from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

How do you analyze this one?

Six minutes in to Saturday night’s statement game against the New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks were down 3-0, had surrendered 18 odd-man rushes and generally looked to be in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

The shakeup to the lines, occasioned by three straight substandard starts on the road, had only succeeded in causing mass confusion and panic. And that was on the ice and in the stands.

Sadly, it wouldn’t get any better over the next two and a half hours.

So, faced with this horrific display, the faithful have two choices. Either they believe this is really the Canucks, in which case they’ll start screaming and might not stop until April. Or they believe this is just one of those spells every NHL team confronts during the season and the real Canucks are the team of October and November.

That, at least, would be the more comforting option. But there was something about the Canucks’ performance in their 5-1 loss to the Rangers and Alain Vigneault that’s not so easily dismissed.

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