Canucks 3 Flyers 0

Just one night after an incredibly well-played road effort in New Jersey, the Canucks and Roberto Luongo went into the Comcast Center in Philly, and with Steve Yzerman in the stands, shutout the Flyers 3-0. A very well-rounded defensive effort by the Canucks (in spite of the shot total) as it seemed like the only Flyer who could really get a decent scoring chance was Aaron Asham, who was stoned by Bobby Lu SIX times. You almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost. Goals came from Willie Mitchell on a nice backhand shot off a rebound after Tanner Glass drove to the net (and got away with a little contact on Brian Boucher, which I think he tried too hard to sell), Alex Burrows (off his rear-end) and Christian Ehrhoff. The game wasn't without the traditional Flyers/Canucks ugliness however, most notably legendary D-bag Chris Pronger with a vicious 2 handed chop to the wrist of Ryan Kesler, and a spear by Daniel Briere on Mikeal Samuelsson that the league will likely be looking at given Briere just returned from a suspension for a stick foul, and is a repeat offender. Check out the video below (the spear wasn't detected on the Canucks PPV feed):




Pathetic. Could there be any greater proof that they need to eliminate the instigator penalty? Guys like Briere wouldn't dare try stuff like this if they knew they would be held accountable for their actions on the ice. Not surprised in the least however, as he has proven himself to be a True Flyer, buying in to their long tradition of thuggery and cheapshots (often referred to by those that would defend this garbage as 'old time hockey').

A day off before the ridiculous afternoon game on Saturday (really? 3 games in 4 days and the last one goes at 1:30pm local time? Why Mike Gillis was happy with this schedule is beyond me). That's 10:30 am for those of us here at home. So a lil hockey and a late breakfast, not a bad way to start your weekend, right? Expect Andrew Raycroft to get the start against the surprisingly bad Hurricanes. Sure they have injuries, but no one could have predicted the team would be floundering at the bottom of the NHL's barrel.