Welcome Matt: Canucks fans desperately needed this feel-good start

Don’t know about you, but I didn’t sense a ton of excitement about the start of this Vancouver Canucks season.

Hopeful? Sure. It’s always the case in this town.

But I think a lot of fans were taking a wait-and-see approach. Stay-at-home defencemen and upgrades in the bottom-six don’t exactly move the needle with casuals over the summer, even if they improve the team.

Then there were the starts.

2-5-2 last year, including seven straight defeats out of the gate. 3-5-1 the October before that. 2-5 in the Canadian division season.

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Whatever hope existed was crushed early and often.

Not only did this year’s edition need this 2-0 start, but so did the market. The NHL season is a slog when you’re out of the playoff chase by Remembrance Day.

So this start was long-awaited and much-needed. And to think it happened dressing a skater short on opening night, and with a 38-save performance from the backup goalie on night #2.

As one person at the bar put it to me yesterday: ‘it feels like a fairytale.’

Well, fairytales end well, and we’re a long way from that yet. But so far, so great.

Let’s appreciate this while we can.