It’ll be interesting to see if today’s game is gonna be another knee slapper – like the King’s demolition derby the other night. 8-3. The mind reels.
The real head-scratcher of that game was why wasn’t Roberto Luongo pulled after he’d let five go flying by? Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault apparently said ‘it was Luongo’s game’(whatever that means) and he was keeping backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft rested for today’s game at Anaheim.
Ooooookay…keeping Raycroft fresh sounds good in theory, but when your team is down and the playoffs are on the line, wouldn’t you want to at least staunch the hemorrhaging in order to retain a teensy bit of morale? Pardon my profanity, but what kind of bass-ackward thinking was going through Vigneault’s brain?
Well, if this type of decision making holds the course, tonight’s game will be interesting. Against the Kings, the Canucks Alex Burrows took a puck to the throat, Tanner Glass blindsided Jeff Halpern (which could result in supplemental discipline) and Daniel Sedin has been having back spasms, so all three may not be available. If so, that could spell real trouble for Vancouver.
On the flip side, we can’t forget that when the Ducks last faced the ‘Nucks with Raycroft in net, we lost 4-1.
However, I’m going with predicting a win for the waterfowl. We’ve got back to back to back wins, the new kids are fired up and the old fogies have been rocking the house. Plus there’s more on the line than just the possibility of staying mathematically in the running for post season. And I’m not just talking about something as simple as pride. Sexton and Bonino are hungry, McElhinney is bound and determined to make the most of what will probably his last start and – of course – everyone wants to see if they can get the assist on Selanne’s next goal.