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Pigs fly. The fat lady sings. The Canucks win in regulation.

-written by Shane Koka and Omar Rawji

Regulation wins used to be normal. Overtime was special. Shootouts were extraordinary.

That’s all in the past.

The Canucks beat the Avalanche 3-1 in regulation on Wednesday and if you were on Twitter, it was a revelation.

Hosea Cheung (@hosea24hours) tweeted after the game:

“After the second, I was already getting mentally ready for the shootout.” – Luongo.

He’s funny. So are our three quick notes on the game.

1. AV is Linsane

HTTN’s research team caught this phone exchange between Alain Vigneault and New York Knicks’ coach, Mike D’Antoni on Wednesday night:

AV: Mike, I got some advice for you. You gotta bench Jeremy Lin.

MD: What? How can you say that? He’s been amazing!!

AV: Come on Mike. He’s a rookie. You can’t give him too much respect. It’ll go to his head.

MD: But he’s outstanding, he’s winning us games and he deserves to play!

AV: No, he doesn’t deserve it. Rookies deserve to sit on the bench, Mike.

MD: This makes no sense! Should I play some inferior point guard like Toney Douglas instead of letting Lin win us games?

AV: Yes, exactly.

MD: Why would anyone do that?

AV: Oh no, I just finished my lozenge! I need a new one. Gotta run!

On a completely unrelated note: Cody Hodgson played 10:50 on the 4th line on Wednesday, yet STILL managed to set up Jannik Hansen’s game winning goal.

2. David Booth is… awesome

David Booth is this year’s Ryan Kesler or Jannik Hansen or Alex Burrows. I don’t know, he’s someone. He’s the guy who brings his lunch pail to work every day (do people really use “pails” to carry their lunches?), and sets an example for teammates to follow.

Booth’s thought process (said in skater voice to match his backwards hat):

Whoa… when I carry the puck to the net, people cheer. Totally awesome. In Florida no one even came to games. They just wanted to be at the beach all the time. Whoa… I miss the beach.

Another dangerous Booth: John Wilkes Booth. The parallels are overwhelming. They’re not related, though.

3. The Higgins Effect

This is the Butterfly Effect. It’s nothing like the Higgins Effect, but it IS an effect.

Know who looked good against the Avalanche? Jannik Hansen, Mason Raymond, David Booth, Alex Burrows… the wingers.

Chris Higgins returned Wednesday after missing 6 games due to an infection, and his teammates looked like they didn’t appreciate it. With all the offensive depth the Canucks have, there’s a battle for ice time.

The internal competition is working.

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