Vancouver Canucks Hockey Stuff

Roberto Luongo injured, but Canucks pull out win.

Not even a minute into the first period, and former Vancouver Canuck Matt Cooke laid a “submariner” on the Canucks’ Alex Edler, sending him head over heels in the defensive zone.  Immediately Jannik Hansen came over to defend Edler, and a line brawl insued.  We haven’t seen a brawl like this since the game against Edmonton on February 16th 2008.  There were four sperate scrums going on at once, and in the end both Matt Cooke and Jannik Hansen were thrown from the game with game misconducts.  Later on near the ten minute mark of the firt period, on a play where the pens shot missed the net, Roberto Luongo kicked out his left pad to attempt the save and ended up laying face first on the ice, apparently hurt.  The play was whistled dead and the Canucks trainer Mike Bernstein came out to help Luongo.  Taylor Pyatt and Mattias Ohlund helped Roberto Luongo skate off the ice, while he put no weight whatsoever on his left leg.  He left and didnt return for the remainder of the gane, while Curtis Sanford took over the golatending duties.  Late in the first period, on a strange play deep in the Penguins zone, Pavol Demitra flipped the puck over Danny Sabourin, the penguins back-up goaltender, and went around the net where the puck came out, and flicked it into the back of the net.  It’s Demitra’s 8th point since his return to the line-up from his rib injury.  He’s been on fire.  The Canucks finish the first period leading the game 1-0.

The Canucks dominated through the first half of the second, leading the Penguins 5-0 in shots after the first 12 minutes, and pulled ahead 2-0.  Pavol won the face-off and Daniel Sedin grabbed the puck at the faceoff circle deep in the Penguins zone, skated up the side boards,  beside Sabourin, popped the puck underneath Sabourins left pad, and deep into the net.  In the second half of the period the Penguins started applying some pressure, but could not convert.  This included a lackluster end of third period power-play for the Penguins, where they just couldn’t get set up in the offensive zone due to the good penalty-killing of the Canucks.  One not so nice statistic the Canucks faced going into the third was the fact that the Penguins are 6-3 when trailing going into the third period.

20 seconds into the third period, the Penguns pull in close after they score just after the Canucks penalty had expired.  The Third was fairly uneventful, but the Penguins pressured with a few minutes left late in the third, but couldn’t beat Sanford for the tie.  Pavol Demitra put the icing on the cake with halfa minute to go getting the empty netter.  The Canucks finish the road trip 3-0-1 getting 7 out of a possible 8 points and are still first place in the northwest division.  Tonight’s three stars were 1- Daniel Sedin, 2- Henrik Sedin, and 3 – Pavol Demitra.

Tonights goals were scored by Pavol Demitra (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), Daniel Sedin (Henrik Sedin, and Pavol Demitra (Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin).  A huge night for Vancouver’s top line ammasing 8 points.

The Vancouver Cancuks play again Monda at home against the Detroit Red Wings, at 7pm PST.  The game is broadcast live in HD on Sportsnet pacific, and live streaming online on radio with Team1040.ca

Popularity: 9% [?]

Canucks Lose in Buffalo to go 3-2 on Season

After a disastrous first period, the Canucks couldn’t seem to crawl out of the negative column to beat the Sabres in tonight’s game at Buffalo.  The Sabres came out fast and quick with three goals in the first 13:10 of the first period, after the Canucks had some serious troubles with penalties, including a double-minor for  roughing against Shane O’Brien that cost the Canucks one of Buffalo’s early goals.

Penalties haunted the Canucks all night, with Buffalo going 2 for 5 and the Canucks being ousted with a miserable 0 for 3 on the power play.  Thomas Vanek buried the Canucks with the Sabres 5th goal of the night mid way through the 3rd period, on a beautiful goal with NO defence anywhere around to help Curtis Sanford out.  Sanford played his first start of the season, without a W to show for it.  The night contained a bucketful of defence errors, with Willie Mitchell playing a mediocre game, and several other mistakes all around.  A bright spot again was the Kesler Burrows Hansen line, however they couldn’t pull anything together in the third after Burrows was given a 10 min misconduct half way through the third period.  One bright light on Defence was the play of Alex Edler, who looked good all game long while he was on the ice.  The Sedins were broken up this game half way through, and didn’t play as linemates through the end.  Will Vigneault pair them up again?  We will have to see in Chicago on Sunday.

Tonight’s goal scorers included Ryan Kesler (Alexander Burrows, Willie Mitchell), Steve Bernier (Henrik Sedin, Mason Raymond).

The Canucks continue the road trip, flying into Chicago to play the Blackhawks at 4pm on Sunday.  The game will be broadcast on TV on Canucks PPV ( Pay Per View ) and if you don’t want to pay, you can always listen to the game streaming live on the internet at team1040.ca

Popularity: 10% [?]

Edler Signs Extension, Canucks Go 1-1 over Weekend

The Vancouver Canucks played a comeback game on Saturday night, defeating the Calgary Flames by a score of 5-4 after Pavol Demitra scored the game winner with a minute left in the overtime period. At one point, the Canucks were down 3-1, and came back several times to tie the game, and eventually win in the OT session.   The Canucks went 0 for 5 on the powerplay, and Calgary went  0 for 7.  It was an intense game and was a hard fought win for the Canucks.

Last night, the Canucks came back with a goal by Alex Edler in the first period to tie the game against the Washington Capitals at 1-1, however, the Caps would eventually score four more goals onto a 5 – 1 whomping of the Canucks, breaking their 2 game winning streak.  Luongo was eventually pulled in favour of Curtis Sanford, and the Canucks road trip is 1-1 at this point.  They play again on Wednesday at 4:30pm in Detorit against the Red Wings.

The Vancouver Canucks also announced on friday that they have signed Alex Edler to a 4 year contract extension.  Due to club policies, the amount of the contract was not disclosed.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Canucks Beat Sharks, Make it Six Straight Preseason Wins

A 5 point night for the Sedin twins capped off a good night for the Canucks as they managed to keep the San Jose Sharks down and out to complete their 6th straight win and keep their preseason record perfect.  It was a see-saw game on the scoreboard again, with both teams trading goalsback and forth after the Sharks got on the board 17:25 into the first period.

Shots in tonight’s game were much more even as well as penalties.  The Sharks outshot the Canucks, with a margin of 33-20.  In the penalty department, the Canucks were able to keep the Sharks off the board while killing their penalties, making them go 0 for 7.  The Canucks, on the other hand, made good use of their power play time, going 2 for 6 on the power play.

Curtis Saford played in goal, receing the third star for his efforts, especially blanking the Sharks on the thirteen shots they put his way in the third period.

Goals were scored by these Canucks tonight: Steve Bernier PP Goal (Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin), Daniel Sedin PP Goal (Kevin Bieksa, Henrik Sedin), and Henrik Sedin (Kevin Bieksa, Daniel Sedin).

The Canucks next and last preseason game is on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks at GM Place at 7PM.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Vancouver Canucks defeat the Anaheim Ducks 5 – 4 in Shoot-out

The Canucks have made it a perfect start to the pre-season.  They have played 4 games and have won all 4, with tonight’s win coming courtesy of a shoot-out victory. 

The game was a see-saw battle througout, with Anaheim scoring first 1 minute into the second period, with Vancouver replying back eight minutes later.   The teams traded goals right until the end, when Anaheim scored with just over two minutes left in the third period to tie up the game.

The Canucks spent alot of time in the sin bin, amassing 13 penalties totalling 32 minutes, and gave up two goals on 10 Anaheim power play opportunities, totalling 16:38 of power-play time.  On the other hand, the Canucks were two for four on the power-play, with only fine and a half minutes of power play time. 

Tonight’s goals were scored by Kyle Wellwood (Cody Hodgson, Sami Salo),  Sami Salo (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), Steve Bernier (Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa), Daniel Sedin (Henrik Sedin, Steve Bernier),  with th shoot-out winner scored by Kyle Wellwood.

The Canucks were outshot by the Ducks by a margin of 38 – 23, with Curtis Sanford in net backed up by Cory Schneider.

The Canucks play again on October 1st against the Calgary Flames at GM Place at 7pm.  The game will be televised on TSN.

Popularity: 10% [?]