Canucks sink the Oil tank, 2-1
Somehow, this win against Edmonton feels so empty. They have been one of our best rivals and it's unbelievable to see how low they've fallen since the Smyth traded. On the one hand, I want the Oilers to win soon as they are my 2nd favorite team, but on the other hand, I didn't want them to win against the Canucks. Still, I don't really feel satisfied with this win especially when fans of both teams were spoiled by the displays of energy everytime we played.
I didn't get to catch the first 15-something minutes of the first period, but I found out through my mom that the Oil were leading 1-0 at that point. I laughed a little since I almost expected this result. The Canucks have a habit of downplaying their opponents, and they bite them when they're not looking.
Anyway, so when I finally caught up to the game, Canucks were on the powerplay and the 2nd unit had a new look. Naslund-Smolinski-Pyatt and Morrison-Sopel as pointmen. I got to admit, I like that unit. Only need to change Sopel with Salo, once he returns, but in that late PP I watched, they had pretty puck movement. Pyatt was on the goal line, while Smolinski is up in the slot in front of the goalie, Naslund and Morrison were on the faceoff circles and Sopel is at the point. They should really keep this unit.
Eventually, it was the other powerplay unit that was able to tie the game for the Canucks. Trevor Linden replaced Bryan Smolinski in that unit and he was able to (finally) put the puck in the net from a beautiful saucer feed from Daniel Sedin.
The Twins work their magic again, this time on even strength, as Henrik Sedin gathers a Mattias Ohlund rebound, backhands a pass to his brother for an almost empty net goal. Taylor Pyatt will not get an assist on this play, but it was his pass out of the defensive zone that sprung Daniel Sedin and Mattias Ohlund, and he also kept 2 defencemen tied up in front of the net, leaving Daniel open to bang it in.
After those 2 goals, it was all Roberto Luongo. He kept the score at 2-1 by making gigantic saves off every Oiler. The Canucks were pretty sloppy defensively, but thankfully, Lui was sharp and held on for the win.
Next game is against Nashville Predators, and you can bet this is another "statement game" for the Canucks.
