"The Canucks, who played half their team, couldn't beat the Edmonton Oilers, who played nearly none of theirs. The star-laden debut of the Sedins, Ryan Kesler, and Roberto Luongo under the new Rogers Arena banner was no match for a group of castoffs, enforcers, and relative unknowns from Edmonton, including Brad Moran, Ben Ondrus and Martin Gerber. About the best the thing the Canucks managed in a 3-2 preseason loss was avoiding injury. The closest call an Alexandre Giroux slew foot on Daniel Sedin. A breath or two was cut short in the arena, but Daniel didn't miss a shift and answered the cheap shot with a goal on the power play. Coming into the game there were two unavoidable story lines. The first was Sergei Shirokov's opportunity to play with the Sedin twins. But unable to recapture any of the splendor he basked in last preseason, Shirokov's only real moment came when he raced to Daniel's defence, and ran Giroux. He didn't get far playing tough guy and was quickly ground into the ice, much like his game during the past two nights. Many more efforts like that and all those riches which are supposedly waiting for Shirokov in the KHL may begin to vanish. "He had some moments but there needs to be a little bit more there for him to be a player who can play on a regular basis on this team," Alain Vigneault said. "But it's only been two games, he's going to get another opportunity. He's on the right track but he's not quite there yet." At least Shirokov has the right attitude, declaring he's more than willing to spend another year in Manitoba. "Why not? This is the system," he said. The other plot line was Luongo, who glided onto the ice for his first game this year without the seven pounds of weight he shed cycling in the summer and the captaincy burden. But these are not the only changes for the Canucks most-important player. On Wednesday, Luongo unveiled the first of the tweaks to his game he's initiated since working with new goalie coach Rollie Melanson. And it was not insignificant. For years, Luongo has thrived by being out and in front of his crease to both challenge and intimidate." http://www.theprovince.com/sports/h...Oilers exhibition homegame/3565276/story.html
