Vancouver Canucks Hockey Stuff

Towel Power was alive in GM Place in Vancouver tonight, as the streaking St Louis Blues came to town to play game one of the playoffs against the also red hot Vancouver Canucks.  Each seat in the arena had a white towel draped over it, and the atmosphere was electric after Vancouver failed to make the postseason last year.

In the first period, the Canucks played a solid hard hitting game.  They exchanged penalties with the Blues, and they both couldn’t score on their power plays.  On a delayed call, Pavol Demitra passed from the side boards to Daniel Sedin who was open in the slot, and he didn’t miss on this opportunity, deflecting the slap-pass into the net to make it 1-0 Vancouver Canucks.  Later in the period, the Canucks got into penalty trouble, ending up two men short for just under two minutes, but the canucks killed it off with some great antics by Ryan Kesler.  The Canucks ended up finishing the first period ahead 1-0.  Johnson and Hordichuk were both assessed 10 minute Misconducts at the end of the period. Johnson got the extra 2 mminutes.

Canucks start the second period on the penalty kill.  And kill it, they did.  A few minutes later and the Nucks are back on the power play.  5 minutes into the second, Henrik and Daniel combine together deep in the St Louis zone, pass it back to salo at the point, and he slaps it towards the Blues net.  it sails through the air and is deflected in by Steve Bernier.  2-0 Vancouver.  The canucks had another powerplay but they couldn’t capitalize on it.  Henrik Sedin took a penalty for hooking with a couple minutes left in the second.  The Blue capitalized on their chance, and put one in past Luongo.  The period ends with the score 2-1 Vancouver.  You knew with this much drama in the second period, that the third would be exciting.

The Canucks came out a little flat to start the third, but they picked it up soon enough.  Both teams picked up their game and started hitting back and forth.  There was a bit of an after the whistle foray behind the St Louis net, and coincidental minors were called.  During the four on four play, Mason Raymond had a chance to bury on while streakin in on the right side,  he beat Mason but couldn’t beat the post, and it rattled of and into the corner.  Alot of hitting back and forth by both teams throughout the period. By the halfway mark of the second period the Canucks were outshooting the Blues 11-2 in the 3rd.  Mats Sundin missed the net on a shot halfway through the third on a play deep in the slot.  I don’t know how  many times Sundin has missed the net this game, he seemed to to be struggling out there. Pavol Demitra had a better game on this line, but it was Ryan Kesler who carried them as usual.  With just under four minutes left in the third period, Henrik almost made it 3-1 after a nifty pass from Burrows from behind the net, but his shot sailed just wide of the net.  A huge flurry ended the third as the Blues pulled their goalie, but they couldn’t get the equalizer! 

CANUCKS WIN!  They lead the series 1-0.  The Vancouver Cannucks play the St louis Blues Friday April 17th at 7pm in Vancouver, it will be the 2nd home game in this series, and live on CBC, and live streaming online on internet radio at Team1040.ca

Popularity: 36% [?]

Roberto Luongo Gets 6th Shut-out

Getting 4 shots through the first period and a half didn’t stop the Vancouver Canucks from beating the St. Louis Blues 3-0 tonight at GM Place in Vancouver.  The Canucks are now 16-3-1 since the beginning of February, and are on a roll with a franchise breaking 11 straight wins on home ice.  Alex Burrows pots one in the second period to make it 1-0 after a scoreless first period.  In the second, Ryan Kesler broke up the right side and made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Mason Raymond who tapped it in to make it 2-0 for the Canucks.  In the third period Daniel passed it out front from behind the net to Henrik who wristed it past Mason to make it 3-0 Canucks.

First star was Roberto Luongo, second star Henrik Sedin and Mason Raymond the third star.  The Canucks will now hit the road for a 6 game road trip, all against western conference teams, with the next game at Phoenix on Saturday night at 7pm on CBC.  The game can be heard live on streaming radio at the Team1040.ca  The Canucks now sit 4th in the western conference, one point ahead of Chicago and 3 behind Calgary in the Northwest division.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Columbus Blue Jackets 4 – Vancouver Canucks 2

The Canucks could not pull out a win in Columbus tonight, after falling behind 3-1 after the first two periods, and down 2-0 only 7 minutes into the contest.  They came out very solid in the thrid, throwing twelve shots at Columbus’ Pascal Leclaire, though leclaire stopped 11 of thoe to seal the victory, with Columbus netting an empty-net goal late in the third to make it 4-2.

Kyle Wellwood looked impressive in his first game back after being recalled from Manitoba, scoring a goal and assising on Kevin Bieksa’s marker.  Things to note during tonight’s game was the impressive third period play of Steve Bernier and the Sedin twins, however they could not put one in the Columbus net, and therefore Daniel Sedin is now pointles through his last five games.  On the other hand, Ryan Kesler’s point streak has gone onto four games with 2 goals and 2 assists within that time.

Both teams finished with identical power plays, going 1 for 4.  The Canucks came close on the power play late in the third period but couldn’t pull the trigger.

Tonight’s goals were scored by Kyle Wellwood power-play goal (Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond), and Kevin Bieksa (Kyle Wellwood).

Also today, after attempting to recall Matt pettinger from the Manitoba Moose via re-entry waivers, and having him picked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canucks recalled Jason Krog, and he is now playing with the big club.

The Canucks next game is on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers at GM Place starting at 7pm.  They play two home games before hitting the road for another road trip.  Saturday nights game will be televised on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada in HD High Definition, and you can also listen to it live online streaming on Team1040.ca

Popularity: 8% [?]

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

Popularity: 7% [?]

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% [?]

Burrows scores winner 27 seconds into Overtime.

After a “get back to earth” loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night,  The Vancouver Canucks had alot to prove tonight as they played in Detroit against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings.

The Canucks got on the board first, and it was the grit and character of the third line that got the job done (really, they got the job done for the Canucks all night long).  The Red Wings came back and tied the game with a power play goal by Holmstrom, only for Vancouver to come back four minutes later halfway through the first to take the lead on a goal by Ryan Kesler.

The Canucks fell behind 3 -2 halfway through the second period when Cleary scored a beautiful breakaway goal for the red wings, having received the puck just as he stepped out of the penalty box, going in for the breakaway goal.  It wasn’t until 2:23 of the third period that the Canucks tied it up at 4-4 when Mason Raymond followed a 2 on 1 play with Willie Mitchell and Pavol Demitra, and sent the puck flying into an empty net behind Chris Osgood.

It only took 27 seconds for the third line to strike again in overtime, when Alexander Burrows errant shot off the end boards came right back to his stick and he one-times it past Osgood for the game winner.

Tonight penalties were very costly to the Canucks, having given up 2 goals on 5 penalty kills, while going 0 for 4 on the power play themselves.  Robert Luongo got the win in net tonight stopping 32 of the 35 shots he faced.  Osgood let in  4 goals out of 29 shots.

Tonight’s Canucks goal scorers included Jannik Hansen (Alexander Burrows), Ryan Kesler (Shane O’Brien, Sami Salo), Mason Raymond (Willie Mitchell, Pavol Demitra), Alexander Burrows (Alexander Edler, Willie Mitchell).

The Canucks are now 3-1 on the season, and the meet up against Buffalo on Friday at 4:30pm.  You can see the game on Sportsnet, or listen to it streaming live on Team1040.ca

Popularity: 10% [?]

Vancouver Canucks 6 – Calgary Flames 0

In a night that saw the Vancouver Canucks honouring the late Luc Bourdon with a touching ceremony at GM Place, the Canucks played a game that Luc would have been proud of.

The Canucks finally turned a tide of Penalty trouble, though they did give up a couple 5 on 3 power play chances to the Flames tonight.  The Canucks played a great offensive game, and hopefully this is what we’ll see throughout the rest of this season.  Bernier looked great with the Sedin’s getting a beautiful goal 23 seconds into the second period.  Mason Raymond showed everyone at the Garage why he is on this team, with blazing bursts of speed time and timagain, and Pavol Demitra looks very promisng as well.

The Canucks went one for nine on the powerplay, while the Flames were kept off the scoresheet on 6 powerplay attempts, including just over a minute of s on 3 powerplay time.  The Canucks lone power play goal was scored by Mattias Ohlund halfway through the 3rd period, making it 5-0, and the Canucks got a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal on the Flames power play in the 3rd, scored by Rick Rypien.

Tonight’s goal scorers were: Henrik Sedin (Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler), Steve Bernier (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), Alexander Burrows (Ryan Kesler), Alexander Burrows (Ryan Johnson), Mattias Ohlund PP Goal (Taylor Pyatt, Daniel Sedin), Rick Rypien SH Goal (Mattias Ohlund).

The Canucks play again against the Calgary Flames on saturday night in Calgary, as the second game in this home and home set.  Game time is 7pm and will be broadcast on CBC and live streaming online at Team1040.ca.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Anaheim 4 – Canucks 3

The Canucks just couldn’t pull off a perfect pre-season, after heading into Sundays game against the Ducks, the Canucks had won all 6 of their preseason games.

Vancouver fell behind half way into the first period when Mattias Olund was sitting out for a 5 minute major for boarding, and former Canucks Brendan Morrison scored on the power play to make it 1-0.  It was back and forth all game, featuring a toal of 4 power play goals, 3 of them by Vancouver.

One of the plays of the night was Mason Raymond’s best impression of a young Pavel Bure, going around the offensive zone with complete control of the puck, deking back and forth before lifting the puck up into the back of the net.  Raymond looks extremely promising for the regular season, and will definitely be one to watch.

Goals in Sunday’s game were scored by: Henrik Sedin (Daniel Sedin, Kyle Wellwood), Mason raymond (Alex Edler, Pavol Demitra), Mason Raymond (Pavol Demitra, Alex Edler).

The Canucks pre-season is now over, and they will open the regular season at home at GM Place on Thursday te 9th vs the Calgary Flames.  The game will be broadcast on CBC as well as played live on Team1040 am.  You can listen to the Canucks games live at http://www.team1040.ca

Popularity: 9% [?]

Flames burn 6-1 as Canucks continue to go undefeated in pre-season.

Alex Edler made it 1-0 for the Canucks 21 seconds into the 1st period, and it was pretty much Vancouver all the way in from there.  The Canucks were outshot by the Flames tonight 36 – 23, by new canucks captain Roberto Luongo led his team to victory, with big nights from all four canuck lines.

One thing that is starting to haunt the Canucks again, is their lac of discipline.  They had 9 penalties (21 minutes worth), compared to Calgary’s six, but thankfully Calgary couldn’t convert, even on 2 minutes of 5 on 3 time. 

Jannik Hansen showed his potential for a roster spot come regular season with a two goal effort, and both Alexander Burrows and Ryan Kesler has 3 assists each.  Goals for Vancouver came from Alex Edler (Pavol Demitra, Taylor Pyatt), Jannik Hansen (Ryan Kesler, Alexander Burrows), Pavol Demitra (Kyle Wellwood, Lawrence Nycholat), Lawrence Nycholat (Alexander Burrows, Ryan Kesler), Jannik Hansen (Ryan Kesler, Alexander Burrows), and Mason Raymond (Pavol Demitra, Mike Brown).

The Vancouver Canucks play Thursdy the 2nd against the San Jose Sharks at 7pm at GM Place.  Check out the resource below for tickets to an upcoming San Jose Sharks and Canucks game!

Popularity: 10% [?]