THE ROUNDUP- Nov 30/18: Dangles And Daggers

CANUCKS NEWS: Sounds pretty bleak, right? “Oh look, there’s Basky again being all negative. Big surprise...” you might be thinking to yourself. Or maybe, just maybe you see what I see. A team that isn’t supposed to be this close to a playoff spot. A team that’s going to continue to spiral downward, and settle into the damp, cold reality that is the NHL’s basement for another season. They’re the worst team in the NHL right now and it isn’t even close. A mere 3 points out of a potential 20 in their last 10 games. You can blame whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. This team is still under construction, and until they fix some pretty er, foundational problems, it isn’t going to get any better.

Yes, we can revel in the warm fuzzies that Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat are giving us. This is the beginning of a core that is going to lead this team to the promised land. I have no doubt about this. But if you’re hoping for hockey beyond the 2nd week of April from these guys, a team that puts Tim Schaller with Bo Horvat isn’t going to get you there.

And since I haven’t been able to weigh in on it, the outrage many had over the new Canucks in-house DJ playing that song during the LA game on Tuesday was justified. I know some like to react to anything that comes up on Canucks twitter, finger-wagging and accusing people of over-reacting. To them I would say “Were you even here, bro?”. Seriously. Go watch any highlights of the 3 consecutive years of playoff matchups. Go watch the Dragon-slaying goal. Go watch Byfuglien running Luongo with impunity. Go watch Duncan Fucking Keith trying to put his elbow through Daniel Sedin’s face. Now tell me we don’t have a reason to be upset here. How could it be that any DJ working for this franchise wasn’t told upon hiring “Oh, and by the way: don’t EVER play this song. EVER.”? I will give credit to the owner for stepping up and admitting it was wrong, and it made him mad. I’m not gonna go to bat here for Francesco. He’s the source of a lot of the misery this team finds itself in right now. But for all his faults, he is insanely passionate about this team. In the room after the Game 7 loss, his face was as devastated as any of the players. He loves this team, of that there is no doubt. So if he says that it shouldn’t have ever happened, that shows the anger was righteous.

Here’s your morning reading... “Played well and lost” should be on all of the Canucks advertising right now... Two games against Vegas, two “oh, I didn’t see you there” hits that saw players leave the game. Baertschi’s still out with concussion-related issues, and now we await word on Edler after this bullshit non-call on Reeves last night. Not even a bloody interference penalty...

As always, the Athletties is a must-read... Post-game wrap from the Province... At least November is over? JPat has some thoughts on last night’s game...

AROUND THE NHL

All good things must come to an end, and so too must the Buffalo Sabres 10 game win-streak as they lost a 5-4 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ryan Donato, who grew up wearing the number that the Bruins retired last night, had the shootout winner on Rick Middleton night in Boston. Tuukka Rask got the win in the 2-1 victory...

Nikolaj Ehlers had a hat trick and Patrik Laine scored twice in a 6-5 Winnipeg Jets win over the Chicago Blackhawks...

Columbus continued to roll in a 4-2 win over Minnesota. The Blue Jackets have won 8 of their last 11 games...

Craig Anderson stopped all 27 Rangers shots in a 3-0 shutout win for the Ottawa Senators...

Adin Hill stopped 29 for his first career shutout in a 3-0 Arizona win over the Nashville Predators...

Oskar Klefbom’s late PPG was the difference as the Oilers handed Willie D’s Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 defeat...