Why Vancouver Canucks will win the Stanley Cup –NHL Special
Vancouver secured the Presidents’ Trophy for the second straight season as Canucks ended the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season on top of the Western Conference and overall, but will it be enough to make another run for the Stanley Cup?
Last year was extremely disappointing for Vancouver despite emerging as the best team around the league as Canucks lost to Boston Bruins at home in game-seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was no surprise that the city erupted into flames as thousands of
fans came out to riot, but this time around, Vancouver definitely has some different plans.
"Our guys really came out and showed that they wanted to play well," Vancouver coach, Alain Vigneault, said. "We pushed the pace, took the momentum, and showed we wanted this."
There is no surprise that this time around, the x-factor for Vancouver to make a run for the cup will be Roberto Luongo. In more simple terms, that means having solid goaltending throughout.
During the last playoffs, Luongo had his up and down moments but certainly choked big time against Boston Bruins, especially in the last game as it seemed like he just gave up. This time will be his make-it or forever break-it postseason.
Going up against a team like Los Angeles Kings, which also has an amazing goaltender in the form of Jonathan Quick, Luongo will have to start giving it his all right from the quarterfinals.
"Los Angeles is a tough team. They are a well-structured team that loves to play a defensive type of game," Vigneault said about Los Angeles Kings. "They are real dedicated to their system, and they've gotten some great goaltending."
Vancouver will certainly not be the first team to actually rebound and take the cup after coming within an inch to winning it the previous season. Pittsburgh Penguins suffered the same fate and learned from their mistakes to rebound against the same Detroit
Red Wings team and take the Stanley Cup back home. For Canucks, they have some prime examples set but working towards it will be something they will have to do on their own.
Defensive play will be crucial to success in the playoffs as giving up a single goal could mean the match for Canucks and keeping Luongo as easy as possible would be their best bet to fruitful series.
Luckily for Luongo, he has one of the best backup goalies in the league. Cory Schneider has been fantastic for Vancouver this season and a huge reason why Luongo got some rest and Canucks kept on winning to get where they are now.
With all that said about veteran goalie, Roberto Luongo, mentioning Vancouver’s offensive game is well deserved. Daniel and Henrik Sedin along with players like Alex Burrows, Manny Malhotra, Ryan Kesler and others will have to play their parts in perfect
chemistry to keep the team alive in tough situations where they could be down by one or two points.
Vancouver Canucks have some of the best players known to hockey today and with some good strategies and well versed out teamwork, they just might be able to make another run for the championship.
Vancouver will be going up against Los Angeles Kings in the first-round and seeing how Canucks manage to take them down and in how many games will be the ultimate deciding factor to judge their future performance on.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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