Canucks 4 Oilers 5

Game Recaps: canucks.com . Vancouver Province . ESPN
Statistics: Score Sheet . Stat Sheet

• Maxime Ouellet started his first game for the Canucks. Except for Horcoff's shorthanded goal in the third period, I thought Ouellet played a solid game most of the night. He made some good saves, controlled most rebounds and can't be faulted for any of the first three Oilers goals. He finished with 32 saves on 37 shots.
• I thought Steve McCarthy played his most active game in a while. Especially in the first two periods, McCarthy played with a lot of jump and pinched in offensively.
• Nolan Baumgartner was impressive last night. There was a lot of skating and not a lot of hits - exactly the kind of game in which Baumgartner thrives. He logged 16:05 minutes of ice-time in all situations.
• Todd Bertuzzi was a machine. Again. Maybe this is for real. Maybe 2002/2003 Bertuzzi is back. He had 2 goals, 4 shots and +1 rating in 21:18 minutes of ice-time. Most importantly, he was a handful to the Oilers defense all night.
• Speaking of Bertuzzi, he seemed to be in a jovial mood last night. It's good to see. He didn't look like a guy that didn't want to be in Vancouver.
• The game had some great flow with lots of skating and scoring chances. Until McGeough and partner decided to call eight penalties in the third period.
• If any Oilers fans are reading this, why doesn't Ales Hemsky shoot more often? He puts himself in position to do so then hangs on to the puck. He had three points last night but easily could have had a couple more if he actually decided to shoot the puck.
• Speaking of shooting the puck, Sami Salo was doing a lot of that. Except he didn't hit the net. In the beginning of the season, he hit the net often and got off to a strong start statistically. He's slown down since and only has one assist in six December games.
• I don't think I need to say anything about the Canucks' special teams, huh? 0-for-6 on the powerplay, 3 powerplay goals allowed, 1 shorthanded goal against. 'Nuff said.