This will be a quick one because I’m jetlagged and seeing double (which earlier was fun but now I’ m seeing colored spots with french berets that are talking to me. Not good).

But see what happens when I go away for a week? We can’t beat Calgary. Filthy.

I’ll admit I saw not one second of either game so I am left to poke around the blogs and brave the Vancouver papers for an idea of what went wrong. The home game sounded like your average back and forth before Edler decided to let Glencross win it for the Flames so people in Calgary had something to feel proud about.

Saturday’s game sounded much worse, like Schneider did his job on the grandest of stages for a rookie and Vancouver couldn’t help him up front. Worse yet was the power play struggles from October have reared their ugly head again. All kinds of stuff that sounds all too familiar.

The worst games are the ones where the Canucks lackadaisical play kills them. I’d rather a team paste them 10-0 based on the talent of the opposition than squander Schneider’s effort (or anyone else’s for that matter) with a ho-hum effort. 82 games is a long time and these things are inevitable blah blah blah. I repeat: bring on the Jackets before I throw a brick at someone’s head.

Now, luckily for those of you with craniums, there’s the strong possibility a brick won’t be errantly beaned off your brain case because the Blue Jackets, who sit 10th in the conference, are an easier target for the Canucks than the Flames: Columbus is dead last on the man advantage and tied with Vancouver on their mutually woeful penalty kills. Interestingly, this may be the first game in memory where their goalie may have the edge: Sanford or Schenider will get the nod while the Canucks will get to deal with Steve Mason, a rookie who has posted two shutouts in three games played. Awesome.

I am always encouraged when the young guns get a chance to show their stuff so it’s killer that Jaffray returns tonight. If you look at the Canucks offense, there’s now at least a nine point gap between the Sedins and everyone else so all the better to get some new blood out there and see whst sticks.

The last time these two teams played it didn’t work out so well. The Jackets are like the Blues, Kings or Islanders: mentally you want to laugh and check the win box on the calendar before the puck is dropped and it’s right about then you look up at the scoreboard and they’re winning 5-0.

So, because piracy is the latest trend, I’ll just end with a Jack Sparrow quote for the guys: “Take what you can. Give nothing back.” In short, go get the win. With extreme prejudice.

Please.