Canucks 4 - Nashville 0 - Game Notes

The Vancouver Canucks rebounded nicely from their loss against Detroit with a decisive 4-0 win over the Nashville Predators...

• If there was any lingering doubt as to whether Kyle Wellwood had seen the last of Manitoba this season (although I'm not sure if he actually made it to Winnipeg when he was sent down) it was laid to rest on Tuesday night. With two more goals upping his total to 6, Wellwood again showed off his outstanding hands and knack around the net. We all saw his offensive abilities in the pre-season, but it's his overall hockey sense that is going to keep him with the big club. Wellwood has shown great instincts in the offensive zone, but somewhat surprisingly he is also looking pretty good defensively. At this point the only real question mark with Wellwood is whether he can minimize the effects of losing one on one physical battles in his own end. His hockey IQ isn't in doubt.
• Taylor Pyatt appears to have gotten his game back on track after a terrible first 3 weeks. I don't know how much he was bothered by an injury or whether he simply wasn't prepared to do the things he needs to do to be successful. Whatever it was, he's received the message and is now playing with more jump and determination.
• Michel Ouellet made his debut after clearing re-entry waivers. Ouellet played 10:26 on a line with Wellwood and Pyatt and he also received a little power play time. So far he looks to have pretty good hands and defensive awareness. It will be interesting to see how he fits in during the rest of this homestand.
• It was nice to see a renewed focus for the defensemen to get pucks through to the net on the power play. They weren't all on the power play, but the Canucks defense managed a total of 18 shots on goal.
• Is it a coincidence that the Canucks scored 2 power play goals on a night where they were 82% on faceoffs with the man advantage?
• Finally it was nice to see the Canucks come out hard in the third period instead of attempting to sit on a one goal lead. Maybe their relative success coming from behind in third periods has shown them that it's hard to keep the puck out of your own net when the opposition is continually on the attack.

The Canucks host Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday...