Jarret Stoll's perfectly placed shot put an end to the heavily favoured Vancouver Canucks year, as they crashed out of the 2012 NHL playoffs. With the 2-1 overtime victory, the Los Angeles Kings are off to the second round while Vancouver is left pondering just what might have been.

PHOTO CREDIT - VancouverCanucks.com

Vancouver - April 23, 2012 - There is a line in a Bruce Springsteen song that seems to sum up the early round 1 exit of the Canucks. “We’re livin’ in the future, and none of this has happened yet”. Was there anybody who ever thought this could happen, the Presidents Trophy Winning Canucks getting punted out of the playoffs by the eighth seed LA Kings? Well, it happened tonight as the Kings beat the Canucks in OT to win 2-1, and send the Canucks home early. Way too early in this year’s playoff race.

Why, and who’s fault is it that the Canucks are out? In a nutshell, it was nobody’s fault but yet it was everybody’s fault, but mostly it was Duncan Keith’s fault for taking Daniel Sedin out of the Canucks lineup for just long enough to throw the Canucks game into chaos. The reason the Canucks lost is easy, and that is the scoring dried up. The offense sputtered and the defense collapsed, not just in this game, but for the last 4 as well. This loss, as well as the others cannot be pinned on Luongo or Schneider, but rather the entire team. It’s a known fact that you can have the best goal tending in the league, but if you can’t put the puck in the opposition’s net, you are not going to win. And that is exactly what happened to the Canucks. Their ability to score dried up, and it cost them the 2012 season.

Luongo played well, as did Schneider. Henrik did the best he could with brother Daniel out of the lineup. Kesler went cold and struggled the entire series. Burrows and Lapierre’s effectiveness wasn’t as good as their chirping between whistles. Bieksa…well Bieksa continued to struggle on the blue line for the Canucks. Higgins and Hansen forgot to show up most nights. The list goes long if you are looking to lay blame for the Canucks early exit, but the bottom line is the Canucks win as a team, and they lose as a team. Bottom line.

If there is any God in Hockey heaven, the Washington Capitals will end the Bruins hope of going to the second round, and the Coyotes will dispatch the Blackhawks dreams as well. If those two things happen, then the sting of the Canucks early exit won’t be as hard to take knowing those two teams are done as well!