The Vancouver Canucks cemented third place in the Western Conference by sealing the Northwest Division championship with a 3-1 triumph over the top-dog Chicago Blackhawks Monday night.
Losing head coach Joel Quenneville cited a shortage of effort on his team’s part, though it is hard to take too much away from the Canucks.
They just improved to 7-2-1 in the 10 games since they incorporated trade-deadline acquisition Derek Roy into the lineup. They are now 5-2-1 since April 8, when Ryan Kesler returned to action after a near six-week absence.
As time picks up, basic logic says Roy can only grow increasingly acclimated to his new place of employment and Kesler can only get closer to full form. The latter can also be said of Chris Higgins, who dressed for his first game in two full weeks against Chicago.
In turn, Vancouver’s need for offensive depth can only improve.
But will everything take shape in time for the winners of the previous two President’s Trophies and 2011 Western Conference champions to break out of the blue in the playoffs? To go deep and pose a greater threat to the clear-cut favorites than ...
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Article written by Al Daniel
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