Sometimes a reporter has to point out when he’s right, considering how much he’s blasted when wrong.
Dear Valued Reader,
Each and every day, as the Vancouver Canucks make their way through these playoffs, we get the first word in the form of our column. Then you, of course, get the final one.
Comment upon comment, upon comment is logged at the bottom of this space, all in the most respectful and tactful fashion, of course, by Dear Valued Readers (DVRs) from across the country and beyond.
Some DVRs even return, days later, to register their acknowledgement that whatever prediction we had made, or trend we had seen developing, had in fact turned out to be an incorrect assessment. Like the time we thought Colin Campbell had the headshots issue ironed out, once and for all. (How could we be that foolish?)
In those cases the diplomacy is even more evident, as you, DVR, explore with great discretion the depths of how far you can shove that misjudged prediction up our nether regions.
And so, today, we refer to our last offering, entitled "Troubling Trends," and filed after Game 1 of the Vancouver Canucks series against Nashville, a 1-0 Canucks win.
The piece was about how outplaying the opponent or most of 60 minutes -- yet only scoring one or two goals -- is a finite practice. The way the Canucks had played in Games 6 and 7 vs. Chicago, and Game 1 vs. Nashville, had a shelf life, we reckoned.
You can't keep winning with zero production from the players who made Vancouver the highest scoring team in hockey -- the Sedins, Ryan Kesler, Michael Samuelsson. By hook, by crook, or by a goal from behind the net, eventually the wins would stop coming.
And you, DVR, responded in kind:
"I'm a little tired of these sportswriters who gab on about some after-game quotes, and a mild glance at the scoresheet without getting in depth (whatsoever) about the play on the ice," observed CanadaTime.
"Mark 'The Wet Blanket' Spector strikes again!" wrote farffle, another from the courageous pseudonym set. "No 'troubling trends' here. Let's remember too, this is only the first game and any assessments are premature."
"What else can the Canucks do?" asked Wesley, citing all the great chances the Canucks had generated. (Score, we would submit.)
Well, after scoring just one goal in Game 2 -- a lucky one at that, as Alex Burrows' pass deflected off a skate and right back to his stick for an open-netter -- reality set in. An equally fortunate goal sifted in behind Roberto Luongo late in the third period, and then after numerous chances went unconverted, Matt Halischuk did what always happens in these situations:
He scored the goal the Canucks could not.
"Tonight we needed to bear down more on the chances we had, especially in overtime," Daniel Sedin assessed of he and his linemates. "We're there to win games for this team and we're not doing that. We need to be better offensively. We had some Grade A chances and we've got to score."
The Sedin line has struggled ever since they were up 3-0 in the series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The line has three points and a collective minus-19 between them in those six games since. We expect that they will begin to deliver soon, but we would also predict they had better, or there will be no parade in Vancouver this spring.
That's all, DVRs.
Signed,
Your turn now.
-------
Bi-polar Goalers
In Western Canada lie three teams with a considerable commitment to their starting netminders.
In order, the Calgary Flames signed Miikka Kiprusoff to a six-year, $35-million contract that has three years left to run; The Edmonton Oilers signed UFA Nikolai Khabibulin to a four-year, $15-million deal that has an excruciating two years left on it; and the Canucks extended Luongo with a 12-year deal worth $64 million, that has 11 years left to go.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the goaltending is a shambles. And all they did was make it to the Stanley Cup final last season. Yet in the unpredictable East, who knows how far they'll go this year, despite the fact coach Peter Laviolette has replaced his porous starter in four of his team's eight playoff games.
"It's always a wake-up call to the team,'' reasoned the No. 1 goalie (for now) Brian Boucher. "That seems to be one of the last things (a coach) can do as opposed to yelling at the guys or calling a timeout. You want to keep your timeouts; maybe you make the goalie change to change things up. That's the way it goes.''
Sergei Bobrovsky went from starter straight to the press box, bypassing the backup's spot on the bench during Round 1. Michael Leighton came from the press box, had a couple of games, and at one point had his nameplate removed from Flyers dressing room.
No one is quite sure where he is now. The team says he is injured, but available once healthy.
And all the while, the Flyers are a contender, despite having a collective cap hit of $4.225 spent on goalies this season -- less than Kiprusoff, less than Luongo, and only $475,000 more than the Oilers paid for Khabibulin and his 10-32-4 mark this past season.
Mark Spector is the lead columnist for sportsnet.ca
Follow me on Twitter.com @SportsnetSpec
