Canucks hunt some Coyotes, 4-3
We started out great, played mediocre in the 2nd period, and played awesome in the 3rd. Now, if we can only repeat our performance in the 1st half of the first period and the 3rd period every game, we'd be dominating.
So it's Bryan Smolinski and Brent Sopel's first game as Canucks at GM Place and both assisted on Markus Naslund's gamewinning goal in the 3rd period. Both players, I thought, played fantastic on their debut in front of the home crowd. Smolinski was great in the powerplay with the Sedin's, and that unit proved to be effective, after not scoring on the powerplay for a long time.
Daniel Sedin opened the scoring on a Canucks powerplay, after circling around the zone and shooting the puck with Smoke screening in front. It kind of reminded me of Ales Hemsky's (Edmonton Oilers) 347834 wrap around during the Oilers vs Senators game in OT. When I saw Daniel do that, I was thinking "Oh god, please shoot and don't do another wrap around like Hemsky!" :D But he did shoot, and he scored.
He later on notched his 2nd of the game, also in the powerplay, to tie the game at 3-3 in the 3rd period. Goalies think they have the Sedin's slap pass all figured out, but they just find ways to fool them. Curtis Joseph thought he had it all covered as he came out to challenge their play, but Daniel was able to redirect Henrik Sedin's pass up CuJo's pads.
The other goal came from an unlikely source, in an unlikely time. Jeff Cowan scored his first game of the season, and as a Canuck, while short handed. He blocked a pass during a Coyotes powerplay which led to his breakaway and he snapped it on CuJo's gloveside. Congratulations Cowan! :D
He played great tonight, especially in the 3rd period. His line with Morrison and Cooke looked extremely dangerous. I'm happy to see Vigneault realized that Cow was having a great game tonight and therefore rewarded him with more ice time.
The bad news in all of this is that Josh Green is out for 4-6 weeks with a knee sprain and there goes another one of our top penalty killers. With Green out, Cowan was asked to step up to fill in Green's defensive role. Nevertheless, get well soon, Greener!
Trevor Linden was benched for most of the 3rd period tonight... I don't know if it's to reward Cowan since he was obviously playing great, but I didn't think Linden played that horribly. I guess Vigneault thought he wasn't doing well defensively, that's why he didn't put him out?
Taylor Pyatt also came back to the lineup today, after missing the 3rd period in Dallas and the game at St. Louis. You know what I'm noticing about his game lately? He's been shooting a heck of a lot more. In the first half of the season, all we see Pyatt do is stand around in front of the net and wait for a puck to go his way, but now, he's sometimes getting himself into open areas, not just in front of the net to tip something in, to actually get some of his wristers towards the goalie. He had some good chances tonight. Sucks he wasn't able to bury any of them.
Last, but not the least! :D Congratulations to Henrik Sedin, his wife and family in welcoming a baby boy, Walter Sedin! :D Here's to hoping we'll see him in a Canucks uniform in 18-20 years!
So it's Bryan Smolinski and Brent Sopel's first game as Canucks at GM Place and both assisted on Markus Naslund's gamewinning goal in the 3rd period. Both players, I thought, played fantastic on their debut in front of the home crowd. Smolinski was great in the powerplay with the Sedin's, and that unit proved to be effective, after not scoring on the powerplay for a long time.
Daniel Sedin opened the scoring on a Canucks powerplay, after circling around the zone and shooting the puck with Smoke screening in front. It kind of reminded me of Ales Hemsky's (Edmonton Oilers) 347834 wrap around during the Oilers vs Senators game in OT. When I saw Daniel do that, I was thinking "Oh god, please shoot and don't do another wrap around like Hemsky!" :D But he did shoot, and he scored.
The other goal came from an unlikely source, in an unlikely time. Jeff Cowan scored his first game of the season, and as a Canuck, while short handed. He blocked a pass during a Coyotes powerplay which led to his breakaway and he snapped it on CuJo's gloveside. Congratulations Cowan! :D
He played great tonight, especially in the 3rd period. His line with Morrison and Cooke looked extremely dangerous. I'm happy to see Vigneault realized that Cow was having a great game tonight and therefore rewarded him with more ice time.
Trevor Linden was benched for most of the 3rd period tonight... I don't know if it's to reward Cowan since he was obviously playing great, but I didn't think Linden played that horribly. I guess Vigneault thought he wasn't doing well defensively, that's why he didn't put him out?
Taylor Pyatt also came back to the lineup today, after missing the 3rd period in Dallas and the game at St. Louis. You know what I'm noticing about his game lately? He's been shooting a heck of a lot more. In the first half of the season, all we see Pyatt do is stand around in front of the net and wait for a puck to go his way, but now, he's sometimes getting himself into open areas, not just in front of the net to tip something in, to actually get some of his wristers towards the goalie. He had some good chances tonight. Sucks he wasn't able to bury any of them.
Last, but not the least! :D Congratulations to Henrik Sedin, his wife and family in welcoming a baby boy, Walter Sedin! :D Here's to hoping we'll see him in a Canucks uniform in 18-20 years!
