Back To The Grind

The All-Star break is over. Roberto Luongo is back and ready for the stretch drive.

It ended up being a pretty exciting game in front of Luongo's home-town crowd in Montreal. Although it probably didn’t end the way he would have liked, with local hero Alex Kovalev and Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin beating him in the shootout to lead the Eastern Conference to a 12-11 win over the All-Stars from the West. He did make a couple of good saves, and most importantly, if you cheer for the Canucks, he came out of there healthy. I guess any opportunity to shake off a little more rust with some game action might be a good thing too.

The Canuck Captain, along with the rest of his mates, were in high gear at practice yesterday, and are getting ready to push for a strong 2nd half.  If Luongo can get back to playing the way he is capable, it should be an exciting finish.   Much talk has been made about Sundin not playing at the level that was expected of him, but it’s likely he will only get better as the season goes on.  Regardless of that, the Canucks need to get back to playing smart, simple, in your face hockey which made them successful at the start of the year.

The Canucks currently sit tied with the Edmonton Oilers for 6th place in the Western Conference, 9 points back of the Northwest Division leading Calgary Flames.  Only 6 points separate 5th place through 12th and it’s likely things will only get tighter down the stretch as teams fight for their playoff lives.

The Canucks will resume battle tomorrow evening at the Garage versus the Nashville Predators. Vancouver will try to end a losing streak in front of a National audience as the game will be televised on TSN.