Okay, so maybe we had a first 2 preseason losses since 2007 last night (we lost 3-2 in Calgary and 3-1 in Vancouver), but the Canucks and Flames were actually quite evenly matched.  The only real difference in scoring for both games happened when the backup goalies (2 of which jumped between Victoria and Abbotsford last year) took over in the 3rd period in both games.  I share many of the thoughts that Sean and Vancitydan posted, but will reiterate a couple:

• Although his shots on net may have been all over the place (as someone mentioned in the comments), it was obvious that Sergei Shirokov has improved over the last year, and he seemed to find some chemistry with Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres last night.
• It was awesome watching Brendan Morrison making some of those plays last night.  I think it might have been enough to push me onto the "bring back BMo" bandwagon, although it will be interesting to see where he would be put.
• Eddie Lack and Cory Schneider were fabulous out there.  Both were making incredible saves throughout the night.  Manitoba will do well with Lack in net, and Schneids is definitely ready to back up Roberto Luongo here in Vancouver.
• I have to give some credit to Shane O`Brien.  Yes, I know you're all thinking "WTF?!?!", but he actually played a very good game last night, and proved he wants to keep his spot on the Canucks roster.
• UPDATE (12:28 PM): Rick Rypien missed most of the game because he bruised his ribs. Out 7-10 days, Tweets Jason Botchford (h/t Twitchy2010).

The Canucks take on the Oilers tonight, and we haven't heard anything about the lineups yet (I will update when it comes though) Sean just pointed out to me that the Oilers.com preview for the game has both team's projected lineups.  Game starts at 7:00 pm PDT, and will be watchable on Rogers Sportsnet One and Canucks.com.

Links after the jump.

• An official recap of last night's games.
• The Canucks.com preview for tonight's game.  If you want to meet/trashtalk the enemy, visit Copper & Blue for the Edmonton side.
  
• As we mentioned last night, a few players have been cut from the Canucks roster.
• Oh look, another newspaper has selected us as a Cup favourite.  This is actually starting to get annoying...
• Vancouver businesses are looking forward to the new hockey season.  Why is this?  It's because they make all the money from hockey fans visiting the pubs before, during, and after games.
• Elsewhere in the league, the Capitals have signed Michal Neuvirth to a 2-year contract extension.
• Looking at who among last year's top 20 scorers are trending up and down.
• Other scores from last night, and other games today.