Going 9-4-1, the Canucks continued to duke it out with Team Giordano over in Calgary for surprise team of the year. And while the quick start of the first two lines, catalyzed by Vrbata and Bonino, was the story of October, the emergence of the team's bottom six have allowed Willie Desjardins to make good on his promise to roll all four units. It's one thing to do it, but with literally all six current members of the bottom two lines on a 30-plus-point pace, the Canucks have never looked so good in the process.
It makes sense then that in this November's edition of the Top 5 Goals of the Month, all four lines are well-represented. From Hank and Dank's continued dominance in overtime to Bo Horvat's first NHL goal, this one's full of talent, grit and sweet, sweet career milestones:
(Oh, I also discovered the joys of custom thumbnails. This is an embarrassingly huge victory for me.)
A few quick thoughts on these goals:
*Shawn Matthias has far more vision than anyone had been giving him credit for. Unless you're Henrik Sedin or Sidney Crosby, nine times out of ten, that play on Hansen's short handed goal would have simply gone down the boards. With his size (and actual ability to use it) to boot, Matthias is a player that is making a lot of people forget Zack Kassian is even missing on the third line.
*I once read in some obscure, long-forgotten message board that the Oilers of the 80's used to purposefully take penalties on power plays, so as to get 4-on-4 scenarios for guys like Gretzky and Coffey to take advantage of. And while that sounds utterly and completely untrue, the Sedins' play in OT makes me feel like the Canucks should just send Dorsett out to run the goalie to start each power play.
*If anyone's betting on this month's annual SuperSkills Competition (...I feel like somewhere this is something that actually happens), all the money I ever made is on Nick Bonino for shooting accuracy.
*And lastly, Bo. Horvat.
-HC
Follow @BuresTripleDeke
Canucks Top 5 Goals of October
Luongo's 67th career shutout, passes Roy
Bure's Triple Deke on YouTube
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