Canucks 4 Oilers 3 F/SO

Cory Schneider played the complete game stopping 33 shots including a second period barrage as the Canucks escaped Edmonton with a 4-3 shootout victory.

Facing a largely veteran line-up Schneider faced 15 second period shots making several key saves. With just under 5 mins remaining in the middle frame and the Canucks looking sloppy on the Power play, Sam Gagner scored on a shorthanded breakaway to give the Oilers the lead.

The Canucks entered the third period down 3-2 before Dan Gendur locked the game at 3 with just over 5 mintues remaining.

In the shootout, both Kyle Wellwood and Jason Krog scored while only Sam Gagner was able to beat the Canucks netminder.

It was a busy night for television so I was unable to see much of the game but from what I did see, here is the good and the bad:

For Vancouver, Cory Schneider looked stellar in goal while defenceman Rob Davison did not. Davison is simply here to provide some toughness to the Canucks line-up and did that well, however, he does seem to be a liability in his own end.

As for the Oilers, Sam Gagner continues to shine and will definitely be a force for years to come in Oil Country. Meanwhile, Sheldon Souray seemed to have a tough time moving his feet. Although he did unload several canons from the point, there were numerous times where he was beat rather easily to the outside.



Canucks Camp Notes:

Not too much news came from the Canucks' express two day camp in Whistler BC, of note are the following:

Its no secret that off-season waiver acquisition Kyle Wellwood has better things to do than fitness training, to that coach Alain Vigneault the following statement:

“His commitment to conditioning and being a professional athlete probably wasn’t where it needed to be for him to have success,” said Vigneault. “His test results showed from early July [to training camp] significant improvements. That being said, it’s still not NHL calibre.”

To that coach A.V. added an ultimatum

“He’s going to be re-tested after the first four [preseason] games,” added Vigneault. “As long as we see improvements and consistent improvements, we’ll work with him and give him the benefit of the doubt.

“The day that stops, it [roster-spot battle] stops.”

Elsewhere, 2008 first round selection Cody Hodgson continued to impress. Hodgson was paired with veterans Pavol Demitra and Steve Bernier and seemed to leave a lasting impression with his potential future teammates.

"He's a young player who just got drafted but it doesn't seem like he's nervous on the ice, he's playing like he was in junior," said Bernier. "He's so calm on the ice, he can see everybody on the ice very well, he seems like he's a goalscorer too, he scored a couple of goals in practice. He's got good speed, he plays well offensively so he's going to be a pretty good player very soon.

"It's been fun to play with a guy like this and hopefully we're going to have the same lines for one of the two games next week"