CANUCKS CLINCH A PLAYOFF SPOT
WELCOME TO THE PLAYOFFS ROBERTO LUONGO!
The Canucks clinch a playoff spot tonight after a 3-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche. NUFF SAID!!!
Well not really...
- Bounce back game for the Canucks and they put out a much more solid defensive effort tonight after the dismal one from the last game. In the first period, the defense made a lot of mistakes, i.e. turnovers, icing the puck, failing to clear the puck, etc, but they were able to fix those mistakes and played a more complete game in the latter half of the first till the end. After the first half of the first, they didn't allow the Colorado forwards a lot of quality chances in front of the net other than those generated by the penalties against our team.
- Defense was good... offense? Not so much. The score is very misleading, at 3-0, because 2 of those were empty net goals and the 1 other goal came on the 5-on3. Both teams played a tight-checking game and didn't really allow each other a lot of chances. Canucks just got extremely lucky with that 5-on-3 call in the 3rd period.
- Too many penalties in the 3rd period again and thank god our penalty kill decided to go 100% tonight, otherwise we would have been screwed as Colorado is 4th in the league for powerplays.
- Jeff Cowan didn't really provide that much needed physical presence in Naslund/Smoke line. Hopefully it is just one game and he will get more used to his role and start opening up the ice for those 2.
- On the other hand, Taylor Pyatt had 3 hits tonight. WOW. XD SHOCKING.
- AV probably welcomed Sami Salo back in the lineup with open arms as he scored the only "non empty net" goal of the evening. It was just what we needed from him, and what we missed while he was sidelined with his injury. Keep those bombs coming Sami!
Next game is against the LA Kings and the newly crowned King, Jack (mother f***ing) Johnson. Very excited to see JMFJ and hope the Canucks kick his ass. :P Not the other way around.
