Vancouver Canucks (4-5-0) @ Detroit Red Wings (6-2-1)
Location: Joe Louis Arena - Detroit, Michigan
TV: TSN
Time: 4:30pm/PST

On again off again, that is the story as of late for the Vancouver Cancuks. The Canucks have lost three out of their last four games however the concern is not as much the losing but the way that those losses are coming. Since day one of this year’s NHL season, Vancouver has been severly outplayed at one point or another in all of the games that they have lost. The story from the players after those games: “we had (insert number of minutes) bad minutes and that’s where we lost the game”. So why do they keep on having those lapses that are costing them the game?

Coach Alain Vigneault unlike last year, says that it’s effort and timeliness that is causing his team to come out with the short end of the straw in recent losses. The head coach, who came into Vancouver last year promising that this Canucks team would not be outworked on any given night, is being proven wrong this year and his team, by his own account, has been outworked on more than one occasion. After the Canucks’ loss to Los Angeles last week, Vigneault also pleaded for his players to come up with timely big plays to help the team. Whether they come in the form of a big goal, penalty kill or save, the Canucks have not received many of those in timely fashion as of yet.

The Detroit Red Wings on the other hand are off to yet another great start led by the NHL’s leading scorer Henrik Zetterberg who is tied for the league lead in points with 17 proving that he has been extremely timely with his big plays this season. With the addition of Brian Rafalski on D, the Red Wings have picked up right were they left last regular season. They are yet again very difficult to play in Detroit and the Canucks will be in for quite the test against a team that is firing on all cylinders. Detroit was 29-4-8 on home ice last season and have started off the same way sporting a 3-1 home record. The Canucks were undefeated in Detroit last season (going 2-0, the only team to do so) and are lucky to be 3-1 on the road this year. If they continue to have lapses in effort and continue to make untimely and costly mistakes against the Red Wings tonight, you can rest assured that the Canucks’ recent success at Joe Louis will be gone as quick as you can say octopus.

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