The Vancouver Canucks second win-in-a-row is a great indicator of the quality of this road trip team. They don't give up. They go that little bit extra. They see opportunities and take them. They play hockey the way their coach wants them to. And that's why it's time for the National Hockey League Broadcasters Association to sit up, take note and realize that Willie Desjardins is a worthy candidate for the Jack Adams Trophy for the Coach of the Year.

Desjardins has excelled at making the extraordinarily complex game of hockey simple for his players, and they execute the way he asks them to. That's what makes them play so well and that's what makes him such a great coach.

Playing shorthanded, for example. The Canucks players on the ice when they're a man -- or two -- down, only have one aim: to get the puck out of their zone as fast as they can. They don't hesitate. They don't think about shorthanded scoring opportunities; getting the puck out is job one.

And they do. They get it out by winning their faceoffs. They get it out by thinking quickly and making the extra effort. They do that by looking at their missed opportunities, and trying to do them better.

Deep in their own zone, their players don't need to see the available lanes for them to get the puck into open ice. They know where their opponents are, and where the puck needs to go, intuitively. Once they touch it, it rarely gets passed to their opponents -- more rarely yet if they have control of the puck. Their shorthanded play is so frustrating for their opponents because it's so repetitive: the Canucks get the puck, and get it out. They get the puck, and get it out.

If they happen to be in a position to make a play, they'll go for it, but only if the puck is safely out of their zone, away from their goalie. That for Desjardins and his team, is job one.

It's not just their shorthanded play that makes Desjardins stand out for being a great coach. It's his team's overall hockey sense. If you could take just one play as an example of how great their hockey sense is, it would be on Monday night when defenseman Christopher Tanev made that long, diagonal, tape-to-tape pass to center Shawn Matthias, who went on to bag the first goal of the night against the St. Louis Blues.

Go Get the Puck

Right before that goal, the Canucks were shorthanded, playing one of their favourite games with the Blues -- the game called "Go Get the Puck!". For the duration of that penalty, the play mostly going south, into the Blues zone. With 30 seconds left in the penalty, the Blues regrouped and tried another assault, but this time the puck was stolen by Matthias as soon as they Blues crossed the blue line. Matthias pitched it ahead to right winger Jannick Hansen, who was behind the play. Hansen, wide open, was on a shorthanded breakaway. But the Blues goaltender, Brian ElIiott, played Hansen perfectly, moving up in the crease as Hansen closed in on him. The only target he gave was his glove, which caught Hansen's shot.

Everyone saw the replay of that breakaway on the giant screen, including Matthias, who like all forwards, probably thought about, if given that same opportunity, how he could beat Elliott based on what he'd just seen? A minute later, Matthias proved the Canucks can learn from missed opportunities, and learn well.

Their powerplay over, the Blues got stuck in their zone, with Matthias and right Radim Vrbata buzzing around the goal. Then Blues center Jori Lehtera got the puck and gently lobbed it down the ice from the top of their right-hand face-off circle, on its way to the Canucks zone, but not hard enough to be in danger of being called back for icing. Frustrated from not being able to score during their powerplay and tired, the Blues went for a line change.

And that's when it happened. Canuck defenseman Christopher Tanev saw what was happening and could probably taste it as he skated down the puck just as it crossed the blue line into his zone. He knew Vrbata and Matthias were way behind him across the rink, exiting the Blues zone. And he saw the Blues making their change, far from their zone. With eyes in the back of his head, Tarev turned, confirmed his players' positions and then made a perfect two-line, tape-to-tape pass to Matthias.

The Blues were a few hockey stick lengths behind both Matthias, bearing down on Elliott head-on, and Vrbata, shadowing him on his right.

Go One Better

With Hansen's breakaway shot fresh in his mind, Matthias skated hard, taking the same route in as his colleague had one minute before but he had to go one better - to improve on what he'd seen. He knew Hansen's approach didn't fool Elliott, and Matthias would need to make Elliott move to give him an opportunity to score. He had to be patient and cunning, and fast. Right before making his shot, Matthias deked, ice flying, and the change of speed forced Elliott to move, giving the center a peek at the net -- and the shot that marked his 18th goal of the season.

It's exactly this kind of smart play that helps a coach sleep through the night as the team heads to the finish line for the end of the season and a possible playoff spot. With the Canucks ability to make good puck decisions, make the extra effort and learn from mistakes, Desjardin's team has found a way to gel and perform, and win. Beating the Preds just may give them the momentum they need for a four-game, 8-point sweep.

Desjardins is a Winner

Desjardins is a winner. Although this is his first season coaching in the NHL, he has a resumé that is hard to beat, with his teams consistently making the playoffs. His playoff runs includes two championship wins -- with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL, and, last season, the Calder Cup with the Texas Stars of the AHL. The Climax, Saskatchewan native is a leader, and by all accounts, he's got vision -- and a plan it seems his team can execute. Under Desjardins' leadership, the Canucks are excelling by keeping things simple.

And that's why the NHL Broadcasters need to take note and make Willie Desjardins a candidate for the 2015 Jack Adams Trophy.