As I wrote in my last blog, the Vancouver Canucks were due for a boost in their play with Roberto Luongo coming back into the line up after a few games off with an injury.  And he was more than up to the task, shutting out the New Jersey Devils and out dueling Martin Brodeur 5-0 last night at the GM Place in Vancouver, BC. 

The game started out with a lot of intensity as both teams seemed to be excited for the match-up.  I think when a first place club comes into any arena there is additional excitement for the game, let alone when future Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur is goaltending for the opposing team.

The Canucks wasted little to no time to get on the board as, just over two minutes into the game, Aaron Miller took a seemingly harmless shot, off the face off, from the point.  It seemed as though to be ever so slightly deflected, fooling Marty as the puck dipped just inside the left post.

New Jersey did not let that early goal get the best of them, peppering the Vancouver net minder with shot after shot.  The Devils left the first period, down 1-0, while outshooting their opposition 11-6. 

The second period started out just about as bad as it could have for the Devils.  Vancouver found the back of the net three times in the first eight plus minutes of the period.  Marty looked weak on the first goal of the period, and let a rebound sit right in front of him for a hustling Ryan Kessler to poke home. 

John Madden just missed his chance to get the Devils back to within one goal when his wrist shot beat Luongo, but hit the post.

The Canucks came down on the ensuing rush and scored when Trevor Linden took a slap shot that also looked to deflect off of a Devils player and into the net.

A quarter of an inch to the left and it's 2-1, instead, just like that, it was 3-0.

The Devils offense then went to work getting shot after shot on Luongo, forcing face-offs down low, but nothing developed.  He was a wall in net.

After a brief assault of shots on the Canucks net-minder, Henrick and Daniel Sedin (twin brothers) made two nice passes entering the Devils zone 3-on-2 before finding Marcus Naslund back-door for an easy open side goal.  The Canucks were now up 4-0 and steam rolling their way to victory.

If I were Brent Sutter I would have pulled Marty, not because he was playing bad, but to wake the Devils up.  Too many odd man rushes against up to this point.  I think the players would have responded with a goaltending change.  Some of the best momentum swings in hockey start with something like that.

D Vitaly Vishnevski earned the Devils a power play and a chance to get back into the game, when his seemingly clean hit on Ryan Kessler frustrated the Canucks' Alexandre Burrows, and Burrows took a four minute double-minor roughing penalty for going after Vishnevsky.

The Devils were unable to convert, as Luongo was up to the task, as he was all night long.

The third period saw a frustrated Devils team come out of the intermission with little fire or poise.  It seemed as though they had already given up with 20 minutes still left to play.  Vancouver was able to capitalize on this when the Sedin twins got together and found Naslund alone in the slot, again for his second of the night and a 5-0 lead.

The rest of the period saw the Devils unravel as they took penalty after penalty.  Only getting six shots in the period was the result and a 5-0 loss ensued.

This is only game one of the three game trip, but I have lost a little of the confidence I had in how they were playing.

Maybe it was the long flight after playing a hard fought game Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.  But whatever it is, I think the Devils need to put together 60 minutes of hockey.  That is when they play their best.

I was not upset with the way the Devils were playing until the third period.  They ran into a hot goaltender.  Hey, it happens.  We all know Marty does it to teams all of the time.  But to give up in the third period, to me, is unacceptable.

I think Coach Sutter will get them focused and back on track for Friday night against the Edmonton Oilers.  The additional rest with two days off between games should help them rebound nicely. 

The Devils had not faired well in recent history on the western Canada road trips, so hopefully they can take home at least four points to keep their spot as the Atlantic Division leader over the dreaded New York Rangers.

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