A Sight for Sore Eyes

On Tuesday night the Vancouver Canucks were defeated 5-3 at GM Place by the New Jersey Devils.  It was the third straight loss for the Canucks and their 5th loss in the last 6 games.  It also marked their 5th straight loss on home ice. 

With all that has been going wrong lately, the Canucks could really use a boost going into Thursday’s game where they will host Wayne Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes (who surprise surprise are in the midst of financial troubles again....another great move by the great Gary Bettman).

A huge boost is exactly what they’re going to get.  Roberto Luongo is the highly probable starter for the Thursday night matchup.  After missing the last 24 games with a groin injury, the Canucks Captain and superstar net minder says he’s ready to go and looking forward to getting back in the lineup. 

Having Luongo back in the lineup is great, but the Canucks as a team are going to have to play a lot better if they want to turn their fortunes around.  They look a lot different than the team that breezed through the preseason and started off the regular season on fire. 

Having said that, I won’t undermine the importance of having Luongo back.  He is a critical piece of the puzzle and should give the team a chance to win every night.  The backup goalies did an adequate job filling in, but there are few players in the league that can have the singlehanded impact in the outcome of a game that Bobby Lou can.   

With Luongo’s return and the recent acquisition of Jason Labarbera from the LA Kings, Curtis Sanford was the odd man out and placed on waivers by the Canucks. It is unfortunate for the Owen Sound, Ontario native, but it was pretty clear when the Canucks went out and got another goalie, that Sanford’s days in Vancouver were numbered.