Matt Pettinger

#24 / Left Wing / Tampa Bay Lightning

Height: 6-1

Weight: 205

Born: Oct 22, 1980

The hysterical string of injuries the Canucks are juggling have been a boom for the lucky lads in Manitoba. And with injuries now afflicting the recalls (you'd think Pudge would have told Grabner about the dangers of soccer) it may be time to stop being picky and find a warm body (7th paragraph). 

As such, please welcome the returning Matt Cooke replacement Matt Pettinger. Pettinger played 20 games for the Canucks during the disastrous 2007-08 campaign, netting six points (4G, 2A) including two game winners and 11 PIMs. Pettinger was lost on waivers to Tampa before the beginning of last season to protect then-Canuck Mike Brown from being poached. With the Lightning he had 15 points in 59 games. When no one came calling this summer, Pettinger decided to accept a PTO with the Moose. And, just like that, he's back in the NHL thanks to Vancouver's inability to go a week without losing five guys.

The TEAM 1040 should have more over the next few hours, but surely Pettinger is a good fit in the bottom six and at the very least ensures AV doesn't need to put Rome or Schneider in as forwards for the coming week. Then again if everyone passed on him this summer that presumably leaves a lot to be desired. At this rate, if he can still play chippy and crash and bang away a goal or two, well he deserves a key to the city.

Welcome Matty! Now watch yer ass.

The Moose dropped a 4-2 game last night to the Abbotsford Heat with former Moose God Jason Jaffray scoring the winner. Cory Schneider played a weak game but, in his defense, he had a good number of newbies in front of him due to injures to Brian Salcido, Lawrence Nycholat and Alexandre Bolduc.

But, since we're on the Grabner/Shirokov/Desbiens watch for Friday, how did those three do? Well Desbiens finished even with a single assist. But the other two? I defer to an eyewitness:

It was actually the second-nicest goal of the night. The nicest one was scored by the Moose's European trio of Austrian Michael Grabner, Russian Sergei Shirokov and Slovak Mario Bliznak, who hooked up on a gorgeous tic-tac-toe second-period goal that made it look like the three had been playing together all their lives instead of a few fleeting moments at the end of a shift.

Shirokov slid the puck through traffic at the blueline to Grabner, who took the pass like the European soccer player he is, dribbling it from his back skate to his front skate to his stick in one fluid motion and then hitting Bliznak in stride, who promptly deked Heat goaltender Leland Irving and slid the puck to the back of the net.

That gives Grabner six points in five games, tying him for the team lead in points and the tenth best scorer in the AHL (and can someone explain why Grabner has an "X" next to his name which "indicates player not on active roster"?).

Shirokov now has four points in three games.

Tick tock tick tock AV...

UPDATE: The mystery of the "X" has been revealed.  The Canucks have announced that they have recalled Michael Grabner from the Moose this morning. Grabner continues to impress at the AHL level, but now has a big chance to show us something with the big team. I didn't like his play in preseason, as he didn't find the scoresheet even though he has blazing speed and a wicked shot. 

My question to you is: where should Grabner play? My opinion is that Alain Vigneault should leave Line 2 with Samuelsson-Kesler-Raymond intact because it's showing some promise. I wouldn't say Steve Bernier was a huge success on line 1 last game against Dallas, but I'd give him another shot. I think that Grabner could start on Line 3 with Wellwood and Glass and then possibly work his way up higher if he impresses or the Canucks start stinking it up and AV juggles his lines.

"I was nervous at the beginning but as the game went on, I got more and more comfortable," said Desbiens. "It was a good experience. Usually when you get called up, you don't expect to play too much. Because of the injuries, there was room for me on the third line and those guys were easy to play with.

"Except for the penalty that I took, there was no time in the game where I felt I was behind the pace or not fast enough. Obviously, skating is not one of my strengths but it's not one of my weaknesses either. I didn't feel out of place, which is good."

Guillaume Desbiens played a solid game for the Canucks in their victory over the Moose. He didn't factor on the scoresheet, but did makes some Dallas players' heads rattle. We'll see if he gets recalled by Friday.

LINK

To help distract you from the distinct possibility that the Canucks could be without Daniel Sedin for a bit of time, let's focus on the Moose.

With a record of 1-1, the Moose hosted the Chicago Wolves last night (and later on today) and Sergei Shirokov made his AHL debut. The Moose won 4-1 but the bigger story is how did it go for our plucky Ruskie?

Demoted by Vancouver on Thursday, Shirokov was easily the best player on the ice last night, settling for a goal and an assist on a night where he should have had at least one more assist, and maybe more, if only his minor league teammates could have converted his major league passes.

By night's end, what was clear is that while Shirokov may have looked out of place the past 10 days in a Canucks uniform, he looks even more out of place in a Moose uniform.

Sure it's just the AHL, but seeing Shirokov produce immediately is a welcoming sign. Other notable demotions chimed in on the win as well: Michael Grabner (two goals), Michael Funk (one goal) and Cory Schneider (35 saves). Funk is actually tied with Marco Rosa for the team lead in points (4).

And speaking of demotions, I'd hate to not point out this part at the end of the article:

The rich are getting richer as the Wolves are set to add G Manny Legace and D Chris Chelios. The 47-year-old Chelios is hoping to catch on with another NHL team after the Detroit Red Wings decided to not bring him back this season, while Legace is also hoping to land NHL employment after going to training camp on a tryout basis with the Atlanta Thrashers.

See? Once you wiped your tears of laughter away, you already forgot Daniel is injured. You're welcome.

Sergei Shirokov looked out of pace and place in his first 3 NHL games, registering zero points and was a -4. There were times that I thought that if he just scored once that perhaps he'd start flying. Playing with the Moose will help him. I'll quote Mike from the comments thread in the post below:

He got sent down because the Moose have back to back games in the next few days whereas the Canucks don’t play again until Sunday night. He’ll more than likely be called back for Sunday but I doubt he’ll suit up after the win. I’d guess his next game is next Friday in Calgary.

I mostly agree with that, except that if the Canucks keep winning I wouldn't be changing anything until an injury occurs.

Link to CDC article.

Now you can see some of the saves that Cory Schneider made to save his teams' hides to bring the series back to Winnipeg for Game 6.

(Image from Disney Clips)

PERIOD 1

The Bears look to be the dominant team again. They are coming out flying. The Moose took an early undisciplined penalty early and killed off the PP...barely.

Alexandre Bolduc is playing in his first game of the Finals, as he was injured in the last series against Hershey.

Wow, the shots were 6-3 Bears and the Moose looked outmatched. All of a sudden Ray Sawada (Stars property) gets a pass in the slot from Jason Jaffray and one times a shot past Neuvirth. 1-0 Moose. Out of the blue really. That's Sawada's 4th of the playoffs.

Dustin Collins is also back in for the Moose. Who is not playing? Cody Hodgson. Hmm...

Shots after 1: Bears 13 Moose 6. Cory Schneider looks on it today.

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Imagine that. About 19 hours after being shut out 3-0 by the Bears the 2 teams go at it again even earlier today. The Moose did not look good in game 3. The Bears obviously scored first and played well defensively.

Capitals fans are going to like Bears' Czech goalie Michal Neuvirth, as Canucks fans should be excited about Cory Schneider. But the latter needs some more help from his teammates. The Moose have to penetrate the Bears' defence and sustain more pressure in Hershey's end. They are also going to have to capitalize on their power play chances or this series won't last long. Bears' Alexandre Giroux leads all playoff scorers with 14 goals.

It's pretty tough for the Moose to have to still play 2 more consecutive games in Hershey when already being down 2-1 in the series. Not exactly the home ice advantage that they earned. The 2-3-2 format is bunk, in my opinion. Regardless, we'll see how much resolve the Moose have.