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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Many Topics Including The Oldest Dinar Community. Copyright © 2006-2020


    Vancouver Canucks

    jedi17
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    • Post n°1

    Vancouver Canucks Empty Vancouver Canucks

    Post by jedi17 Thu 02 Feb 2017, 7:39 pm

    Vancouver Canucks pushing for playoffs as they get back to work vs. Sharks
    February 2, 2017, 1:17 PM ET [360 Comments]
    Carol Schram
    Vancouver Canucks Van Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
    Thursday February 2 - San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific

    Vancouver Canucks: 50 GP, 23-2-16, 52 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
    San Jose Sharks: 32-17-2, 66 pts, first in Pacific Division

    The Vancouver Canucks delivered a dud with their 3-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes one week ago, but the prevailing mood around the team is one of optimism as they get back to work Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena.

    Between the Christmas break and the All-Star break, the Canucks went 9-3-3. They're 7-0-1 in their last eight games on home ice.

    The captain says the good results have been a result of more than just a soft stretch in the schedule.




    This assertion will be put to the test tonight, when Vancouver meets the Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks for the first time this season.

    Last year, the Canucks and Sharks played all five of their games between February 28 and March 31, with Vancouver going 2-3 against the eventual Stanley Cup finalists. This year, things are a little more spread out, but not much—the five-game series starts tonight and will conclude on April 4, with three games at Rogers Arena and two at the Shark Tank.

    Now in their second year under Peter DeBoer, the Sharks are a well-coached and well-constructed team. Their big strength this year is on the back end, where they rank third in the league with 2.29 goals allowed per game. 

    North Vancouver's Martin Jones doesn't get as much attention as Sergei Bobrovsky, Devan Dubnyk or even Cam Talbot, but he's second behind Talbot in total minutes played this season and tied with Talbot for third place with 26 wins—behind Bobrovsky and Dubnyk. He has been everything the Sharks hoped he'd be when they acquired him during the summer of 2015.

    Brent Burns was named a Norris Trophy finalist for the first time last season and has taken his game up another notch this year. With 21-32-53 and a solid plus-15, Burns is fifth overall in league scoring and currently holds a 12-point lead over the next-most-prolific defensemen—Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman each have 41 points. Burns leads the Sharks in scoring by eight points over Joe Pavelski and has 21 more points than our two most productive Canucks, Bo Horvat and Henrik Sedin (32 points each).

    Thirty-seven year old Patrick Marleau has also been on a bit of a tear lately. Marleau has six goals in his last four games and 18 on the year, which puts him second on the Sharks behind Burns. He scored four goals—all in the third period—against the Colorado Avalanche on January 23, prompting this most-excellent tweet from his wife Christina.




    The Canucks are getting healthier, but don't expect any lineup changes tonight. 

    Jannik Hansen has been back at practice but isn't ready yet for game action:




    Ben Hutton is skating, but is a little further away.




    If you missed it, Sportsnet featured my Q&A with Alex Burrows from our conversation after practice last Tuesday.




    Coming out of the All-Star break in 2016, the Canucks had 51 points in 50 games, so they're currently just one point ahead of last year's pace. The downward slide began in earnest about a week after the break, when Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter were both knocked out for the season on February 9 in Colorado. 

    But maybe it was more than just injuries. Unprompted, Burrows said that the attitude in the room is very different this year.
    The way the team played last year, it didn't seem like we really pushed for winning every game. We didn't really feel like we pushed to get into the playoffs. I feel like this year is totally different. Our mindset since Day 1 has been "We're gonna get to the playoffs. We're gonna try to do that every night."

    Everybody has bought into that and so far, right now, we're in the mix and we're gonna give it a good shot in the last 30 games.

    I find this group right now is really tight. I feel like a lot of young guys are really getting along. The older guys, we feel their energy, their excitement. Every day, they come to the rink and they're happy to be here. They want to push, they want to succeed, they want to help their team win and it's good to see.

    Especially compared to last year, I feel we have a much tighter group—a group that's willing to go to war together.
    [size]


    Burrows also said he's happy to be back in an important role with the team and had high praise for his linemate Bo Horvat, suggesting that he'll be as a good a player as Ryan Kesler someday.

    The out-of-town scoreboard was less than kind to the Canucks last night, with the Kings and Flames both winning convincingly as part of just a three-game slate. Vancouver remains in 10th place in the Pacific but is now three points out of that second wild-card spot, currently occupied by Calgary.

    The Kings and Flames—and the Jets and Stars, right behind Vancouver—are all on winning streaks. The St. Louis Blues are the other team in the mix, and they fired their coach on Wednesday in an effort to stop their slide out of a playoff position.

    All told, we've currently got six teams fighting for two spots in the west, so the stakes are now high every night.

    A sly smile came over Burrows' face on Tuesday when he thought about what lies ahead:

    [/size]
    We know it won't be easy—we're sitting a couple of points out right now…[grins]…but that's what makes it fun. That's why you play the games, play these meaningful games and try to push for a playoff spot.

    There's nothing better than playing in the playoffs. That's our main goal.
    [size]


    To wrap up today—congratulations to the Canucks' Dice and Ice organizers on an outstanding fundraising effort on Tuesday night!




    That's a huge jump from 2016, when the event raised $350,000, and breaks the $5 million mark for funds raised over the [/size]
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