Congratulations Vancouver, it's a bouncing baby win. The labour was murder -- think a field mouse birthing a porcupine -- but the Vancouver Canucks are doing just fine and so, for a change, is coach Alain Vigneault.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault gives his squad some directions during the victory at GM Place Tuesday night as game star Mats Sundin (right) listens in.

Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

Stalked by reporters the way a dying man draws undertakers, Vigneault won't have to answer questions for a few days at least about his allegedly imminent firing because the Canucks won in Vancouver for the first time since 2008, edging the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 Tuesday to end an epic eight-game National Hockey League losing streak.

Yes, the greatest crisis of our time -- not counting climate change and the global economic collapse -- has ended. And it had nothing to do with Vigneault.

Alex Burrows, who played for Vigneault in the American League before both made it to the Canucks, swooped in on a shorthanded breakaway and beat Hurricane goalie Cam Ward on a forehand deke with 82 seconds left in the third period.

Vigneault didn't teach Burrows that move. Nor did he instruct Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo how to be world-class again in the first period, nor did Vigneault summon divine intervention to guide safely towards Luongo a last-minute, goalmouth ricochet off defenceman Willie Mitchell's skate.

"Last week, that goes off the skate and in," Luongo said. "When things aren't going well, I don't think anyone is safe. Alain has done a great job since he's been here. This is a team game. Everyone is responsible when we're losing.

"It was on everybody's mind what's been going on. You try not to think about it. We just wanted to get this first win and get this streak out of the way and get on with normal life."

Normal life? In Vancouver, at the end of the Canuck's longest losing streak in a decade?

"Well, we go on the road next week," Luongo said. "Then life will get back to normal."

There is no such thing in pro sports.

It's a make-believe world with pretend problems.

Vigneault never seemed terribly bothered by predictions of his demise. General manager Mike Gillis has fiercely defended and supported his coach and owner Francesco Aquilini hasn't said anything. That's what GMs and owners should do.

"When things aren't going well, people like to point fingers," Burrows noticed. "I know in this locker room, people haven't pointed fingers at anyone. We're 23 guys who have come out of this together. Same with the coaching staff.

"They've been doing a good job. We had the same system when things were going well. They were coaching the same way. But we weren't getting the bounces and were finding ways to lose; it wasn't the coaching. Nothing changed really. It's nice to get [a win] and hopefully those rumours and speculation will go die somewhere else. They can go to Edmonton."

Oilers' coach Craig MacTavish also is reading his obituary daily.

While angry villagers with torches and pitchforks had been showing up at games to menace Vigneault, Luongo had been able to live peacefully and scorn-free despite a stretch of mediocre play that had contributed greatly to Canuck losses.

Tuesday's game was Luongo's sixth since he returned from a serious groin injury and in the first five he had conjured his A-game only once. And that was the 2-1 overtime loss in San Jose two weeks ago.

Luongo was solid in Saturday's 4-3 OT loss against the Minnesota Wild, but that still made him only the second-best goalie that night behind Niklas Backstrom.

But the Canucks got their goalie back against Carolina, for the first period at least. In the opening minute, Luongo stopped Ray Whitney point-blank, then slid across his goal to stuff Justin Williams' rebound attempt.

By contrast, Ward looked poor on both goals as the Canucks took a 2-0 lead in the opening 13 minutes. Luongo was the difference. Vigneault was a genius.

Then in the second period, Luongo let two pucks in 25 seconds go through him as the Hurricanes rallied to tie. Luongo was poor. Vigneault was an idiot.

For all the scouting and preparation, for all the systems and conditioning work, for all the lineup planning, the coach is still hostage to the players on the ice. They execute or they don't, and most times it has little to do with the coach.

Certainly, Canuck players haven't quit on Vigneault or tuned him out. Twice in the last four games, they have rallied from two-goal deficits to force overtime, which doesn't happen when players have checked out.

What the Canucks need more than better coaching is for Luongo to be Luongo, for Daniel and Henrik Sedin to generate goals that matter, for Kevin Bieksa and Alex Edler and Jannik Hansen and Mason Raymond to stop their knees shaking and palms sweating when they get the puck, and for Mats Sundin to help more than he hurts, which he did Tuesday.

When this happens, the Canucks win.

"It takes the pressure off everybody," Luongo said.

imacintyre@vancouversun.com

ONLINE: Comment on this story and view a photo gallery on the game at vancouversun.com