Vancouver Canucks: Three Keys To a Successful Road Trip

1. Special Teams—With the opposition having the last change, it is going to be ultra important to have the penalty kill do better than 81.6 percent (15th in the NHL). This has been a sore spot all year long, and in the end could be the Achille's heel. Sure, it’s great to be at No. 5 on the power play, but this is not Kansas Dorothy; it's someplace on the road!

2. Scoring from the third line. Oh third line where art though? There are going to be nights when the opposition will shut down the Sedin line and the scoring will have to come from more than just Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond, and Mikael Samuelsson.

Since the fourth line has a total of four goals between them, I don’t have any expectations other than to do what they do best. Crash, bang, and scrap when needed.

Kyle (I forgot how to score) Wellwood (5G), Steve (Hands of Stone) Bernier (11G), and Pavol (I’m saving my shoulder for the Olympics) Demitra—zero goals, although Demitra has only played in seven games.

Now I know what you’re going to say. The Nucks are on a seven-game winning streak, why would you want to add anyone else or upset the chemistry?

Why? Because if it’s the postseason that the Canucks want to go deep into, then teams without third line contributions do not go far. So how long does GM Mike Gillis wait before trying to rectify that?

Since the Olympics are not over until a couple of days before the trade deadline, I would hope that he makes a move before the Olympics start. What’s needed is some scoring, like a Ray Whitney, for example, and some more defensemen for depth.

You can never have too many D-men. That's Mike's philosophy and I'm sticking to it!

3. There’s no use in bringing up the goaltending, because it seems to be clicking along just fine. Hear that, Louie? No jab about Saturday night’s game in (we’re the centre of the hockey universe) Toronto.

See, good guys can finish first, Mr. McLean, and to prove a point, the Nucks thought they would bring the show to you!

I dread to bring it up, but it just happens to play such importance in any teams’ success and that’s injuries. Like the Canucks don’t have enough on defense already!

With Sami Salo expected to be back for the game tonight against Montreal, that lifts a bit of the load off of guys like Nolan Baumgartner and Brad Lukowich. Willie Mitchell, who has already missed six games already and counting with an upper body injury (call it what it is: a concussion), is one player I thought the Nucks would really miss.

He has been the best shutdown D-man for the Canucks all season, so if the team can keep playing this kind of winning hockey, than that says a lot for the depth of the defense.

So, in closing, I want you all to repeat the hockey mantra after me: “One game at a time.” And now I can go watch the Montreal game.