Thursday morning coffee: Canucks/Coyotes and Schremp's goal

**A note: I have to go for blood work this morning, so this issue of the morning coffee is actually caffeine free.  I tell you this so you can understand why it seems to not make much sense.  And anything I say here that pisses you off, I blame it on that, haha.**

Game night at GM Place and this time the Canucks can expect an opponent that will put up a bit more fight than Columbus did Tuesday night. The Phoenix Coyotes are in town and with an OT loss still fresh in their memories, the Canucks will not only look for payback tonight, but to take advantage of the help they got on the scoreboard. The Flames and Avalanche both lost last night, and a Vancouver win will vault them past the Avs and into a points tie with the Flames, making Saturday night's HNIC match against the Flames even bigger.

And while the Coyotes scraped out an OT victory in Edmonton after blowing a 2 goal lead, history definitely isn't on their side. The Coyotes have only won 5 games against the Canucks in Vancouver since moving from Winnipeg in 1996.

The key for the Coyotes this season has been their back end. Great goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov, and a strong Dcore has allowed them to be in a lot of close games, getting clutch goals. But they don't score a lot, in a way they remind me of the Minnesota Wild a couple years back. Good in goal, defensively sound, and opportunistic. About as exciting as watching Ben Stein go over the fluctuations of the Rupee as compared to the US Dollar in 1986. So while we won't see a 7 goal outburst from the Canucks, another confidence building win, some good incentive in the standings and the knowledge that they need to stockpile points right now should make for a decent match.

I worry about that the Canucks might be looking ahead to Saturday and the Flames, but with a chance to move within 1 point of this conference rival as well, the Canucks should be able to close this one out. Henrik Sedin's play of late is beginning to get people talking. With a point he will take over sole possession of 1st in the NHL scoring race, and he has a 7 game point streak that has him going at a 2 ppg clip. Brother Daniel is also tearing it up with 13 points of his own in that time frame, as they combined for 9 points (along with linemate Alex Burrows) against the Blue Jackets.

It's amazing to see the Coyotes in the playoff hunt when you look back at all the turmoil, the sale fiasco, Gretzky leaving the team, etc. Dave Tippett has to be a shoe-in for the Jack Adams trophy if he can keep them in the top 8. The play of Ed Jovanovski as well has helped, as the one time Canucks Dman sees him him having his best season since leaving Vancouver.

Taylor Pyatt returns to GM Place for the first time with his new team, might be a little emotional for him. No word on whether Aaron Rome will be in the #6 slot again tonight, though a lot of Canucks fans are hoping this is the night we get to see Brad Lukowich in a Canucks uniform for the first time.

Had to get this in here in case you didn't see one of the most amazing goals ever.  Talk about hand-eye co-ordination, that is absolutely sick!  Nice to see the Flames get it handed to them last night.  Just minutes after they began writing articles about how Olli Jokinen has finally found his game in Calgary and now nothing can stop them, they gave up the first of what would be 4 unanswered goals.  Can't really blame Kiprusoff on this one, as the Calgary D showed the world just how right Steve Yzerman was to leave their Dmen off Team Canada.  Joe Thornton was held pointless last night, though the hapless St. Louis Blues gave up another lead late and lost in OT.  You almost feel sorry for them.  Almost.  The Ken Hitchcock watch continues, and you know if they should lose in Edmonton tonight that would pretty much seal his fate.  Hitch is a good guy, but I think Columbus needs to cut him loose and start looking at next year and beyond, the damage being done to this franchise through their inability to repeat the season they had last year is going to be hard to repair.

Comedy last night at MSG as Sean Avery put on a show against his former team, hurting them on the scoreboard with a goal and 3 helpers and driving the entire team to distraction.  He managed this while also serving 12 minutes in penalties.  Best line of the night, when asked what the difference was for him: "I was being paid by two teams".  Funny stuff.  Still the world's biggest douchebag, but funny nonetheless.