Less than a week ago, favored Vancouver was down 2-1 in its first-round series with Los Angeles and Canucks fans jammed radio phone lines and Internet message boards with calamitous rants.

In the middle of the near hysteria and panic from a city that has had its heart broken too many times by this hockey team over four decades, there stood Alain Vigneault. Like a man yawning in the middle of a tornado, the Canucks coach calmly and confidently predicted his key players would raise their games and the Canucks would be fine.

And, of course, that's exactly what happened. Now, Vancouver is hoping to wrap up its first-round series tonight with a road win over Los Angeles. The Canucks lead the series 3-2.