Raycroft-Razor Re-Sharpened

Andrew Raycroft seems to be rejuvenated after being shuffled around the league and is playing the game the way he did in his rookie year where he was awarded the Calder Trophy with the Boston Bruins.

This acquisition is paying dividends for the Canucks with the injury to their number one goal tender and captain Roberto Luongo.

Raycroft has played in seven of 17 games for the Vancouver Canucks this year with five of those being starts in which he has posted a 4-1 record, including a shut out of the red-hot Colorado Avalanche team he played for the season previous.

His save percentage is .936, good for second overall and having only given up nine goals, his goals against average is a miniscule 1.60.

Many Leafs fans must be wondering where this stellar play was when he was wearing the blue and white.

Most of this is quite surprising because the Vancouver Canucks have been hit hard by the injury bug and are missing sniper Pavol Demitra, Daniel Sedin, and most recently Michael Grabner, Jannick Hansen, Alexandre Bolduc and now Steve Bernier (day to day illness).

The Canucks have had to adopt a more defensive style of play with the injuries to the offensive side of their game and it seems to be working in favour of goaltender Raycroft.

How long he can keep this up is anyone’s guess, but as it stands, he’s playing some great hockey.

Momentum and confidence are factors that can’t really be measured. Right now, he has those in spades.

Whether the Canucks, missing as many players as they are, can keep playing this well remains to be seen.

As the players slowly return they may just get better and live up to the pre-season expectations that many around the league had for them.