Danny putting up 4 and Henrik 3 against a stingy Predator defense. We can all agree that the gingers really need to step their game up a few notches for the team to be successful. Henrik passing off a 2-on-0 chance in game 7 showed weakness, but with the Hawks out of the way, I’m looking forward to the return of the twins that we’re used to seeing.

5. Carrie Underwood. Dear Cameramen, more camera time for her, please. Mike Fisher doesn’t need to score or fight for her to merit screen time. I look forward to seeing her during every stoppage in play. Thank you very much.

4. The Battle of the Vezina Finalists. The consensus here at canuckz.com is that Tim Thomas will win the Vezina, so Roberto Luongo and Pekka Rinne have something to prove to all the GMs who voted. What’s surprising is that neither goalie (I guess we can throw Thomas into the mix as well) has played well so far in the post season. Luongo has been pulled twice, and has statted at a 2.97 GAA and a .903 SV%. Surprisingly, Rinne hasn’t been better, with a GAA of 3.29 and a .876 SV% (he has also been pulled once). While both are tied in the most important stat (wins), I’m predicting that both goalies will be much better with better support from their defense, but I’m going to give the edge to Luongo. Getting over the hump in game 7 should do wonders for him. “You can’t achieve greatness without overcoming adversity.”

3. Kesler/Burrows/Raymond. With the Sedins not producing in game 7, this line was by far the best Canuck line. Their overall speed should create tons of problems for Nashville, especially in transition. This will be important especially if Nashville starts plugging up the neutral zone (which they will).

2. Old Friends, New Enemies. Shane O’Brien returns to Vancouver with one thing on his mind: vengeance. I find it hilarious how so many members of the media have said that OB has “changed” and that he’s much more disciplined. All you need to do is look at his 14 PIM in 6 games, where his team was burned for 4 PPG while he was in the box, to see that when it comes down to it, nothing really has changed. I actually liked OB as a 5th or 6th defenseman. I found him very underrated but his lack of discipline was a huge problem, on and off the ice.

On the flip side, but definitely less controversial, will be Dan Hamhuis playing against his former mates. Hamhuis looked terrible in game 6 vs. the Hawks, and was burned on Toews SH goal in game 7, but Hamhuis will not only be pumped to play his former team, he’s been feeding Alain Vigneault everything he knows about the Preds. OB may be doing the same, but for some reason, I don’t find his cerebral skills to be as valuable.

1. MORE CARRIE UNDERWOOD. ‘NUFF SAID.

What a debacle game 3 of the second round turned out to be. A 5-2 result in which the Canucks looked out of it past the 10 minute mark of the 1s t period. At the end of the night I felt like the Blackhawks had won, and won easily. In game 2 they had to scratch and claw their way to victory, but not in game 3.

Outsmarted

Chicago picked their spots to get under the skin of the Sedins and Luongo and they did it largely without taking a penalty. The ridiculousness of no goaltender interference penalty being called yet in this series is beside the point. They’re getting away with it. Dustin Byfuglien and Jonthan Toews both got away with inteference on Luongo which lead to Hawk goals. Those guys need to be taken care of by the Canucks D.

The Canucks need to ride that fine line also, the key being to do it without taking a penalty. The example of what not to do came from Alex Burrows on Brian Campbell in the 2nd period. A costly penalty for roughing up Brian Campbell, making it look too obvious, lead to a power play goal, and you have your game winner. David Bolland on the other hand was able to rough up Daniel Sedin while taking him off the ice with him, and there en lies the difference.

Goaltending

If the Canucks are to win this series, Roberto Luongo has to be better than Antti Niemi. Case closed. Niemi was better than Luongo last night as Luongo was unable to handle his rebounds all night. Of course his defense isn’t making it easy on him, as they were unwilling to move players from the crease or even willing to box players out. Take a look at Kevin Bieksa on the first goal for an example of what I mean.

GM Place = Library

What is up with the fans at GM Place? I have been to every playoff game at the Garage thus far and it is quiet in there. In the first round I chalked it up to LA not being a big rival and the fans not being as excited about the first round as we used to. But now, I don’t know. The team could have really used a jolt of adrenaline from the fans to start the game and it simply wasn’t there. I believe of the 16 playoff teams this post season, Vancouver probably has the 2nd or 3rd quietest fans, perhaps only ahead of Detroit and Ottawa. In game 3 versus Chicago, the fans were unable to start the ‘go Canucks go’ chant by themselves even once. That’s a first for a Canucks playoff game in my experience.

Reasons for this? Perhaps the 6:30pm start time played a factor, but it’s only half an hour earlier than usual. Perhaps the Canucks have finally priced most ‘real fans’ out of the building (ticket prices started at $150 each). What also must contribute to it is the brutal job done to pump up the fans before the game. There’s a decent pre-game montage on the video screen, but everything else leaves a lot to be desired. They play the quietest intro song in the league, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ by U2 and have a few flag wavers on the ice. Maybe it shouldn’t be any surprise that it elicits a quiet response by the fans.

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So with news of Tiger taking a hiatus from golf because everyone and their daughter has “transgressed” with him, I had a random thought.. If anything remotely like this happened to an NHL star, would anyone (outside of hardcore hockey fans) give a flying crap? What would it take for the mainstream media, and more importantly the National Enquirers and TMZes of the world, to take notice and publish an article or two?

Well, here’s a quick short list of NHL stars and what/who I think they’d have to do to get noticed:

• 1) Alexander Ovechkin – making Kournikova (where the heck is she?) and Sharapova his bitches.. and prancing them around with him
• 2) Sidney Crosby – caught lip-locking with Daniel Radcliffe. Harry Potter sucks and so does Crosby.
• 3) Evgeni Malkin – caught lip-locking with Emma Watson. At least she’s now legal.
• 4) Sedin Twins – dating each other.
• 5) Joe Thornton – having an affair with Kristy Yamaguchi.

Got a good one? Leave a comment and add to the list! The NHL needs more scandal and pub!!

That’s right! The twins are back, this time making $6.1 million a season. That can only mean one thing. Now Sedin bashers will be adding “overpaid” to the list of things they don’t like about the Sedins (also on the list? They’re Swedish, soft, too polite, boring, don’t produce in the playoffs, too slow, etc.). All the Sedins have done is disprove each one of those allegations one by one, which is why they are indeed worth $6.1 million. They didn’t come at a bargain basement price, but when you see the Montreal Canadiens trading for Scott Gomez, he of the $7.357 cap hit (for the next next five seasons!) and 58 points last season, it’s certainly a good deal for the Canucks.

Sedin news means we get to post this video:

Also moving on Wednesday was Mattias Ohlund, signing a ridiculous 7 year deal at $3.75 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ohlund will be 39 by the time his contract runs out! Ohlund’s play has been declining steadily for the last few years. This deal has the potential to have him being overpaid grossly in the not too distant future.

So what about all of the other free agents moving on day 1 of the free agent madness? You can see the full list here. Often times you hear about “winners and losers” of trades or free agent signings, but it is more complex than that. Some deals like Mattias Ohlund’s contract with the Lightning will be beneficial to them in the short term, but will hurt them greatly long-term. Taking that into account, here are the biggest short and long term winners and losers in free agency so far:

Vancouver Canucks

Winners both long and short term. The Sedin twins were two of the most sought after free agents and Mike Gillis landed both of them. Their contracts are fair, so not a home run, but not a strikeout either. The length of contract (5 years) is vital as well. In 5 years they will still only be 33 years old, and shouldn’t have too much of a drop-off in their play. They lost Mattias Ohlund, but he was signed to ridiculous money in Tampa Bay and Gillis would have been crazy to match that. Jason Labarbera ended up in Phoenix, which will hurt, but when you have Luongo playing and making as much as he does, it’s hard to spend big money on a backup or promising significant playing time.

Chicago Blackhawks

Big short term winners, long term losers. Chicago bolstered their lineup with the additions of Marian Hossa, John Madden and Tomas Kopecky. Hossa and Madden are upgrades over Havlat and Pahlsson, who each signed elsewhere, while Khabibulin signed with Edmonton and Matt Walker will be joining Matty-O in Tampa Bay. The reason they are long term losers is that Marian Hossa signed a 12 year deal! Combine this with the fact that Brian Campbell is locked up to ridiculous money until 2016, and they are going to have a terrible time trying to re-sign Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith when all three become free agents next summer! Clearly, someone will have to be moved for it to happen.

Montreal Canadiens

Just what is Bob Gainey doing? The Habs are losers in both the short and long term. They signed a bunch of good, but not great, players to huge money on Wednesday. Cammalleri is going to make $6 million and Gionta $5 million. Add that to Scott Gomez’s $7.357 contract that they acquired on Tuesday, and that’s over $18 million spent on an average first line! They also lost Komisarek, their version of Willie Mitchell, who signed for reasonable money in Toronto ($4.5 million per season).

New York Rangers

I guess Marian Gaborik will have to rent out his Vancouver home? Great signing by the Rangers. He signed a 5 year deal in New York, which will be a bad deal when he’s injured and a great deal when he’s healthy. He’s bound to be healthy for at least a portion of that deal, and when that happens, the Rangers will be tough to deal with.

Calgary Flames

Big winners. Jay Bouwmeester was the prized defenceman of this year’s free agency. Calgary’s defence now consists of probably the best top 3 in the league with J-Bo joining Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr.

On the day before July first, there’s still a lot of uncertainty as to which direction the Canucks will go, not just for next season, but the next bunch of seasons. Daniel and Henrik, fresh off a Stockholm visit from Mike Gillis and their agent JP Barry, are presumably pondering a last ditch offer from the Canucks to keep them in Vancouver long-term. We should know within the next 24 hours if Daniel and Henrik will be staying or going. I, for one, think it’s a good idea to bring them back, but not at any price.

The Sedins, to me, are worth about $6 million or less for a 4-5 year contract to the Canucks. Certainly, some other team will offer them more if they reach the open market, but the Canucks will not be in a position to win a cup if they have 3 players (the Sedins and Luongo) all making over $6 million.

That brings us to Luongo. The latest rumour has him agreeing to a deal in principle (not on paper yet, he can do that beginning on July 1) to stay with the Canucks long-term. That rumour got more momentum after the Canucks netminder was seen with management at the entry draft in Montreal on Friday. It would be hard to believe that Luongo would be announcing the Canucks first round pick if he hadn’t already agreed on a long term deal.

This is a great signing, especially if it’s in the low $7 million or less range. Don’t believe the nonsense that having a high priced goalie doesn’t allow you to win in the new NHL. Just because a couple of teams have won cups with low priced goalies (Carolina in 2006, Detroit in 2008) doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to win. It makes sense to spend big money on the most important position, and when you have a world class goalie like Luongo, it would be foolish to let him get away.