Stars' home rink not a friendly place for Canucks

Six doesn't seem to be a lucky number for the Vancouver Canucks, at least not when they play at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Last season, Vancouver had a two-game road trip on which it visited the Phoenix Coyotes and Dallas Stars on March 4 and 6, respectively.
The Canucks were shut out by the Coyotes, 1-0, and things didn't get any better in Dallas.
In fact, they got worse, as the Canucks trailed the Stars 4-0 after 20 minutes in a game they would lose, 6-1. That brought back memories of a Jan. 15 game in which Vancouver visited the Anaheim Ducks. The Canucks gave up two first-period goals in that one, en route to a 9-1 loss.
“It was a tough one,” Canucks' defenceman Kevin Bieksa said after that March 6 game in Dallas. “Our effort and our execution wasn't good enough. We were flat out outplayed in the first 30 minutes of the game and the second-best team on the ice. It's very disappointing right now. This road trip is very disappointing, and if this isn't rock bottom, I don't know what is.”
“With what was at stake . . . was this even worse than the 9-1 game in Anaheim?” a reporter asked. 
“I don't know what's worse,” Bieksa replied. “It was a humiliating game to be a part of, just to be outplayed. I don't care what the shots were, but in the first 30 minutes of the game when the game was on the line, we were just flat out outplayed by a team that executed better than us. Here we are again.”
At the time, the Canucks were still battling for a playoff spot. They came into that game with a 28-26-10 record, but had been 1-8-1 in their previous 10 games.
Vancouver needed a victory if it wanted a chance of playing in the post-season. Vancouver went on to finish 36-35-11 for 83 points, good for only No. 12 in the Western Conference.
But, really, that is history.
With the 2014-15 season underway, the Canucks got off to a 3-0-0 start, and looked to be heading in more of a positive direction.
Let's not forget, though, that those three victories were against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, two teams that remain in the rebuilding stage, and are considered to be two of the NHL’s weaker teams.
When Vancouver played host to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, it was the beginning of a stretch in which the Canucks will face teams that should be more competitive. The Canucks lost 4-2 as Lightning captain Steven Stamkos scored twice and added an assist.
Vancouver didn't seem to have any answer for him.
The talent and skill on teams that the Canucks were going to face next wasn't going to do down, either. Vancouver was scheduled to to head out on a three-game road trip beginning in Dallas.
With the Stars led by forwards Jason Spezza, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, the Canucks knew they needed all four lines to produce if they were to obtain a victory.
So, Canucks' head coach Willie Desjardins decided to move forward Linden Vey from the third-line centre spot to the fourth line. Desjardins replaced Vey with forward Brad Richardson. As well, Desjardins moved Shawn Matthias, who had been the fourth-line centre, to left wing on the third line.
“I don't think we've had quite what we want out of (the fourth line),” Desjardins said. “But I think it's a lot of different things, it's not necessarily the players. I think it's a mixture. I think it's the ice time, lots of different things.
“At the same time, during the season, they've gone against the high-end line, too. I haven't just played them against the other teams' fourth lines.  They've done a good job defensively, maybe we just haven't got enough offence.”
Despite the changes, the Canucks re-lived the horrors when visiting the Stars, as they fell 6-3.
“I thought they put lots of pressure on us,” a clearly unhappy Desjardins said after the game. “They've got good speed on their attack, and they went to the net hard. The goals may have looked fortunate, but they got goals and put pressure on our net.”
Vancouver was able to put 46 shots on Stars' goaltender Kari Lehtonen. But, even at that, Desjardins didn't sound all too impressed.
“I don't know,” Desjardins said. “I think when you are down, you always gamble more. You know, when you're gambling more sometimes you have more shots out of it. I think we had to gamble a little bit more, and as a result, we got quite a few shots.”
However, Vancouver's fourth line did appear on the scoresheet, as Vey and left-winger Derek Dorsett assisted on right-winger Jannik Hansen's first goal of the season at 6:45 of the third period.
“We got a couple bounces here and there,” Hansen said. “This could have been a different game. But again, push comes to shove, we can't put ourselves in a hole like that.”
NOTES: RW Radim Vrbata, C Henrik Sedin and LW Daniel Sedin have combined for seven  goals and 14 assists in four games. Vrbata finished with a goal, while the Sedins each had an assist. . . . Canucks G Ryan Miller made eight saves on 13 shots before getting pulled at 1:17 of the second period. G Eddie Lack stopped 14 shots in relief. . . . It was Desjardins’ first time back in Dallas since he was hired by Vancouver. He had been the head coach of Dallas’s AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars. . . . Vancouver will visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday as part of their three-game road trip.

(Dickson Liong is Taking Note’s Vancouver correspondent. Follow him on Twitter at @DLLiong.)

Things looking different in Vancouver

It wasn't an earthquake, but there was a shakeup in Vancouver.
For several seasons, the Vancouver Canucks have been the hottest ticket in town, selling out Rogers Arena game after game and providing an electric atmosphere. The demand to see the team play live has been extremely high, boosting the cost of attending higher and higher.Fans who wanted to purchase season-ticket packages were put on a waiting list, and had to test their patience if they wanted to get their hands on one.
And understandably so. After all, the Canucks play in a Canadian city.
But after the Canucks rose to the top and stayed there for a few seasons, things began to decline, on and off the ice. It started to show last season, where the team ranked 28th in goals scored (191).
Because Vancouver had difficulty scoring, it wasn’t able to string together victories on a consistent basis.
Much like the players, fans started to become frustrated and, even though it always was announced that the arena was sold out, many seats were empty for a number of games.
But there was one game in which the fans took their anger to another level.
There were four games left in the regular season and Vancouver was six points out of a wild-card playoff spot. It was desperately trying to keep its minimal chances of reaching the post-season alive.
If the Canucks were going to do so, they needed to defeat the Anaheim Ducks, one of the NHL’s top teams, at home on April 7. With less than three minutes left in the game, Vancouver was trailing, 3-0.
Tempers began to flare.
Fans opted to send the organization, especially general manager Mike Gillis, a message.
“Fire Gillis,” the Canucks' faithful chanted. “Fire Gillis.”
Vancouver only put 18 shots on Ducks' rookie goaltender John Gibson, and failed to get on the scoreboard. The Canucks, to nobody's surprise, were officially out of playoff contention for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
The attention wasn't much on that, though.
It was on the fans' chants.
“Personally, I don't think it was the right thing to do,” Canucks' defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. “But at the end of the day, the fans come and they can do whatever they want. Put it this way, we're all going take the blame for this.”
The fans got what they wanted and, perhaps shockingly, it came the next day when Gillis was relieved of his duties as president and general manager.
Who would replace him? None other than Canucks' legend Trevor Linden, who most fans remember as a player on the 1993-94 team that made it to the Stanley Cup final for the second time in franchise history. He was named the team's alternate governor and president of hockey operations.
“I left the game six seasons ago and wasn't sure what the future would hold,” he said on the day of the hiring. “I've enjoyed my time away from the game. Having said that, you don't play 20 seasons in the National Hockey League and spend your whole life in hockey and not have it in your DNA. I always kind of thought I'd be back, I never wanted to work for another organization. I'm a sports fan, I love this team, I follow the team closely. This opportunity at my age is a great challenge. I'm just really excited about this opportunity and the future.”
With Gillis gone, the status of head coach John Tortorella was uncertain.
Gillis, along with the team's ownership, had stated many times that the general manager had hired the one-time Stanley Cup-champion coach.
“Obviously, the timing of this allows me to fully evaluate the coaching staff,” Linden stated. “I come into it with a fresh set of eyes. Obviously, I understand the challenges with coaching. I've been a player for 20 seasons and I look forward to sitting down with the players after the season and fully understanding the ins and outs of their issues and their season.
“Those decisions will be made down the road. Obviously, a critical path is assessing a general manager and looking at the structure of our hockey operations, whether it's on the pro side or the amateur side -- all those decisions need to be evaluated. Any coaching decision will be made in due time after thorough evaluation.”
Some may argue that Tortorella wasn't given the right roster with which to work. He has been known to work well with young players, something that the Vancouver roster doesn't have much of, at least not yet.
“I felt, from Day 1, that (the roster is)) stale,” Tortorella stated at the team's season-ending press conference. “And that's not the players’ fault. This group has been together for a long time; it's stale, it needs youth. It needs a change . . . it needs a changes, I felt that from Day 1.
“We have to stop talking about 2011. The team needs to be retooled, and that's what change is. It's a young man's game, we need to surround (the leaders) with some enthusiasm. If I'm here, I want to play four lines. But you guys have to understand when you're on a bench, and you're down 2-1 trying to get back in the game or trying to get that next goal to win the game, I tried to do what I could to win games because sometimes I'd look down (on the bench) and guys just weren't ready. We lacked depth, and that's where we're at. That isn't being critical, it's the truth.”
Tortorella admitted that he had made his mistakes, too, and he owned up to them.
“My biggest regret, personally, this season was that I was coaching the team properly the first half,” he said. “We were playing a game that I think we should play, I was on top of it. There was a lot of things that we needed to work on, but we were there.
“We get banged up and changed a bit; we needed to and I'd do it again. But I didn't get back in the room and continue to teach the details after, I didn't stay on top of that. I gave the room to the players to too much of an extent, I needed to be in there. I mean, I was in there, but I needed to be pounding away at the details and I think that hurt us. I think that it hurt us in situational play, I think that hurt us in understanding how you change momentum, all parts of the game. That's me. That's not them, that's me.”
After Linden held his exit meetings, he made his decision on the future of the coaching staff.
Tortorella wouldn't get the opportunity to redeem his mistakes as he and associate coach Mike Sullivan were relieved of their duties on Thursday morning after just one season.
“I met with John after the season for several hours on several different days,” Linden explained. “I tried to come in with a very neutral place and we had good conversation. He's a good hockey man. But, I think at the end of the day, I kept coming back to a lot of things that I didn't like that I saw trending. I just felt to move forward and kind of put a new perspective and a new direction was the right thing to do. From the outside, you may have a certain idea, a certain perspective. But when you sit down and talk with someone, they become very human. I've got a lot of respect for him; he's had a great coaching career. I mean, he's won a Stanley Cup and we had great conversation. But at the end of the day, I kept coming back to collectively how this group under-performed and individually as well.”
Vancouver, no longer the team it once was, now hope the changes being made will bring it back to being a winning team that people want to support and enjoy watching.
“I think there's nobody that happy with our results this season,” Linden said. “It starts with our players. They're disappointed.
“I believe in the core of the group down there. I think they're responsible and want to be better. I think we, as an organization, have to connect with our fans in a greater way and, ultimately, I think we need to bring excitement back to Rogers Arena and a brand of hockey that people like to play.
“I understand the fans’ discontent, I don't blame them for it. It's up to us change things and win them back.”

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Ducks take bite out of Canucks

By DICKSON LIONG
Special to Taking Note

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks’ hopes of making the NHL playoffs continue to fade.
For most of the season, Vancouver has struggled to score goals. But ever since a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on March 23, Vancouver’s offence had started to show some life.
Vancouver forward Zack Kassian, who has had difficulties providing consistent offence since donning a Canucks' sweater, finished with four assists while playing on a line with David Booth and Brad Richardson that night.
“You know what, I know that everyone is going to focus on the four points that he gets,” John Tortorella, the Canucks' head coach, said. “But, for me, there were some other things.
“I thought that there were times that he dumped the puck at the right time, instead of trying to make something happen.
“I thought he changed up, and you guys might think it's small things but those are the things that we're looking for. He changed up at the right time, and you can see the concentration in his game. You see it, and want to see it more.”
The Canucks then headed out on a two-game road trip that had them visit Colorado and Minnesota. Vancouver defeated the Wild 5-2, but lost 3-2 in overtime against the Avalanche.
The 22-year-old Kassian continued to click on a line with Richardson and Booth, as they continued to appear on the scoresheet on the road trip, combining for six points, including two goals from Kassian.
As well, Canucks' sniper Daniel Sedin scored his first goal in 24 games, as he got one against the Wild.
“It was probably my worst game out of (those 24 games), but I was able to tip one in,” he said. “It's nice, but hopefully it can get me going, and in the right direction.”
But, quite frankly, all of that doesn't matter.
Vancouver is desperate for anything that will lead to victories if it wants even a slight chance of making the playoffs. The Canucks, who have 79 points in the Western Conference, and are the No. 10 seed.
Anaheim, Calif., the home of Disneyland, is considered by many to the happiest place of Earth. It also is the home of the Ducks, who have been one of the best teams in the league this season.
As a result, many of the their opponents haven't left the city with smiles on their faces. That’s the way it was for the Canucks on Jan. 14 when they lost 9-1, leaving the Ducks with a Ducks a 20-0-2 record when playing in their home arena, the Honda Center.
“It's never a great feeling to be on the wrong side of a 9-1 game,” said Canucks' defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who finished with a minus-1 on the night. “We played a pretty solid first period, and played in a way that gave us a chance to win. Their power play (was really good) and the game kind of got away from us from there.”
Vancouver wasn't scheduled to play the Ducks at the Honda Center on Saturday night; the game was at Rogers Arena. However, the Canucks needed to find a way to get on the winning side as they were winless in each of the three times they had faced Anaheim this season.
“It's a must win,” Kassian said prior to the game. “We feel we played well on the road but with the situation we're in, we still have a hill to climb and this is a must-win game. We don't want to look to far down. We need to win this one tonight and it's against a very good team, but we feel that the way we have been playing, we can beat these guys.”
Kassian finished with an assist, extending his point streak to four games. But the goal on which he assisted, which came from Richardson at 11:12 of the first period, was the only one the Canucks were able to put up as they dropped a 6-1 decision.
“It's definitely frustrating right now,” Kassian explained. “There's no ifs, ands or buts about it, we're on the outside looking in and to lose a game like this tonight, it's very frustrating. But we have to be professionals and go about our business. Like I said earlier, like I said 100 times in the past week, we're competitors and we want to play for each other. That's what we're going to do.”
And so Vancouver doesn't move anywhere in the standings. It remains on the outside looking in, continuing to battle Phoenix and Dallas for the final playoff spot. The Coyotes and Stars are Nos. 8 and 9 in the Western Conference, with have 84 and 83 points, respectively.
Like the Canucks, Dallas and Phoenix played on Saturday. The Stars defeated the St. Louis Blues, but the Coyotes lost to Minnesota. Both teams have games in hand on Vancouver.
“We try to look for some help but I don't know if we really deserve it, to be honest,” Richardson confessed. “It sucks to be in a position where you have to rely on teams to lose, and we're not winning all our games. So, you know, what do you expect? We'll see what happens.”
Time is clearly starting to run out, with the Canucks having only six games left in the season.
“Every loss now is tough,” Sedin said. “We need wins, we need points. Yeah, it's tough, but we have to stay positive and keep going. That's all we can do.”
NOTES: Vancouver D Kevin Bieksa (leg) took the team's morning skate and dressed against the Ducks. . . . Canucks' D Andrew Alberts (concussion) skated, but is likely done for the season. . . . Vancouver F Henrik Sedin remains day-to-day. . . . Vancouver G Eddie Lack made his 16th consecutive start. . . . Canucks' head coach John Tortorella confirmed that the team has re-assigned D Frank Corrado to the AHL's Utica Comets. . . . Vancouver took Sunday off, then will return to practice on Monday as it prepares to play host to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

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