Gut-Check Time

After an unexpected 7-4-1 start this fall, the record made more impressive by the difficulty of their schedule, the Canucks hit turbulence and suddenly lost altitude this week with late meltdowns and losses to the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild that exposed Vancouver's weaknesses.

It's still too early to assume the crash position, but check back after tonight's game here against the Colorado Avalanche. It suddenly seems more important than two points in November.

"It was a little bit of a down feeling, or at least it was this morning," Canuck captain Markus Naslund said after a Friday afternoon practice in the Denver suburbs that was to be followed by a team meeting. "Being up 2-0 in Minny, and being tied in the third with Nashville and still losing those games. . . it's been the other way around for us, usually, where we've been able to pull it off in the end. So, that's been tough."

It's important to get it corrected. Tomorrow night is a very big game for us."

"Losing two guys like that, you're going to notice," Ohlund said, referring to Salo and Mitchell. "But last year, our team was so dysfunctional. I think we're more sound [this season], maybe not as exciting offensively, but our defence has been good. Even last night, they scored five goals and we made some mistakes, but I don't think we gave up a ton of scoring chances. I do feel it's a little bit different.

"Last year, with the coaching staff we had, they wanted us to focus on defence. But our team game was, defensively, horrendous. So what happened to us was no surprise. The last couple of games, even though we could have done better, we're still doing a lot of good things defensively."