Over the past two weeks, the Vancouver Canucks have offered up fair-to-middlin’ performances against opposition they should beat. They lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames and 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, both teams that haven’t made the post-season since John Garrett played goal for the Quebec Nordiques. Despite largely outplaying San Jose — and before you think the Sharks are a good team, they’ve lost to Calgary and Colorado in the past week — Vancouver got frustrated by goaltender Antti Niemi and lost 3-2 in a shootout.

Going into Minnesota Sunday afternoon, the Canucks found themselves just two points up on the Wild for the lead in a Northwest Division they’re supposed to win by default. But for Gary Bettman’s loser point, Vancouver is a .500 hockey team with three wins in 11 games, and they’re leading the division? Come on. They have got to win these games, and win them convincingly. Get off to a good start, take advantage of the power play and run up the score once in a while.

Unfortunately, the two most impressive things about the Canucks in the first period were net-front sightings of the one and ugly Zack Kassian on the power play, and the size of the camera a fan behind Alain Vigneault was allowed to bring into the Excel Energy Centre. Serioulsy, that guy wouldn’t even be allowed within a 10-block radius of Rogers Arena with that 200mm zoom lens. (Not that I know from experience or anything. Grumble rumble grumble rumble.)

Fourteen seconds into the game, Chris Higgins fell to the ice on a centre-ice face-off. Mason Raymond tried to cover for his fallen winger, opening up the middle of the ice for the Wild’s most consistent forward Mikko Koivu. He shoveled a pass to Zach Parise, who had a step on Jannik Hansen & one-timed it past Cory Schneider on the game’s first shot. Bam. 1-0 Wild less than half a minute in. Just the start they were looking for.

An ineffective period later, the Wild took advantage of a series that saw David Booth miss an assignment, Dan Hamhuis lose his stick and Minnesota skaters outnumber and outwork Canuck checkers along the boards. Jason Garrison, who has yet to show the consistency he promised with his free agent signing in the off-season, got caught throwing an unnecessary hit behind the net away from the puck. With Hamhuis fumbling at a stick handed to him by Booth, Matt Cullen put a pass across the lip of the crease where Jason Zucker had an easy tap-in. A buck-thirty left in the first, and it’s 2-0 Wild.

Early in the second it’s 3-0 Minnesota, and the Canucks once again start a comeback hoping for one of those inexplicable Bettman points. The problem is, when you are mounting a comeback, you can’t afford any mistakes. Especially not minute-long shifts that see Garrison and Hamhuis running around chasing the Wild cycle, and where forwards like Booth and Jordan Schroeder stand around watching Minnesota re-establish their two-goal lead.

Vigneault is fond of saying that he doesn’t care if his team wins or loses a given game, as long has he likes the process. In the past couple of weeks, however, the process has involved playing catch up hockey with the excuse that “every team in this league is good”. Looking at the standings, though, I call bullshit. Columbus is not a good hockey team. Calgary is not a good hockey team. Minnesota is barely an average hockey team. By the same standard, sadly, the Canucks are a very mediocre hockey team, made even more so by in-game injuries to Chris Tanev and one of the league’s current ironmen Henrik Sedin.

Positives in this game:

• Kassian made a couple of power moves to the net, eschewing the Vancouver habit of keeping pucks to the outside. One of those wound up rattling Nick Backstrom enough for Chris Higgins to get a shot into the net from a sharp angle. Kassian has impressed over the past few games, nearly scoring a bulldozer of a goal against San Jose earlier in the week.

• Offensive Alex Edler was joined by Defensive Alex Edler in this contest. Edler has been money in the opposing zone, but a disaster in his own end for most of this lockout-shortened season. This night, however, he wasn’t falling down or pinching at the wrong time. He was especially noticeable in the second period, as he backchecked to prevent a Matt Cullen breakaway, then blocked a shot by Devon Setoguchi off the ensuing face-off.

• Henrik Sedin stretched his point streak to seven games, for the third time in as many games scoring from the edge of the blue paint. Sure, I love a good Hank Sedin assist as much as the next guy. His passing is artful, even prescient, but the other team needs to respect him as a legit scoring threat as well to maintain the space the twins need to operate at their best. You can bet that everyone in the Canucks organization held their breath to see Henrik hopping down the tunnel to the dressing room halfway through the third period.

• On a team that already features Cal Clutterbuck and Clayton Stoner, Charlie Coyle has a funny name. Heh heh. “Coyle.”