Canucks blank Avalanche

ABSTRACT On a night honouring Canadian troops, backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft made 18 saves in an inspirational 3-0 win over Colorado

FULL TEXT It was Canadian Forces night at GM Place, an evening dedicated to the brave men and women who stand on guard for thee. But the lads on the ice could've taught the folks in the stands a thing or two about defence. The Vancouver Canucks - ad hoc lineup and all - put on a suffocating display against the Colorado Avalanche, shutting out the Western Conference leaders 3-0 behind 18 saves from backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft. "I'll take that every single night for the next 70 games," Raycroft said. "When you're not spending time in your zone, they're not going to get many chances." The former Maple Leafs backstop was yanked from a 7-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday - Vancouver's worst defeat of the young NHL season, both in margin and goals allowed - after permitting four goals on 22 shots. But Raycroft, who played for Colorado last season, was in no danger of a repeat against the punch-less Avalanche, and helped the Canucks improve to 2-1 without injured captain Roberto Luongo (fractured rib) by registering his first blanking since November 2007. The victory shrunk Colorado's lead in the Northwest Division down to six points ahead of the second-place Canucks , who improved to 8-7. Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler each had a goal and an assist, while Tanner Glass added an insurance tally - the first of his career - midway through the third. "With all the injuries we've had, this team has been playing pretty good," Kesler said. "It's a little inconsistent at times, but we're steering the ship pretty good without those guys." The Canucks played without six forwards - the temptation is to say "regular forwards" but given the infirmary these days, it's tough to discern who is "regular" anymore - despite the fact that Alex Burrows and Kyle Wellwood regained good health and made their returns to the lineup. The situation is so dire that the team has dipped into its deep pool of defencemen and is using rearguard Aaron Rome on the wing, while giving regular ice-time to the obscure likes of Mario Bliznak and Glass. And the injury predicament worsened when rookie Michael Grabner, who has five points in nine games, turned his ankle in warm-up. Head coach Alain Vigneault said the young Austrian would be out for "some quite some time" and that the team would recall yet another forward from the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose. The Avalanche - 28th in the league last season - have been the NHL's biggest surprise through 15 games, posting a 10-3-2 mark despite playing 11 contests away from the Pepsi Center. The team finished a stretch where it played 11 of 13 on the road, and had garnered points in 10 straight games before weekend losses in San Jose and Vancouver. "I don't know if there's a little bit of fatigue setting in from being on the road for so much," head coach Joe Sacco said. "I hate to use that as an excuse, but we certainly didn't look like we had our legs either in San Jose or tonight." The Avs have burst out of the gate with a rookie management duo of GM Greg Sherman and Sacco, and is also the first NHL club to open a season with two 18-year-olds since the 1995-96 Winnipeg Jets. But the kids - centres Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly - weren't alright on Sunday. In fact, they were barely noticeable. Ditto the rest of their teammates, who barely tested Raycroft, not even on a brief two-man advantage in the opening period. The visitors managed just 13 shots through two periods, and had few scoring chances after the first half of the opening stanza. They didn't record their first shot of the third period until past the midpoint. In goal, Craig Anderson came off an October where he set league records for wins (10) and games (14), and could only be faulted on one goal. The free-agent acquisition headlines most statistical categories for goalies, and started his 15th consecutive game last night, making him the first Avalanche goalie to do that since Patrick Roy in 1999. Sherman and Sacco chose to cut bait with Raycroft to sign Anderson, making the result all the sweeter for the Canucks goalie. "You want to do well," Raycroft said. "There are still a lot of guys over there that I know and there are guys in the front office who made decisions on me that I might not have felt were the right ones. But at the same time, I wasn't going in vengeful."