Chicken or the Egg? || November, 29, 2011

The Canucks are now 8-2 in their last 10 games, which would officially be considered on a roll.  The question though, is what is the main reason for this sudden turn for the better?

Schneider has been starting recently, taking advantage of Luongo's mysterious "upper body injury", and now he has played himself into a full time gig.  At the same time, All the slumbering Canucks, (Kesler, Burrows, Booth) have turned it on as well, scoring at a pace more towards expectations.  So is it Schneider's emergence of dominance that sparked this team?  Forcing players to step it up in front of him?  Or is it the rise of our two-way players that is making defensive life on Schneider much easier?  As well as putting the puck in at the other end?

Everything just seemed to all come together at the same time, which is exactly what happened last year to this team.  After a mediocre start, the end of November sparked an historic run of 17-1-2.  This year seems to be trending towards the same result.  Kesler is looking more like himself of last season, with 7 points in 5 games. While newcomer David Booth is showing flashes of his past 30 goal campaign, with 2 goals in his last 3 games.

Standings as of November, 29, 2011

So which came first?  The chicken or the egg?  The dominant goalkeeping from an unlikely source?  Or everybody playing well as a collective unit at both ends of the ice?  Or does it even matter? Some people are just happy that Vancouver is within 1 win of first place in the Western Conference, no matter the reason for it.  Schneider is a big reason for this sudden surge of offense, giving the forwards the confidence to cheat just a little bit.  But it's more likely the players just working the bugs out.  Whether it's adjusting to a new team and new city, or shaking off the cobwebs after a long recovery from injury.

A win is a win, and they all look the same on paper.