The return of Roberto Luongo was a festive affair in Vancouver on Tuesday night as the hometown Canucks made quick work of the New Jersey Devils, providing Martin Brodeur with a nightmare of a night as the Devils made their first journey West for the year and their first appearance at GM Place in six years.
Luongo who missed four games of a recent Canucks road trip with sore ribs, seemed to be feeling no ill effects as he was challenged frequently in the first period by the Devils, who couldn’t find a way past him.
The Canucks would be the ones to do all the scoring as they found a variety of ways to put five goals behind Brodeur, including a first goal in four years for Aaron Miller, two goals from captain Markus Naslund, while Ryan Kesler and Trevor Linden also found the mark on the way to the 5-0 shut out.
The Canucks who are still suffering from a few key injuries continued to find that the young call ups from Manitoba were able to fit in nicely to the program, making a case that they are not that far away from permanent roster status in Vancouver.
New Jersey which has struggled at times this season, had trouble keeping their discipline in check, frequently finding time in the penalty box was not productive as the Canuck goals began to mount.
They can regroup as they head on to Alberta to wrap up their Western Canada swing, a rare occurrence that may become more frequent once the NHL changes its inter conference scheduling model next season.
Though if 5-0 results are going to be the norm, they may wish to hold a recount and make a different selection on voting day…
Luongo who missed four games of a recent Canucks road trip with sore ribs, seemed to be feeling no ill effects as he was challenged frequently in the first period by the Devils, who couldn’t find a way past him.
The Canucks would be the ones to do all the scoring as they found a variety of ways to put five goals behind Brodeur, including a first goal in four years for Aaron Miller, two goals from captain Markus Naslund, while Ryan Kesler and Trevor Linden also found the mark on the way to the 5-0 shut out.
The Canucks who are still suffering from a few key injuries continued to find that the young call ups from Manitoba were able to fit in nicely to the program, making a case that they are not that far away from permanent roster status in Vancouver.
New Jersey which has struggled at times this season, had trouble keeping their discipline in check, frequently finding time in the penalty box was not productive as the Canuck goals began to mount.
They can regroup as they head on to Alberta to wrap up their Western Canada swing, a rare occurrence that may become more frequent once the NHL changes its inter conference scheduling model next season.
Though if 5-0 results are going to be the norm, they may wish to hold a recount and make a different selection on voting day…
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