Is the Fat Lady Warming up?

Haven't had much time to do a solid game recap so here goes.

When I heard that Calder was going to be a scratch and Westgarth would play with Ivanans and Armstrong I thought it was great. I could understand TM thinking that Vancouver outmuscled us in the last game and that hopefully he could roll four lines and establish some type of physical presence.

His plan might have worked had the refs not started the game off by calling a couple of incredibly ticky tack penalties that even the Vancouver Announcers were questioning. Once the team was down by 2 goals Murray had his roll with his scorers and abandon what may have been a solid pregame strategy.

One could second guess TM in that after winning 3 in a row he shouldnt have messed with chemistry but on that same note how much chemistry Calder contributes is debatable.

Some other thoughts-Dustin Brown was about as visible as Kyle Calder. Cant recall him throwing one check nor even getting a solid quality scoring chance. He finished the game with an assist-a gift assist coming off of Kopitar's lucky goal in the second. Truth be told that deserved an assist about as much as the two gift recipients that were awarded assists off of Quick blunder that led to the first Nuck Goal.

Contrast this to Frolov, who was simply a monster with the puck and looked to have it on a string all night. He finished off with a goal and 8....count em 8 shots on goal with almost everyone of them coming from him outright muscling the puck to the net. DL really has to get this guy signed ASAP or ASALP(as soon as legally possible) as he is really starting to develop as one of the premier forwards in terms of puck control and puck possession.

Quick- I wont really bag on the first goal though I should but Quick is obviously laboring. He doesnt look as sharp as he did during his first few games and seemingly makes one or two bad mental decisions with alarming regularity. Im not criticizing him by any stretch-for a rookie goalie to play as much as he has and carry the load for probably the most work he has ever had as a goalie and start to falter is totally expected. I am sure we'll roll with Ersberg tonight and as much as quick has posted good numbers and been solid I cant help to think if we have any chance of hell left of making the post-season it will come with Ersberg getting red hot and literally stealing our way into it. Thats not too say I dont think Quick is a quality goalie-he just looks tired.

God Bless Peter Harrold but he is really Terry Murrays version of Brad Chartrand. I know why TM plays him-he can trust him to make the correct, simple play and he trusts him in all situations but he doesnt have any scoring touch at all, not physical nor big enough to be a consistent 3rd or 4th liner, and with the Kings logjam at the D Corp not good enough to break the top 6. I like his effort-but this team will be taking the next step once guys like Harrold cant break into the lineup because the numbers of skilled players at forward and D makes him the odd man out.

Matt Greene has played very well lately IMO. The Verdict on Jack Johnson Im not so sure. He only had roughly 16 minutes of ice time compared to Greenes 20 plus. He made a not rush up ice and hit the post which was great to see but I am sure there are questions about consistency and what not. It doesnt really help he is playing with Gauthier-not sure thats the best pairing for him at this point. Truth be told you can add Gauthier's name to the list with Harrold as guys I have nothing against personally but the team will be better once they are gone. Surely I cant be the only to think Drewiske looked to be a better, smarter played then Gauthier in his short call up.

As for the Canucks-what can you say about Luongo that hasnt been said 1000 times. Arguably the best goalie in the game. And Henrik Sedin was the #1 star of the game but 14 goals on the season? Whats up with that? Stoll is on pace for 20 goals this season and Oscar Moller's goal per game ratio is roughly the same as Sedins. Great play by Sedin though...I would have liked to see that same drive from Dustin Brown.

Going back to my previous post of sunshine and rainbows-all things staying the same barring a lot of off season activity I would be very pleased to go into next season as is. You have to think Moller with a season under his belt should be able to pop 15 or so goals. Youd think a full season of Teddy Purcell should also equate to at least a 15 goal season and then with Justin Williams in the lineup I dont think its unreasonable to expect some improvement in the Goals for Dept.

Ill hang up and take your thoughts off the air.