Bitz carving a spot for himself on the top line
Byron Bitz keeps laying on the hits and showing he can skate with the Vancouver Canucks' best players.
Should there be any doubt, the two are Daniel and Henrik Sedin, although not necessarily in that order. They were reunited from the start of Thursday's convincing 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
For the first time ever, the Sedins both scored in a game against Minnesota. But the real story of the game, after the separation that was never going to last long, and the short-lived suspense surrounding Henrik's ankle injury that threatened to end his ironman run at 552 games -- but didn't -- was Bitz.
He was playing only his third game as a Canuck after missing almost two years with abdominal and hip injuries that required him to undergo surgery four times. He last played for Florida in March 2010 before signing with the Canucks as a free agent in the off-season.
But the 27-year-old Saskatoon native now has three points in his past two games. He assisted on Henrik Sedin's game-winner Thursday with the kind of saucer pass that the Canuck captain is known for sending rather than receiving. As a result, Henrik needed two whacks at the puck before it went in.
"(Bitz) made a saucer pass I don't think he knew he had in him and I don't think anybody else knew," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. "He made the play and it turned out to be a real big goal for us."
Bitz has not just found a home with the Canucks. He has found a home on Vancouver's top line. With the playoffs lurking on the horizon, don't expect him to be shuffled off it anytime soon.
"He holds on to the puck in the offensive zone, which really gives us time," Henrik said. "It started out in Nashville, but (Thursday night) he really showed how he can fend off a guy, get open and get to the right area.
"What you see in the playoffs are teams having success with big bodies who can get in on the forecheck. They can hold on to the puck and it forces (opponents) to play in their own end a lot more than they want to."
Which explains why Bitz will not move to another line in the near future. Vigneault is not inclined to let other teams pound the twins in the playoffs the way the Boston Bruins did in the Stanley Cup finals last spring. Bitz is a heavyweight that the Canucks have been lacking, and he is showing that he can skate with the twins and play the cycle game that they love.
Rather than the recent separation of the twins, people should be talking about the departure of the Sedins' regular linemate Alex Burrows. Don't expect him back soon.
"You can use (Bitz) on all four lines," said defenseman Kevin Bieksa. "He looks great with the twins. He's skilled enough to play with them. And he's going to open up a lot of room for them.
"I don't think you're going to see too many people taking cheap shots at the twins with him out there."
In other words, watch for Bitz to do his best Marty McSorley impression between now and the post-season. During the Edmonton Oilers' heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s, McSorley showed that he could protect Wayne Gretzky and still produce offensively.
Bitz will be asked to do much of the same with the Sedins in the post-season. In other words, fans might not know who Bitz is yet, but opponents soon will.
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