Cat Food!

The slide continues for the Vancouver Canuck’s as the Nashville Predators handed them a 5-0 loss, sending the Canucks off to hang on tenuously to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western division.

Once again the Canucks failed to execute their plan of attack, as foolish penalties and poor play in their own end proved to be costly as the Predators loaded up and took their shots on Mika Noronen, who made his debut in a Canuck uniform.

Noronen was weak on a couple of the Predator shots but on the whole he could not be held responsible for the loss, as it was a team effort once again that finished off the Canucks for yet another night. Coach Marc Crawford seemed to hang the loss on Nornen’s head, but if he looks along that bench in front of him he could probably identify a few of the skaters who contributed to the shut out loss.

A telling point about this game and the losing skid is the fact that the Canucks were 0 for 8 on the power play and the losing skid has seen them score only once in twenty eight man advantage situations. That’s a lot of scoring chances that have gone by the wayside as the Canucks have tumbled from their perch in the top five of the conference.

At the end of the game, Crawford gave the usual statements about avoiding negative thoughts, learning from mistakes and yadda yadda yadda, only problem is it seems that the only people listening are the reporters, talk show hosts and fans at home, the guys in the dressing room don’t seem to be receiving the message from the Ministry of Truth behind the bench.

The next chance to get it back together comes up Friday night when the Canucks travel on to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets.

They have fifteen games to go, but have found themselves in the unenviable position of having competitors with games in hand now ahead of them or breathing down their necks. Losing many more of those fifteen could make a playoff spot a moot point by the time April’s playoff wars begin.