This night is one that many were waiting for since the visit last year and if for no other reason, it’s the return of probably the most impressive goaltender that has ever dressed for the Canucks.
Entering the game the Canucks youngster Bo Horvat is riding a three-game goal or point streak and ironically is the longest goal streak of his career.
In addition to the many scouts on hand, sitting in the press box to my left was the bench boss for the Vancouver Giants, Lorne Molleken who just returned from a five game road trip.
Not only is this the longest home stand for the Canucks, tonight see’s them host the high flying Florida Panthers with both Roberto Luongo and NHL statesman #68 Jaromir Jagr who is at the young age of 43.
Playing in his first game tonight is recently acquired #26 Emerson Etem who was selected by Anaheim in the first round, 29th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry draft.
In addition to the hype for Luongo’s return, one that is still sidelined for the Canucks is #20 Chris Higgins and everyone is waiting to see how this plays out.
Apparently the Canucks are looking at getting someone younger while at the same time dumping his huge contract that would free up cap-space.
The Canucks while they seemed ready, it was the Panthers who got out to any early jump by scoring at 1:20 of the opening period, which quieted the fans, some still making it to their seats.
While the Canucks outshoot the Panthers the end result saw Vancouver pull off an impressive win with Daniel Sedin getting the game winner at 2:21 in O/T while Jagr was serving a minor for hooking.
The play of young Emerson Etem was nice to see, given the fact it’s his first game in a Canucks uniform and on a positive note during the press conference Canucks bench boss stated “it was nice to see him draw three penalties, as that hasn’t happened in a long time for us.”
The Canucks hit the road for a six game road trip starting in Washington on the 14th and ending in Pittsburgh on the 23rd against Sidney and crew.
They return home on the 26th to face Nashville to round out the month of January, so we’ll see if they can get some additional “W’s” in the win column.
While many were on hand to see the play of Jagr, the end result not only saw the Canucks win, but also saw Daniel tie Markus Naslund in the record for career goals at 346 in a stunning 3-2 O/T win.
He scored at 5:41 of the second period and again on the PP in O/T at 2:21 and following the game he told the media “He was an idol growing up,” Daniel said. “He meant so much to us coming into this league.”
He continued “He’s a better goal-scorer than me, no question about that. It’s more about how many games I played. He will always be the No. 1 in the goal department.”
Daniel scored his 346 goals in 1,103 games all with the Canucks who selected him second in the 1999 NHL draft.
Let’s remember that Naslund was the Canuck’s Captain when both Henrik and Daniel made their NHL debut October 5th, 2000.
Say what you want, we get spoiled watching them perform magic game in and game out, but one has to ask just how long can they continue to play at this high level. Oh yea Jagr is 43!!
Records are meant to be broken and the part that stands out for most is the fact that both players are not Canadian, but from Sweden.
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