from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

There is this nagging feeling when you watch the Vancouver Canucks that they are fading like the sun in Sweden in mid-December, and there’s very little they can do about it this season.

Sure, it was nice to beat one of the better teams in the league Friday night, but they caught the Blues on the second night of a back-to-back, and the way they were dominated in the first period they could easily have come away down two or three goals had they been less fortunate.

The days of this team being able to compete with the best are almost certainly slipping away, and there could be further proof Monday night if they are cuffed around the way they were the last time they went into Staples Arena to play the Kings.

Of course, the players don’t want to accept this. They think that once everyone is back and they correct their ‘mindset’ when playing these teams, that they are just as good and have a chance to compete when the playoffs come around — although Kevin Bieksa insists they’re “not thinking about that now” and “nobody wins the Stanley Cup in January.”

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