Josh Martin

Editor

he Vancouver Canucks became
| the first NHL team in the 2010-
11 season to clinch a playoff
spot (along with the Northwest
Division title) last week with a 4-2
win over the Colorado Avalanche.
That marks the third consecutive
season that they have taken the
divisional crown and the fourth such
time in the last five years, However,
the competition in the Northwest this
year has not been nearly as tough as it
used to be with Colorado, Minnesota
and Edmonton all out of the playoffs
by quite a large margin.
Calgary is in the final playoff spot
with 83 points, but that’s a total of

  

 

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am

20 points behind the Canucks which,
to say the least, is a big gap between
the number one and two teams in

the Northwest. So; taking that into
consideration, the season series
between Vancouver and their division
rivals has been a lot easier this season
around for Alain Vigneault’s squad.
The Canucks hold a 16-2-2 record

in Northwest games this season, a
dominating statistic that has helped
the Canucks capture the division title
with nine games still remaining in the
regular season.

Injuries have been a running
them for Vancouver this year, and the
latest one limping to the infirmary is
Manny Malhotra, who took a puck in
the eye last week in a Vancouver win
against the Avalanche and underwent
immediate surgery following the
contest. It is still uncertain if the

el ed 1 PY ome

third line stalwart will be-back in the
Canucks line-up anytime soon. You
can bet that when he returns he’s
going to be sporting a visor for the
rest of his career (like every other
player should be doing). Without
Malhotra manning the penalty kill
and lacking his otherworldly skills in
the faceoff circle, there will be a huge
hole to fill for the Canucks.

But life goes on and so do the
Canucks. They’ ve dealt with these
types of injuries throughout the year
with Sami Salo, Alex Edler, Kevin
Bieksa and more all sustaining various
wounds that have keep them off the
ice for significant periods of time.

The list goes on and on but they’ve
somehow managed to get through
those rough patches with other players
stepping up to the plate. Perhaps Chris
Higgins will be the man to take the

 

swing this time around.

In his last game against Colorado,
Higgins had 17:18 minutes of ice
time and set up Maxim Lapierre in
front of the net for his first point as a
Vancouver Canuck. The winger has
24 points on the season (11 goals and
13 assists), but is clearly capable of
being a potential second line threat.
He played a few shifts with Kesler
and Sameulsson at his side on the
second line which seemed to be a
lethal and promising combination.
This might just be the defining
moment and boost that Higgins needs
in his career with an opportunity to
show what he’s actually made of, on
a highly competitive team rather than
the always-seem-to-be-terrible Florida
Panthers.

Bring on the playoffs!

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