HockeyToughness a crack in the Canucks' armour?

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(Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Read up on the latest tidbits and trends as Hockey Night in Canada's play-by-play voice Jim Hughson takes you behind the scenes and into Saturday's featured game.

This Week's Work: Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks on Hockey Day in Canada (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. PT, 10 p.m. ET)

The Script

In the micro-analytical world surrounding Canadian NHL teams, the Vancouver Canucks have been a tremendous disappointment. For the last two months they've been robotic in their ascension to the top of the Western Conference standings.

In a businesslike manner they have mowed through the schedule, losing just four times in 35 games from the end of November through Wednesday night.

There have been few holes to pick in their game, unless you were actually trying to nitpick. Unlike any of the other 40 Canuck teams to grace the NHL since the team's arrival in 1970, this one actually couldn't get a debate going on the local talk shows because it was hard to find anything wrong that didn't amount to prevarication.

The Canucks have been sensationally boring. And then Ryan Getzlaf hit Dan Hamhuis.

Two nights after Ottawa's Chris Neil took a run at Henrik Sedin, Getzlaf made Hamhuis into a bug on a windshield. The question arose: are the Canucks tough enough? Do they have an answer for a raging bull like Getzlaf?

This is not about getting a heavyweight fighter. While the Canucks don't employ a certified palooka, they have the likes of Kevin Bieksa and Tanner Glass, who will fight anyone.

It's not about character and toughness either. Vancouver's skilled players aren't afraid or intimidated.

But what may or may not have been detected (we'll know soon enough) on the West's best team is a chink in the armour, or an Achilles' Heel.

Can the Canucks withstand a seven-game series of run-ins with the likes of Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and are they big and strong enough to push back if they were bullied by Chris Pronger and the Philadelphia Flyers?

So far they have answered that question with a precision power play, which punishes any transgressions and settles unruly opponents down.  

It's been impossible for most teams to find a way to beat the Canucks so far, but in the modern NHL where there are no secrets, when a flaw -- perceived or real -- is detected, every team will try to take advantage.

No doubt the Flames have been watching, and will attack the Canucks' defence with ferocity, playing a pushy, chippy, hard-hitting game .

As long as they can kill penalties it might work. Not much else has against the Canucks.

In the spotlight

Brendan Morrison had an excellent training camp with the Canucks, and seemed angry when they let him go.

Even though he said he was auditioning for 30 teams when he accepted a tryout, he really wanted to be in Vancouver. But the Canucks didn't need him on their top three lines, and didn't feel he was a fit as a fourth-line centre.

And that was the Flames' good fortune. After signing for one year at $725,000 US, Morrison has worked his way up through Calgary's lines until the night of Jan. 14 in Ottawa, when he took Olli Jokinen's spot between Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla on Calgary's top unit.

Since that night the Flames have gone 10-1-3, and the penalty kill that Morrison is a big part of has given up just five goals in 14 games.

It shouldn't come as a surprise. Often thought of as a poor team's No. 1 centre, Morrison has always played with top players.

He was the forgotten third member of a remarkable trio with Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund, which was the league's best line for a few years. At 35, Morrison can still skate, is good defensively and on faceoffs, plus he can take the heat that comes when playing with and against star players.

With 18 players on the team making more money, Morrison is the Flames' best buy.

On the hot stove

Calgary's Rene Bourque and Vancouver's Raffi Torres are two of the streakiest players in the league, who tease with hot runs of play and equally frustrate with long droughts.   

Bourque, who's considered a top-six forward and had played on the first line in the absence of Tanguay, has just one goal in his last 10 games.  

Torres, a key acquisition for Vancouver's reworked third line, hasn't contributed a goal since Dec. 31.

Outtakes

The Canucks will have used 11defencemen this season when Sami Salo returns against Calgary. Having recovered from an Achilles injury, Salo arrives as Alex Edler, Keith Ballard and Hamhuis (who has a concussion from the Getzlaf hit) sit out.

Despite frequent and bizarre injuries, Salo is thought to be the Canucks' best defenceman when he's in the lineup, and the team is fortunate they were able to bring him back without giving up someone else to get cap space. They predicated injuries would open up a spot, and that's the way it's played out.  

The team is hoping to have everyone healthy heading into the playoffs, with a top-six of  Alex Edler-Christian Ehrhoff , Hamhuis-Bieksa, and Ballard-Salo .

Like brother, like brother

Though he says the only thing that matters is winning, Daniel Sedin is playing like he wouldn't mind a couple of trophies that his twin brother Henrik earned last season.    

Daniel is in the hunt for the scoring championship, and just a bit off the pace Henrik set last season when he won the Art Ross scoring title and the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP...

After 55 games

2009-10 -- Henrik Sedin: 25 goals, 53 assists, 78 points

2010-11 -- Daniel Sedin: 29 goals, 43 assists, 72 points

From the stat pack

Everyone says that the goaltender has to be the best penalty killer. Here, thanks to STATS Inc., is a list of the top No. 1 goalies by save percentage when their team is shorthanded

*Through Feb. 10

1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville, .930

2. Tomas Vokoun, Florida, .925

3. Semyon Varlamov, Washington, .905

4. Tim Thomas, Boston, .901

5. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh, .901

13. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver, .886

21. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary, .869

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