It's a Canadian Game

also following that loss Miller now has the worst goals against average when he loses and second worst save percentage of any goaltender who has played even one game this season..

The Vancouver Canucks will be relieved to return to Rogers Arena on Saturday when they take on the New York Rangers. This comes after dropping their last three contests against three of their Canadian counterparts. The Canucks will be returning from a seven-game road trip where after winning three of the first four games, the team dropped the latter three to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The Nucks were sitting very comfortable towards the top of the Western Conference just over a week ago and since dropping their last three games now find themselves fifth in the west. The team finished last season with the third worst record in the west, under head coach John Tortorella, but have since looked to rebound with Willie Desjardins at the helm. However, despite what has been a great bounce-back it is important to be aware of just how this team has gotten where they are. During their impressive 18-9-2 run, half of the team’s wins have come against teams who currently sit outside of a playoff position. What is also very important to take into account is the fact that four of the team’s w’s have come at the hands of the NHL’s basement dwelling, Edmonton Oilers. Now there is two ways to look at that, one if the Oilers really are as bad as they seem to be, then there should be no reason for them to lose to Alberta’s under-achievers. On the other hand, Vancouver has defeated the Oilers by scores of 5-4 in a shootout, 2-0, 3-2, and 5-4. That means they have only scored four more goals than the Oilers during the season series. If Edmonton were to have been able to get a couple better goaltending performances or an extra bounce to maybe split the series, the Canucks would find themselves sitting 10th in the West today. What also seems to be a curious case with Vancouver has been the play of starting goaltender Ryan Miller. Miller took the starting position, signing with the Canucks during the off-season after Luongo was shipped out during last season’s trade deadline. And although Miller currently has the third most wins among all goalies this season, with 16, he also has the 37th best save percentage at .905 and the 25th ranked goals against average with a sub-par 2.57. It seems this season that the Vancouver goaltending has either flourished when the team has been playing well or has been brutal when the team has been behind the eight-ball. In the 11 loses this season, including overtime and shootout, the team’s GAA has been a dismal 4.54. Meanwhile in the 18 wins this season the team’s GAA has been great sitting at a 1.67. Whether that means the team has played well in front of their goalies in these games, who knows, but what is certain is that when Vancouver loses they like to do it big. Taking a look at the advanced side of things, the Canucks also have the fifth worst PDO (save percentage + shooting percentage) at 5-on-5 this season, sitting at 98.4, while also holding the 18th ranked Corsi-for percentage at 50.3%. The Canucks ended their recent road trip with three games in four nights so it is fair to say that towards the end they may have been feeling a little fatigued. In fact both Sedins only had two assists a piece in the team’s last four games away from home. I wrote a piece yesterday suggesting that this season the San Jose Sharks weren’t quite the team they were last year. However, when I look at Vancouver I would argue the Canucks also aren’t the same, but they are definitely trending upwards. They had a rough go away from home, but when you consider where the team sat at the end of last season there is no question Vancouver has improved. They still sit in a playoff spot and will have had three days off when they take to the ice Saturday night. It’s just important to understand that the team who rose to the top of the Western Conference standings may have got off on the wrong floor. Follow me on Twitter @Craig_Hagerman Photo courtesy of Paul Chiasson/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Edmonton Oilers in demanding fashion 5-2 Tuesday and the team currently is sitting in a playoff spot, so everything is going swimmingly for the team right? Not exactly. Despite earning a spot in the post-season dance so far, the Sharks find themselves in eighth place in the Western Conference, a far cry from their fourth place finish last season, all this having played more games than any other team in the conference. So despite holding a spot with 33 points and being just a win away from hopping the Winnipeg Jets and tying the Calgary Flames, each of those teams have a game-in-hand on the Sharks. What is even more concerning is the Los Angeles Kings who are just one point behind them, have two games in-hand and the Minnesota Wild who are three points behind them, have four games in-hand, including a tilt Thursday against the Sharks. So a slide down the western conference standings could be on the horizon. Looking quickly at this year’s team it seems kind of odd that they find themselves where they are, as there doesn’t seem to be any obvious reasons for the drop in the standings. San Jose currently has the 13th best goals per game average at 2.8 and the 12th goals against per game at 2.57, and though neither are very impressive, neither is terrible either. However, when you consider last season the team had the sixth highest goals per game at 2.92 and the fifth best goals against per game at 2.35 it all starts to make sense. The team’s power play has been much more successful this year, firing on a 24.2 per cent success rate, good enough for third in the NHL. This is an improvement from their 20th ranked power play last season. However, their penalty kill has dropped from sixth in the league last season to 12th this year. The biggest area though where the Sharks are seeing a lack of success is in the possession game, that’s right advanced stats lovers. Last season the Sharks had the third best Corsi-for percentage and the fifth best Fenwick-for percentage both firing at 53.7%. Whereas this season, San Jose’s Corsi-for has dropped to 10th to 52 per cent while their Fenwick-for has dropped to 16th and 50.8%. The team’s shooting percentage is sitting at almost an identical position to where it did last year, in the 18th spot at 7.47%. However, this is greatly due to a big 5-2 win against the last place Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night where they scored five goals on 24 shots. The offensive outburst shot the Sharks up the list six spots in that category overnight. Advanced stats aside, making the playoffs plain and simple comes down to winning hockey games and what could be very telling about the this season for the Sharks is who the team has lost to. San Jose has lost five games to teams that looking now could be in the Connor McDavid/Jack Eichel sweepstakes in just over six months time. They have dropped two games to the Columbus Blue Jackets who sit 27th in the league standings, one to the 26th seeded Arizona Coyotes, two at the hands of the 28th Buffalo Sabres, and last Sunday a 2-1 decision to the last place Oilers. The Sharks do not seem to be the same team since their historic elimination from the playoffs last season to the Kings. After taking a 3-0 stranglehold in the series, the team dropped four straight. Management stripped veteran Joe Thornton of the team’s captaincy during the off-season and have been suiting up with four alternates instead. Meanwhile rumors since last season have swirled about the security of head coach Todd McLellan’s job. It isn’t time just yet to call the team a disaster as they are still in the mix and could very well turn it around, but for a team who has finished atop the Western Conference consistently in the past, this season’s team looks as though they could be in a fragile state of regression. Follow me on Twitter @Craig_Hagerman Photo Courtesy of EZRA SHAW/Getty Images/AFP

Wayne Gretzky named him to his All-Time All-Star team and he is the highest scoring defenseman to ever dawn the Montreal Canadiens jersey, yes Larry Robinson has had quite the career. The Great Defender: My Hockey Odyssey with Kevin Shea takes readers through the life of the Hall of Fame defenseman from his days as a kid growing up on a small farm outside Ottawa. Robinsons recalls his upbringing through junior hockey, to his all-star career in the NHL, wearing the maple leafs for Team Canada, to life after the game. Robinson was lucky enough to win the Stanley Cup six times as a player and three more times as a coach. He is among the league’s greatest defenders to ever lace them up, something that he has never quite been able to grasp. Something he reflects upon when he recalls the Canadiens 75th anniversary season where he was named to the Habs All-Time Dream Time. “When I look on it now, I was there with Aurele Jolait and Dickie Moore and Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau and Doug Harvey and Jacques Plante. Those are frigging icons! I was thinking, ‘What’s this little farm boy doing up with all these guys?’ It was amazing.” What is made very clear in the book is just how respected and down to earth Robinson was during his career. He never took anything for granted, he had a blue-collar work ethic (which he picked up growing up on the farm), and he was a natural leader. He wasn’t afraid to get his team pumped with a big speech or even a dance around the dressing room in nothing, but his jockstrap. “(‘Flashdance: What a Feeling’ by Irene Cara) came on… To break the tension, I started dancing to the song with nothing on but my jockstrap. I went flying from one end of the room to the other, doing my best Jennifer Beals impression… it was a thing that I did just to loosen everybody up – and then we went out and won the game.” The, now associate coach with the San Jose Sharks, after all has been said and done is a family-man at heart. He has been attached to his wife Jeanette since he was a teenager and he now takes pride and makes it an opportunity to spend time with his family, including grandchildren. Robinson has won many Cups and a Norris Trophy, but his family has been his biggest prize. “Jeanette has been my rock. She Still is. We’ve been blessed with two wonderful children, Jeffrey and Rachelle. They may be the greatest gifts of all… they have blessed us with three wonderful grandchildren, whom we adore.” Robinson had his number 19 raised to the rafters in 2007, he made the playoffs in each of his 20 seasons in the NHL, and holds the all-time record for plus minus with a plus-793 (a record that may never be beat). He was one of the greats and his book lets readers now just what it is like to grow up a fan-favourite for arguably the most historic franchise the NHL has ever known. Follow me on Twitter @Craig_Hagerman Photo Courtesy of Amazon.