Perfect timing for Burrows' return

Forward Alex Burrows returned at just the right time for the Vancouver Canucks.
When the Montreal Canadiens visit Vancouver, the energy around Rogers Arena is at an all-time high. It was no different on Oct. 30 as the Canucks defeated the Canadiens 3-2 in overtime.
“It was fun,” said Burrows, who is from Pincourt, Que.“There was a lot of energy in the building. The Montreal (fans) were great and they were battling with our fans. I thought the pace of the game was really good. They're a quick team and a very good team, too. We stuck with our game plan, we made a lot of plays, and I'm glad to came out on top.”
Sure, the Canucks got the victory, but it didn't come without some controversy.
You see, it was scoreless in the second period until Canadiens' defenceman Alexei Emelin turned the puck over to Vancouver forward Nick Bonino, which eventually led to the Canucks scoring at 8:29.
However, right after Emelin gave away the puck, Burrows hit him, and Emelin was slow to get up.
There wasn’t a penalty on the play, and Canadiens' head coach Michel Therrien was furious.
“Well, I was trying to finish my check,” Burrows explained. “My intent was not to hurt him. Obviously, you never want to hurt someone and I'm glad that he came back. He looked alright in the third, so I'm really happy that he was back and that he seemed alright.”
Emelin was able to return to the game. But, even then, Burrows' hit begged the question: Was it worthy of a suspension?
“I saw (the hit) afterward,” Burrows said. “I don't know, the angle wasn't great. I saw it quickly. Just as I said, I was trying to finish a check on a good player. He came back so I'm glad he's alright.
“I'm not going to speculate on what people are going to say about it. For me, my intention was not to hurt him. I was just trying to finish my hit, and he seemed alright. I'm glad he's fine.”
It was apparent on video replay that the hit was late.
“It's a fine line,” Burrows said. “Sometimes you can slow it down to 32 frames per second and it looks late. But when you are playing at a real game speed, for me, on the play, I was just trying to finish a check. I thought the timing was alright.”
Let's not forget, though, that despite his reputation of playing a hard-nosed games and as a player who likes to get under the skins of the opposition, Burrows never had been suspended.
The next day, it was revealed that that doesn't matter. The NHL's department of player safety, led by Stephane Quintal, announced that Burrows had been given a three-game suspension.
“There's not much we can do about it,” Canucks' general manager Jim Benning said. “We respect the league's decision. Our focus is going to remain the same and that's to keep working hard and competing hard to win hockey games.”
Vancouver was 2-1-0-0 without Burrows.
The Canucks defeated the host Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Tuesday in the last game of Burrows’ suspension and then left Wednesday for San Jose where they were scheduled to visit the Sharks at the SAP Center on Thursday.
“First of all, I'm really excited to get back at it,” Burrows said. “Joining the boys tomorrow in San Jose should be fun, especially after how they played last night (against the Avalanche). They battled hard, and stuck with the game plan and stayed focused and found a way to win. I'm looking forward to joining that.
“I never try to target anyone's head on the ice. I respect the league's decision. It was tough. I try to play with passion and bring energy and play on that fine line. But sometimes, I just, maybe, went over that line that time and I'm glad he's alright. My intentions were never to hurt him, but it's a fast game out there. Sometimes, in split seconds, guys moves or you stop. (Unfortunate) things are going to happen, but I'm glad he's alright.”
The suspension is history.
There were more important things on which to focus.
After all, Vancouver only had two victories against California teams last season.
So, it was a chance for  the Canucks to to redeem themselves.
Fortunately for Vancouver,  Burrows has had success when visiting the Sharks in his career.
“In San Jose, I like that building,” Burrows said. “I find I play some of my best hockey in that building personally.”
Willie Desjardins, the Canucks' head coach, knows what Burrows can add to the lineup, too.
“It'll be good to have him back,” Desjardins said prior to the game.
“We missed him when he was gone, for sure. Having him back in the lineup should give us some life. We'll need it, because this is a tough rink to play in.”
Burrows didn't just give the team some life, but also contributed his an assist on a goal from Bonino to put the Canucks up 3-2 at 17:20. That would hold up to be the final score.
They got the victory, but they may have not deserved it.
“I didn't think it was our best,” Desjardins said. “The first two (periods) weren't too good, so it was easier to be better in the third, I think. Tonight, we were lucky. Our goaltender played real well tonight. “That's not a game we deserved to win tonight and we're lucky to get it.”
NOTES: Canucks G Ryan Miller made 34 saves. . . . Vancouver F Zack Kassian (lower body) didn't play. . . . Canucks F Bo Horvat played in his second NHL game. . . . Sharks' F Joe Thornton scored during the dying moments of the game, but time had run out. . . . Canucks' F Radim Vrbata left the game in the second period, but returned . . . The Canucks visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

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

So far, so good for Vrbata and Sedins

The pre-season is experiment-time for Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
No matter who is coaching the Canucks, one of the tasks on the list is to decide who will play with the Sedin twins.
When Alain Vigneault was the head coach, he was able to do that successfully by putting Alex Burrows, then 27, in that role in 2008-09.
It has hardly changed since, and understandably so.
After all, while he was on that line, the Sedins were able to do things they had never done. In 2009-10, Henrik finished with 112 points, including 83 assists. By doing so, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer and the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
Meanwhile, Burrows led the Canucks with 35 goals as he finished with 67 points.
The next season, it was Daniel's turn to do the same as his brother. He led the NHL with 104 points and won the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player as voted by the NHLPA.
However, the trio started to break down last season.
The Sedins, who had been consistently healthy throughout their careers, suffered injuries that were longer than just day-to-day. The injuries resulted in Henrik and Daniel being out of the lineup for 12 and nine games, respectively.
But even when they were in the lineup, Henrik  finished with only 50 points and Daniel with 47, career lows for both.
It doesn't stop there, though.
The injury bug hit Burrows, too, as he dressed for just 49 games and scored only five goals.
It was time for the newly hired brass of Trevor Linden, the president of hockey operations, and general manager Jim Benning to attempt to find a solution.
Two days after the July 1 opening of free-agent season, they believe they were able to find one when they signed unrestricted free-agent forward Radim Vrbata to a two-year deal worth US$10 million.
Prior to joining the Canucks, he had played for the Phoenix Coyotes for the past five seasons. The best of those was 2011-12, when he scored 35 goals.
Vancouver not only added a player who can score, but he is a right-hand shot, something that Burrows isn't.
The Canucks have stated openly that they want Vrbata to play on the first line with the Sedins. But the thing is, nobody had seen them play together in a competitive game.
That changed on Tuesday, as the Canucks played host to the San Jose Sharks in one of two split-squad pre-season games.
“Well, I think every time you start the pre-season anywhere, it's important to get into game situations and get used to hitting again,” Vrbata said prior to the game. "I don't think it matters too much if you are on a new team or an old team.
"It was a long summer without real hockey and as I said, you want to prepare yourself for the regular season. So that's why the pre-season is important. That's where it all shows. It's all good that you feel good in a practice or scrimmages or power-play practices, but I'm looking forward to playing the game to see we are at.”
How did Henrik feel?    
“It's going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “It's been a good feeling from the get-go, on and off the ice. Mostly on the power play, he's going to be a big help for us. So we'll see. It's going to be a work in progress and we're going to take it day-by-day and try to get better. I'm sure there is a lot of things we need to talk about after the game, but that's the way it should be.”
Of course, it remains to be seen if Vrbata will have chemistry with the Sedins, something that is necessary for any winger playing with the twins.
"I think just chemistry,” Henrik said. “To see how we read each other and so far in practice it's been nothing but good. We're excited, I hope he is and, like I said, we'll take it day-by-day here.”
The Canucks defeated the Sharks 3-2, and Henrik was impressed with the new trio.
“I thought it felt good,” Henrik stated. “There are things that we can work on but I mean, for the first game together, right from the get-go, we had some good chemistry. He was close to scoring some goals. In the second period, we didn't have a lot of shifts five-on-five, but in the third, we had a good third period as well.”
Doug Lidster, one of the Canucks' assistant coaches, also was impressed.
“They had a shift I recall in the third period where they showed quite a bit of zone time and control and stuff like that,” he said “I thought that kind of fed the rest of our guys and I thought that was kind of a momentum changer for us, so they did real well.”
Despite that, it remains a learning process for Vrbata.
“It's always good to get a win and start the season right,” he stated. “It was the first pre-season game so I think it was tough for everybody to kind of get into it after a long summer. I think it was a good start and we can build from here. We had some good shifts and some good looks. Unfortunately, nothing went in. But we can learn from this game and look at the shifts we had and try to see what should have been differently.
“First game we learn, and we'll be better next game.”

(Dickson Liong is Taking Note's Vancouver correspondent)