Roberto Luongo was 2:06 away from a perfect game, but instead found himself in another sudden death shootout duel for the win, but unlike Saturday’s game in Calgary, he prevailed as the winner. Its about time someone asked the question, “what’s going on with the Canucks, and their penchant for overtime/shootouts?” Tonight’s game was the 9th in 12 games the Vancouver Canucks needed extra time to decide the game!

PHOTO CREDIT - VancouverCanucks.com

Vancouver - February 14, 2012 - Roberto Luongo was 2:06 away from a perfect game, but instead found himself in another sudden death shootout duel for the win, but unlike Saturday’s game in Calgary, he prevailed as the winner. Its about time someone asked the question, “what’s going on with the Canucks, and their penchant for overtime/shootouts?” Tonight’s game was the 9th in 12 games the Canucks needed extra time to decide the game!

Maybe one of the reasons the Canucks are having trouble closing out their opponents is the inability of the Sedins to generate any offensive threat lately. The Sedins might be passing the puck around like its on a string, but in tonight’s game they were able to get 0 (yes, ZERO) shots on goal! That’s an unbelievable stat if I do say so myself, and is probably THE main reason the Canucks are struggling to win a game in regulation time as of late!

David Booth was the only Canuck able to beat Coyote goaltender Jason LaBarbera tonight as he highjacked a bouncing puck in the Coyote zone midway through the second period and broke in on LaBarbera to beat him with a sweet backhand/forehand shot in close. The move worked so well to put the Canucks up 1-0, that he tried it again and succeeded in beating LaBarbera in the shootout with the exact same move. In fact it was Booth that led the charge for the Canucks in the shots on goal department with generating 4 shots. The next closest were from Hamhuis and Bieksa. The Sedins’ 0?s stand out on the score sheet like beacons of frustration!

The Canucks again were outshot by their opponents, but at least it wasn’t an embarrassing number tonight, if you don’t count the third period of course. The Coyotes held the Canucks to 22 shots for the entire game, and a mere 2 in the third period. Roberto stopped 23 of the 24 he faced, and he was playing a perfect game up until Keith Yandle beat him with a shot from the blue line. Did the clearing attempt hit Byron Bitz’s skate and end up on Yandle’s stick? Yup, but the shot looked like it caught Roberto napping as their wasn’t anybody in front of Luongo to distract or tip the puck. It just clean out beat him!

Aside from Yandle’s goal, Luongo played well, even in the shootout which took 6 rounds to complete, with Ryan Kesler getting the winner with a wrist shot that beat LaBarbera just over the right pad.

The Canucks played a physical game, out hitting the desert Dogs. They controlled the face off circles, as expected like they always do. Their defense held the Coyotes, who were on a 5 game winning streak, at bay well enough, and Luongo kept them off the score sheet. But the glaring issue of the number one line not able to get even ONE shot on LaBarbera is disturbing, and in light of the Canucks previous 8 games is cause for concern. Maybe its time to elevate David Booth and Cody Hodgson to the first line to see what they can do with a Sedin, or Burrows. Because tonight, they played like they wanted it more than a Sedin did!