Vancouver Canucks Hockey Stuff

Huge goal by Sami Salo with less than two minutes left in the third period stopped a rally by the Chicago Blackhawks in game one of the second round of  the Stanley cup Playoffs.  The Canuck win game one 5-3. 

The Vancouver Canucks looked a little slow out of the gate in tonights game against the Chicago Blackhawks, but the continous line-up by the blackhawk players to the penalty box ended up helping the Canucks beat the Blackhawks tonight.  Vancouver ended up ahead of the Blackhawks by a margin of 3-0 by the start of the third period.  The Sedin line looked amazing through the first two periods, making dazzling plays, finding each other and Burrows all over the ice.  Henrik potted the 2nd goal in for the Canucks after a nice feed from daniel on the sideboards.

Fast forward to the third and the Blackhawks score one only 2 minutes into the period, and the young guns in the Chicago line-up were set on fire.  Chicago dominated the third period, finishing their checks, getting pucks on Luongo, and tying up the game.  GM Place was dead.  You could hear a pin drop.  That was until 2 minutes left, when the Canucks broke out of their zone, with a  four on one.  Khabibulin made an initial save, and the rebound came out to Salo who popped it into the wide open net.  Mayhem was about again in GM Place. 

Three stars for tonight, third star was Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhakws, second star was Kyle Wellwood, and first star, Sami Salo, who had the game winner tonight.

The Canucks take a 1-0 lead in the series, and they will play again Saturday May 2nd 2009,  in Vancouver at GM Place, game time is 6pm and you can watch the game live on CBC, or listen live to streaming online radio at the Team1040.ca

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Tonight the vancouver Canucks playoff future was decided… they will face off against the Chicago Blackhawks at home.  This worked out becasue the San Jose Sharks were eliminated tonight by the Anaheim Ducks, which forces Anaheim to face off against the Detroit Red Wings, with Detroit getting home ice advantage.  Tonight the Calgary Flames lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1, so the ‘Hawks win the series 4 games to 2.  I don’t have a date or time for when round two will start, but the Vancouer Canucks will have home ice advantage, which is very important in the post-season.  Watch this site for a follow-up with dates and times for Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Edit: I believe Game 1 will be played in Vancouver on Thursday April 30th, 7pm, broadcast on CBC, with live streaming online radio on team1040.ca  Second game will be on Saturday May 2nd 2009.  If I am incorrect, I will change the dates, but I am 99% confident these are the dates and times of games 1 and 2.

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Line Brawl in Chicago

I missed the majority of Sunday’s game, which the Canucks won 4-0 in Chicago, with Roberto Luongo getting his 7th shut-out of the seasn.  However, i did see the clips online of the major altercation and line brawl between the two teams, including Kevin Bieksa’s fight and Alex Burrows fighting (and pulling hair!).  I found this clip for you guys, however I do know that it is very blurry, but if you missed the game, check this clip out!  I remember seeing 5 Chicago players in the box ater this, and the Canucks had two back to back 2 man powerplays, scoring on one of them.

Pretty intense eh? Can you imagine a Vancouver and Chicago first round playoff match-up? That would be a 7 gamer, that’s for sure.

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Rypien needs abdominal surgery, out indefinitely.

Rick Rypien has suffered a sports hernia tear on his left side, and will be out from the canucks line-up for the forseeable future, as he will be undergoing surgery within the next few days.

Good news for the Canucks today: Sami Salo skated and practiced with the team for the second time since suffering his groin injury in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks.  it’s expected that alo will play in tomorrow nights game against the Boston Bruins.  The game will be televised on TSN and available on live streaming radio online at team1040.ca  The puck drops at 7:00pm and the game is a home show a GM Place.

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Pettinger and Wellwood going through waivers as back-up

The Vancouver Canucks have placed Kyle Wellwood and Matt Pettinger on re-call waivers to hopefully bring them back up to the big club in time for tuesday morning’s skate before tuesday nights game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.  The forwards are being recalled after several injuries in the Canucks 4-2 loss last nightto the Chicago Blackhawks, where Rick Rypien is out due to a virus, Sami Salo is out with a groin injury, Pavol Demitra is out with an upper body injury, and Darcy Hordichuk is out with a knee injury. 

Any club can take either Wellwood or Pettinger off waivers, and only have to pay them half their season’s salary to play on their club, while the Canucks would then have to pay the other half of their salary’s.  Gillis and co aren’t afraid of paying as they have plenty of room under the salary cap, however they need healthy players and they need them now. 

Be sure to take in the Canucks final game of the six game road trip tomorrow night at 4pm against the Columbus Blure Jackets.

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Canucks lose another one on the road 4-2

After Pavol Demitra scored 9:32 into the first period to open the games scoring, the Canucks could not muster any more offence until late in the third period, as the Chicago Blackhawks scored four unanswered goals to win the game 4-2.

Two of the Blackhawks goals came on the power play, as Taylor Pyatt sat in the box for both callas when Chicago scored, once for hooking and again for boarding.  Not a good game for Pyatt tonight, that’s for sure.

Tonight’s two Canucks goals were scored by Pavol Demitra (Mason Raymond, Ryan Kesler), and Henrik Sedin (Steve Bernier).

The Canucks went 0 for 4 on the powerplay, failing to take advantage of their opportunities.  The Blackhawks were 2 for 5 for their powerplays.

Luongo stopped 22 of 26 shots for the loss, and Chicago’s netminder Cristobal Huet stopped 28 of 30 shots for the win.

The Canucks wrap up their last and final game of their 6 game road trip in Columbus to face the Blue Jackets  on Tuesday at 4:00pm.  The game will be televised on Sportsnet, and streamed live via online radio at team1040.ca

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