HockeyCanucks look for 60-minute game against Leafs

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This week's work 

Toronto at Vancouver, Saturday 7 p.m. ET, Hockey Night in Canada

The script 

It's abundantly clear that it's much easier to please the audience when they don't expect much.

In the early days of the Vancouver Canucks, a good effort and the occasional win against Toronto or Montreal kept West Coast fans content. Now, with Cup aspirations in the air and on the airwaves, many expect the Canucks to beat everybody ... and the Leafs by 5.

Great expectations in Vancouver mean beat the Dickens out of them!

Take the current streak for example. 

Vancouver has gone 7-1-1 in the last nine games, outscoring opponents 25-12 in 5-on-5 situations and outscoring them 15-5 in third periods. Yet there is a sentiment they aren't consistent enough, and, as odd as that may seem, the players share the sentiment.

The 60-minute game is what the Canucks are after as they try hard to create a gap between themselves and the Colorado Avalanche - and they aren't far from it.

Vancouver has the league's best power play, is Top 10 in goals-against and penalty killing, ranking first in face offs, and are 10-3-2 at home.

So that's what the Leafs are up against and you're left to wonder which Toronto team will show up. The one that snapped the puck around and looked like they could play with anybody in Edmonton, or the team that gave the puck away and looked like they might never win again in Calgary?

The Canucks are better than both and we know what the expectation is in Vancouver.

In the spotlight 

While it didn't pad his wallet Ryan Kesler benefited greatly from the lockout of 2004-05.

He'd played 28 inauspicious games the season before in Vancouver but the AHL was the only place to play while the big league was shut down. Kesler made the most of it, scoring 30 goals and confirming his choice in the first round of the 2003 draft. When the NHL got its business sorted out (well, it seemed like it), he was ready for a do-over.

Kesler didn't take off right away and it was widely thought that he had NHL skating ability but his hands and head might not catch up to his feet. They did.

Last season was Kesler's best. He had 25 goals 79 points and was a nominee for the Selke award  for the second straight year. This season he seems determined to win it and maybe he'll challenge Daniel Sedin for the club goal scoring lead as well.

Thursday night's performance against Columbus was Crosby or Ovechkin-like in its dominance . Kesler scored all three Vancouver goals, just missed on another fearless cut to the net, and made the defensive play of the night diving to break up a 2-on-1 in the third period.

He may have stopped chirping and breaking sticks but he's still a nasty bit of business between the whistles.

On the Hot Stove

If Thursday's game in Calgary was another example of the Leafs shooting themselves in the foot, then they're limping to Vancouver without toes.   

With the score 1-1 in the second period Toronto was being outplayed but J.S Giguere was making great saves and they were a shot away from the lead when the Flames struck for three goals in 57 seconds. The killer was the way the goals happened. Toronto had 11 giveaways in the second period and half of them came on the three goals. It was a microcosm of their worst games - get possession, get soft and give the puck back.

On both Calgary power-play goals Toronto won the face off but were scored upon within 10 seconds.

The giveaway stat is somewhat subjective but the combination of the second most giveaways in the league (Edmonton has more) and the second-worst power play is deadly.

Now Toronto and its penalty-killing unit that's given up 23 goals in 31 games goes against the leagues No. 1 power play in Vancouver.

Outtakes 

On a positive note the Leafs top line of Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke Macarthur and Nikolai Kulemin continue to put up points. The group has gone 7-8-15 in the last 7 games and has scored 29 goals overall, 49 per cent of the team's total so far.

Vancouver will use a new right wing on its fourth line for the 7th time this season against Toronto. 

Aaron Volpati offers the Canucks the paradox of an Ivy League tough guy. Volpati is from Revelstoke B.C., played junior in the BC League, and then spent four years at Brown University, where he amassed over 200 minutes in penalties, 115 in his senior year. He also scored 17 goals in his final season, but will be a fourth line banger and crasher in Vancouver. 

From the stat pack

Kesler scored his first career hat trick on Thursday in his sixth season in the league after scoring 112 goals. It was the fifth time this season a player has scored all three of its teams goals in a victory and it took Kesler out of the running to be on this list.

Most goals by active players without a Hat Trick

Shane Doan - 280

Pavel Datsyuk - 209

Brad Richards - 204

Todd Marchant - 185

Rob Neidermayer - 181

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