It’s starting to look more and more possible that Ryan Miller was the missing piece the Vancouver Canucks were looking for. After giving up on Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, Miller fell into their laps this offseason. Signing a three-year, $18 million deal with Vancouver, the move brought Miller to the arena where he came just short of winning the Gold.
Playing every home game now at Rogers Arena keeps Miller motivated every game. And keeping him motivated it has this season. Miller is out to prove all the naysayers wrong, and he’s doing just that early in this season.
Miller hasn’t had the best overall statistical season to start, but he’s atop the league in wins, the only stat that really matters. Boasting a solid 14-3-0 record, Miller has been dominant. His solid performance has helped boost the rest of the Canucks roster.
The Sedin brothers are holding up their end on offense, and players like Radim Vrbata (10 goals), Nick Bonino (9 goals 7 assists), and Chris Higgins (4 goals 9 assists) have helped carry some slack.
Vancouver is averaging 3.0 goals for, against 2.7 goals against per game. The bigger picture is how well they’ve killed off opponents penalties, posting a solid 85.3 kill percentage. This all plays into their overall record of 15-6-1, and a solid 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
The Canucks have 31 points, and are only two points behind Montreal and Anaheim for the league lead.
Vancouver and Miller stayed the course last night shutting out the New Jersey Devils 2-0, against former teammate Cory Schneider. It was sad atmosphere pregame, as the Canucks remembered former coach Pat Quinn. “Maybe not the prettiest game, but I’m sure Pat would have been happy,” Alexandre Burrows said. A much needed win before heading on a seven-game East coast road trip.
This will be an exciting next couple of weeks for this Canucks squad, as they’ll get the chance to knock off some of the East’s hottest teams. A big help in that stretch is only two games will be back to back (Dec 6 @Toronto/Dec 7 @Ottawa). They close out trip on December 9th in Montreal, in a game that somehow isn’t on national TV.
It looks like Ryan Miller is an early contender to challenge Marc-Andre Fleury for the Vezina Trophy. He’ll not only challenge MAF, but the rest of the Western Conference as the Canucks look to get to the top of the West.
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