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

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Big win in the Big Apple

After a great first period, the canucks scored 2 more to make it 4 nothing before the rangers poured on the offense, however it wasn’t enough to beat the Canucks.  The Canucks beat the Rangers  6-3.  This was Markus Naslund’s first game playing against the Canucks, and he was largely ineffective, a few nifty plays but finishes with just one assist.

The first period saw Alex Burrows with a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 for the canucks, after Kyle Wellwood scored just over 4 minutes in to open the game’s scoring.  The Canucks dominated the first period play, spending alot of time in the Rangers defensive zone.    The Canucks left the 1st leading 2-0.

In the second, the Canucks should have had the game with a score of 7 or 8-0.  This is just how many chances they had, especially with a long 5 on 3 five minutes into the second period.  The Canucks had what appeared to be a goal on a slap by Sami Salo (you could clearly see the puck cross the goal line in the overhead camera view and the TSN announcers also called it a clear cut goal) however it was called a no goal, keeping the score at 4-1.  Shortly after the play resumed the Canucks were still on a 5 on 3 powerplay, and Demitra buried it behind Lundqvist, who pulled himself from the net without any orders from NY coach Tom Renney.  Something I have never seen during NHL play.

The third period was dominated by the NY Rangers, who came out hard against the Canucks trying to catch up on the scoreboard.  NYR scored a goal at the 7:45 mark of the third to make it 5 – 3.   Shane o’brien had a very poor night for the canucks, ammassing 5 minor penalties, costing the canucks a goal in the 2nd, and stressing the team out late in the second who had to have a great penalty kill after he got a double-minor for boarding and unsportsmanlike conduct.  Roberto Luongo was sharp throughout the third period, stopping everything NY shot at him.  Daniel Sedin put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal with 6 seconds left in the third period.

Tonights goals were scored by Kyle Wellwood (Mattias Ohlund, Taylor Pyatt), Alex Burrows Shorthanded (Jannik Hansen), Alex Burrows (Jannik Hansen), Ryan Johnson (Taylor Pyatt, Mattias Ohlund), Pavol Demitra (Henrik Sedin, Sami Salo), and Daniel Sedin (Ryan Kesler, Mattias Ohlund).  The three stars for tonights games were 1- Alex Burrows, 2- Kyle Wellwood, and 3- Jannik Hansen, as picked by the Hockey Writers Association.

Th Canucks play again tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild, in Minnesota, and the game starts at 5:00pm and is broadcast live on Sportsnet Pacific, and streaming live on online radio on Team1040.ca

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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.

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