Burning it to the Ground: Reliving the post-2011 Cup loss Canucks

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NHL Standings & Leaders

The Vancouver Canucks have surprised with a bit of a bounce back year after pundits wrote them off as on the decline. They sit atop the Western Conference, and are so far successfully riding their goalie tandem to the best GAA in the league. And have the Sedins even played their best hockey yet? Some think they have more to give.

The Central is very competitive, with Nashville, Chicago and Detroit all pushing hard. The dynamic duos of Kane and Toews for Chicago and Datsyuk and Zetterberg for Detroit are playing effective and entertaining hockey, while Nashville is led offensively by Alexander Radulov and anchored by stalwart defenseman Shea Weber. Pittsburgh is the class of the East, led by a dominant season from Evgeni Malkin. Crosby is having an off year for him at a point per game pace on the top line. Marc-Andre Fleury leads the league in shutouts.

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Canucks Statistics

The goalie battle rages, with Markstrom leading in almost every stat but both netminders looking amazing really.

On offense it has been a scoring by committee approach. Not a great look for Sedins, who are again way below the point a game pace that has come to be expected from them, but they're happy to be winning and are playing well rounded games and giving this team character and leadership. PK Subban has been a decent pickup, but he's not really blowing anybody out of the water either. Sergei Shirokov has surprised everyone by continuing to sustain a strong pace with limited minutes. And who would have picked Michael Grabner for the resurgence he's had in his second stint with the Canucks, leading the team in scoring, plus/minus and game winning goals. Marchessault has put up respectable numbers in his rookie year, and Kesler's team leading 12 goals include 3 shorties.

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game 41

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game 42

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game 43

league news wire: Rangers fire coach John Tortorella, hire Claude Julien as replacement

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game 44

Markstrom gets the net tonight.

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game 45

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game 46

We go back to Schneider in net.

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game 47

P.K. Subban is day to day with a pulled abdominal muscle. Kyle Cumiskey steps into the lineup to replace him.

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game 48

Jacob Markstrom gets a turn in net.

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game 49

PK is all healed up and jumps back into the lineup.
Not a single Canuck was selected to the All Star game - hopefully the players use the snub as motivation.

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game 50

Jori Lehtera will miss this game as he serves a one game suspension for his boarding incident last game. Veteran Manny Malhotra will take his place in the lineup.
We go back to Cory Schneider between the pipes.

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signings

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coaching change

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game 51

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game 52

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game 53

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game 54

Jacob Markstrom gets back in net tonight.

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game 55

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