Game 71: Canucks in Phoenix Preview

As of last night, the Canucks are the masters of their own destiny. After Chicago's shootout loss to Edmonton, we are now even with points and games played, but are on top of them in the standings because of the number of wins we have.

The better part is, that looking at Calgary, they are 3 points ahead, but have we have 1 game in hand, AND we play them on April 7th. What does that mean? Well, if we win tonight, we will be 1 point away, even games played, and if we win against them, cleanly, no OT's or anything, we will leapfrog them to be the NW division leader! Shiiiiit.

Now I don't want to put on a lot of pressure on them, but that's huge. In January we were fightning to make 8th spot for the playoffs, now we are talking about being the NW Division champion. That's what happens with a huge Feburary and March (so far). Things can change, yes, but I'm on the positive. I haven't even seen a team flip the losing from a streak of losing games to winning games so cleanly. We've seen it go the other way around, but this is amazing. If we win a few in this 6 game roadtrip, maybe we'll start be called contenders instead of the darkhorse team.

Tonight we face the Phoenix, who a couple months ago had a shot at the playoffs. They were eliminated from playoff contention on March 14. They have also dropped the last 9 of 11 at home. How does Gretzky have a job?

Enemy blog: Five for Howling - They have officially commited to supporting the tanking of the season.

This team will be a different team from what we saw last time we played. Away is Morris, Jokinen and Carcillo, and instead we will see Lombarido (former Flame), Upshall and some rangers. I bet Upshall didn't think his career had come to this: Philly trades him AND and draft pick for Carcillo. He wasn't even worth Carcillo (ok, I kid, because I know they were trying to clear cap room for Briere...but still).

It is 80's night at Jobing.com Arena, for real. Look out for the crowd. Maybe they will disctract themselves from the fact their team is losing. I saw crowd, but I really mean 200 fans.

Notes:

-Willie Mitchell is a freaking +30, and the 2nd best amongst defenseman in the league.