Being number one in the league and winning the President’s trophy hasn’t been everything the Canucks thought it would be going into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Why? The Canucks have had their hands full with the LA Kings and find themselves down in the series 0-2. And the biggest struggle for the Canucks is having to play without superstar Daniel Sedin. And his absence has shown within the line-up.
According to Kristin Reid of Global Media, the Canucks are going to have go the rest of the first round without Daniel there to help them. Reid tweets that Sedin will not only miss Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles but will be out for the rest of the first round thanks to a concussion that kept him out for the latter part of the season.
Yes, the Canucks have been holding their own with the LA Kings; but Daniel’s absence from the lineup is noticeable and his brother, Henrik Sedin, hasn’t been able to pick up the offensive slack without Daniel riding shotgun on his line. None the less, the top seed in the NHL shouldn’t be having this much trouble with an 8th seed team, right?
Wrong. The Canucks have a lot of questions to answer heading into Game 3 as they try to get back in the series, including whether or not to start Cory Schneider instead of Roberto Luongo, but one of those answers won’t come in the form of Daniel Sedin. The LA Kings have really proven to be a big test for the Canucks in the playoffs and it doesn’t look like it is going to get any easier. Only time will tell if Vancouver can find the answers to their big questions.