CANUCKS		PANTHERS
	AT

Note: The "+" and "-" symbols behind the Canucks stats indicate better or worse ratings compared to the game before. No symbol means no change.

Here is the thing: the Canucks just came off a massive emotional victory over the B's. Then they board a plane for beautiful Florida and bask in the sunshine, consume some booze in celebration. And then a matchup against a team that they rarely play against and really have no emotional ties to, except for the former Canucks that play there and the former Panthers that play for us. Will the Canucks' work ethic be affected? Less? Perhaps. OR...that victory over Boston pumps them up and there is no letting up at all and the Panthers become victims.

So how about those Panthers? Well I had

to do a little research on them at Litter Box Cats. I know they were kicking serious ass for a while there (16-8-4 record before December 9) and have mellowed since (4-5-4). The revolving door of injuries is not helping, especially now to Jose Theodore, who was having a spectacular turnaround season before injuring his knee on New Year's Day. Also on the IR: Marco Sturm (head), Scottie Upshall (upper body), Jack Skille (shoulder), and Sean Bergenheim (lower body).

Mikael Samuelsson, AKA FU Sweden has played 8 games for the Panthers since returning from his injury and then suffering a minor concussion and has 1 goal and 5 assists. He has a goal and 2 assists in his last 2 games. So he's rolling. Panthers fans are saying he's finding his groove. I am worried that FU Sweden turns into FU Vancouver and has a monster game.

Sammy told the Province:

"There's no question there's a different atmosphere here and we really have great memories of Vancouver. It's such a great city and the people, particularly the people we met away from the game, are really nice and of course the team, it really is a good bunch of guys in that room. The people are really friendly there, our son and daughter were really involved and there is always something interesting to do there. And of course we had a great run last year even though I wasn't a part of it. We really enjoyed our time there and still miss it."

Yeah, I miss ya too Sammy. A great guy. Check out that article from Tony Gallagher.

PROJECTED ROSTERS

Chris "The Professor" Higgins - KesLORD - Jannik "Beaker" Hansen

MayRay - Cody "Chinook" Hodgson - Money Mo Malhotra

Mike "Count" Duco - Lappy Lapierre - Dale Weiser

Dan "The Hammer" Hamhuis - Kevin "Juice" Bieksa

Alex "E-Money Edler" - Keith "Hips Don't Lie" Ballard

Andrew "A-Train" Alberts - Alexander "Alka" Sulzer

Well look at that: 6 former Panthers on our roster!

Fleischmann - Weiss - Versteeg

Kopecky - Matthias - Samuelsson

Santorelli - Goc - Bradley

Repik - Madden - Barch

Campbell - Garrison

Gudbranson - Jovanovski

Weaver - Kulikov

Wow. 4 former Blackhawks and 3 former Canucks. Always liked Mike Weaver, by the way.

INJURIES

-For both teams via TSN.

MISC

• Roberto Luongo has a 4-0-1 record in 5 games against his former team.
• Henrik Sedin has 2 goals and 11 points in 10 career games vs Florida

TEAM TRENDS

• Panthers are 4-0 in their last 4 vs. Northwest.
• Panthers are 5-1 in their last 6 games following a loss of 3 or more goals.
• Panthers are 4-1 in their last 5 Monday games.
• Panthers are 2-6 in their last 8 overall.
• Panthers are 3-9 in their last 12 games playing on 2 days rest.
• Panthers are 0-5 in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600.
• Canucks are 5-0 in their last 5 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
• Canucks are 7-1 in their last 8 vs. Eastern Conference.
• Canucks are 4-1 in their last 5 road games.
• Canucks are 12-4 in their last 16 games following a win.
• Canucks are 9-4 in their last 13 Monday games.
• More at Covers.com.

VIDEO

The last time these teams met...

The Stanchion's Samuelsson tribute:

Loved the Sammy interviews, eeeehhhhhhh:

The Sammy Pump and Shuffle:

Remember the rats in Florida?

Oh man, Game 4 of the 1996 Finals was a low-scoring goaltending classic:

Vintage Luongo from the 2002-03 season with the Panthers:

The title of this post has been brought to you by:

THE CANUCKS' FARM TEAM

Add to that Samuelsson and Sturm to Florida for Booth and Reinprecht.

GO CANUCKS GO!