12 posts tagged “canucks vs avalanche”

I was typing up a long post with regards to tonight loss, but I guess it's easier to sum it up into one sentence:

I liked what the team brought to the table tonight, in terms of offensive pressure and overall defense, but I thought goaltending made a huge difference tonight. This loss isn't the same as those against Calgary, or Colorado last week. In those 2 games, the team was just NOT there after the 2nd/3rd period. Tonight, they were. They had pressure for most of the 2nd period, and even after the Avs has scored, they still kept some semblance of offensive pressure, but Theodore made the key saves, no matter how many times a Canuck crashed into him or something.

That really was the difference.

I should have never turned on the TV.

I got home just after the 2nd period started, and just as I was settling in on the couch, making myself comfortable to watch the game, the Colorado Avalanche scored 4 goals.

I don't even know how I survived until the 15 minute mark of the 3rd period where I then switched the channel to America's Next Top Model...

It was just painful to watch. I don't want to think about it anymore because it just breaks my heart.

Not to mention that Brendan Morrison left the game with a leg injury. Just great.

... Is the game that the Canucks always lose.

Okay, well, I don't have  statistics to prove it, but I know we lost the first game after the deadline last year. :3

Anyway... I am torn between wanting to murder the Sedins or Joe Sakic or... yeah.

Joe Sakic was all in his clutchy glory, and Canucks fans better hope this will be the last, but knowing Joe, it most likely isn't.

The Sedins has been playing terrible of late, especially defensively. Their offensive game are still okay, they're getting their chances with Naslund, but they (especially Daniel Sedin) has been taken dumb, minor penalties in the defensive zone. It wouldn't even matter that much as long as they balance it out with scoring, but right now, it's not going for them eitherway.

As for the newest Canuck, Matt Pettinger has speeedz. Rinslet likes! He was definitely a threat on the penalty kill because of that speed and he looked good on that line with Kes and Burrows. What I would like to see though is Pettinger, Ryan Shannon and Mason Raymond on the same line so they can maybe try to create offense off the rush?

Speaking of Shannon and Raymond (along with Taylor Pyatt, Alexander Edler and Mike Weaver), that shift leading to Mason Raymond's goal was all sorts of amazing. Even though it was an even strength shift, they were set up as if it was a powerplay, and they totally controlled the puck until Raymond was able to tip Shannon's shot in the net. Man that was great to see. You almost wish the Canucks can do that sort of thing when they are on the powerplay :P.

Anyway, it's a very disappointing loss. One lucky bounce for the Canucks (though I don't think it's "lucky" at all since Alex Burrows really worked his bum off for that goal) leads to a different lucky bounce for the Avalanche.

Very disappointing ending. Should Woulda Coulda. If they cleared it out of the zone, with 15 seconds remaining, they could have won the game. If Vigneault put Linden in as the 2nd shooter instead of 3rd, we might have had the chance to tie the game in the shootout. If the refs freaking called _____________ penalty on _________ (insert Canuck player here) blah blah. Though I'm not really that mad about the bad officiating since the Canucks was just snakebit on the PP all night.

And yeah, the PP tonight. WTF. There was nothing happening. No shots off the point, and they just kept passing around the perimeter until an Avalanche player manages to knock them off the puck. GAH.

Good PK though. :B

Not too worried. We're playing Columbus on Friday, and hopefully we'll see a better game offensively from the Canucks.

Wow. That was depressing.

Right from the get-go you can tell this wouldn't be a good game for the Canucks.

None of their passes were connecting, they couldn't put any significant pressure in the offensive zone, and they were getting beat physically by the Avs.

Of course, there was that one moment when the Sedin Twins and Markus Naslund made everyone believe the Canucks might make it out of this one alive, but it was quickly squashed when the Avs scored the first goal.

Then the 2nd.

Then the 3rd.

...

And well, the rest is really history.

Looking at the bright side... The Canucks did score 2 powerplay goals. :P

Too sleepy to create a coherent post sooo here goes:

• As my title indicates, Henrik Sedin is the new Daniel. He scored both the Canucks goals, and had one disallowed. He and Daniel were terrific during the game, especially during that shift in which they scored the winning goal. :P Too bad for Sauer for tipping the puck in his own net and giving us the win.
• Roberto Luongo is back to his amazing self? :D? Nah, he's always been amazing. :)
• Looks like we're back to our 2006-2007 season form. The past 3 wins were all won by one goal, winning games in overtime...
• Ryan Kesler is HOT. He is flourishing this season and you can totally tell by the way he skates. He skates with authority and confidence. He's strong on the puck and he has been contributing both offensively and defensively. It is just so fun to watch him skate.
• I am glad that Alain Vigneault has been keeping to his line combinations more consistently.
• Jose Theodore is getting back to his old Vezina-winning form? Bad news for the Canucks, but you can sometimes just feel for the guy.

Okay. I had more to say, but I'm falling asleep on the keyboard.

Goal Hug!

Wow, that was a really fun game to watch. Especially the first period. It seems like we took a more offensive approach to the game in the first period, and it payed dividends.

Our top lines were able to control the puck and win the puck battles for most of the game, especially the first period. They were able to carry the puck in the zone and support it, and if they weren't carrying it in, they displayed a good forecheck during the dump ins.

Special teams clicked tonight, especially the powerplay. 1 goal on the 2 man advantage by Daniel Sedin and another goal on the 5 on 4 by Brendan Morrison.

The penalty kill only allowed one goal, but what really was impressive was their ability to kill 2 straight penalties in the first period, tipping the momentum on the Canucks side which allowed Markus Naslund and the Twins to work it on the offensive zone and scoring the first goal.

We did allow that short handed goal; I don't even know what happened there... just horrible play on our end. Didn't play smart defense, trying to lazily swipe the puck away instead of being stronger on the guy.

Goal Hug Part Deux!

In other news, Ryan Kesler has been nothing short of impressive to begin this season. He's finally showing the fans that there's more to him than a defensive center. He's been tenacious on the forecheck, great on the PK, and amazing puckhandling skills that drew a penalty that allowed us to score 5 on 3. He scored a goal, too.

I'm just really glad and proud of Kes because he has taken a lot of heat since accepting that Flyers offer sheet; now he is just proving that he is worth it.

Markus Naslund and the Twins were impressive tonight, but Nazzy is also impressive with Taylor Pyatt and Ryan Kesler. Maybe AV needs to double shift Nazzy sometimes between those two lines. Naslund with the Twins has resulted in 4 goals thus far, but Naslund with Pyatt and Kes has also resulted in a few goals in the past few games they've played together.

As for our D... Alex Edler is like a Sakic killer or something. He rocked Joe Sakic in his NHL debut last season, causing all the fan's eyes to open and just be impressed with him, this time, he was lined up against Burnaby Joe again and was very solid. Solid enough that he had the 2nd most ice time in the team, after Ohlund?

Smyth remembers how being pushed by Ohllie feels like

As for Luc Bourdon, he didn't get a lot of minutes, but he also played solidly. I thought he looked great in the second unit of the powerplay with Kes, Fatty, Hansen and Edler. I just regret that they weren't able to set up Luc for a one-timer. Anyway, even with the low minutes, he did his job quietly and efficiently, I did not notice any boneheaded plays, so he should just keep this up and work his way up the defencemen hierarchy.

And speaking of D... Mike Weaver? Whoa! Definitely impressing the Coach after being benched for the past couple of games. Nice comeback game. Too bad we didn't hear "GREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAT SAVEEEE WEAVER!" :P

All in all, the past 4 paragraphs, including this one, began with the letter 'A'. LOL. But I just want to see this kind of effort from the Canucks each game. It is this style of play that has been missing all season. The hard work, commitment to defense, timely saves by Luongo. The next few games will be tough against divisional rivals. 3 of our top D won't be back for a while, so everyone just needs to chip in like they did tonight.

I didn't get to watch most of the game on PPV, although I ordered it, because I had to go to church for some Holy Week events. I did record the game, but at this point, I really don't want to rewatch a loss.

I did see the last half of the 3rd period, and I was extremely disappointed with the way they were playing while down 2-1 (at the point I started watching). They couldn't even get control of the puck in both the offensive and defensive zone. From the whole 10-or so minutes I watched, I can only remember one time where we had some sort of pressure on their zone.

The hat trick goal for Milan Hejduk was a real killer. The players were unable to clear the puck and it was just loose at the side of the net, and Hejduk got to it first. Luongo made the first save, but Hejduk was able to lift the puck over his sprawling body to score the goal. It was just brutal defensive play. They were able to get an opportunity to clear it out of the zone before that, but the referee was in the way, and I think it hit him, and prevented the clear. AUGH.

Youngest Ref in the Game, Gracie from Ultimate Canucks video

Anyway, so it was a bad loss, and I'm sure the Canucks felt worse for not being able to clinch the division title on home ice, during their fan appreciation night. It's always sad to see the team lose during F.A.N. because the players go out and probably don't even want to do that cause they are depressed by the loss. Nevertheless, they went out and put on their best happy face to give their jerseys to the lucky fans.

• Gracie from Ultimate Canucks won Taylor Pyatt's jersey. OMG! She's sooooooo adorable. It was so cute when Pyatt was shaking her small hand, and Tasha Chu asked her "Can you say Taylor?" and she replied "Pyatt". Me: AWWWWWW!!!
  
• Ryan Kesler dyed his hair black. It doesn't suit him.
• The guy who won Rory's jersey looked real stoked/happy that it was Rory's jersey. I bet he voted for Fitz.
• The fan who won Rick Rypien's jersey didn't look like he even knew who Rypien was. LOL. That or he wasn't pleased that it was Rypien.
• Loved how Nazzy stayed a bit, after giving his jersey, to sign the other winners' jerseys.
• I don't get why Kevin Bieksa won the "Unsung Hero" award. Maybe people don't know the meaning of the word "Unsung" or probably just saw the word "Hero" and put Bieksa in. Kevin Bieksa is very "sung". Willie Mitchell is unsung. Alex Burrows is unsung. Taylor Pyatt is sort of unsung... or at least he doesn't get a lot of credit for his goals. (Most people think it's 90% garbage goals, when they don't know how most of his goals are actual wrist shots)
• I don't see why Kevin Bieksa also won the "Best Defenceman" award. Okay, maybe I'm just being picky, but defensively, Bieksa has a lot more to learn. As an offensive defenceman, yeah, he's awesome. What made the Bieksa-Mitchell pairing so effective is that Willie covers for a lot of Bieksa's defensive gaffes and he allows Bieksa to freely jump up into the offense because he knows that Willie is back there covering for him. I don't hate Bieksa or anything, but if you're going to consider voting for our best defenceman, I think it's a split between Willie Mitchell and Sami Salo. It may tip to Salo's favor only because of his offensive upside, but he and Willie are pretty darn good in just pure defense (although Willie has the more obvious edge in the "defense" aspect of the game).
  

Puck squeaks by Lui

Meh. A very disappointing game tonight. The type that leads that bad aftertaste in your mouth. It's a game the Canucks should have won, but most of the players, except the Sedins and Pyatt, were really just average or below average tonight.

It was a big game, and I expected the players to come out with a bit more jump and energy to win this thing and clinch a playoff spot, instead, after the first period, the Avalanche showed just how much desperate they are for that 8th playoff spot and controlled the tempo of the game. A lot of mistakes on the Canucks' part, such as nasty turnovers in our own zone, being unable to clear the puck, and not covering their designated Avs players. We blew two 2 goal leads, and sometimes such things can happen even if we are playing well (re: Dec 27 game against Calgary), but this time, we just weren't there and the Avs were, so they deserved this one.

The Twins combine for 6 points tonight

On a positive note, Henrik Sedin broke the franchise record for most assist in a single season, that was set by Andre Boudrias (62) back in 1974-1975, by scoring his 63rd assist for this season. He assisted on both of Taylor Pyatt's goals and also on Daniel Sedin's powerplay goal.

Also, Taylor Pyatt recorded the first 20-goal season of his career. He played really well tonight, right from the get go. He and the Sedins were just generally good in tonight's game that at the beginning, I already had a feeling that he would score a goal. I just didn't expect that he would score 2. He actually made some nice plays that led to both his goals.

In his first one, he made a great cross-ice pass to Henrik Sedin from the defensive zone, and from there, Henrik passed to Daniel, and he just threw it towards the net as he saw Pyatt just skating his way to the net and the puck hit his stick.

Taylor Pyatt gets one by Theodore

For his second goal of the night, he did a nice job protecting the puck from the Avalanche player and again passed it to Henrik, who made a backhand pass to Daniel. Daniel showed patience and great passing as he stood behind the net and waited for Pyatt (or anyone) to go to the open slot for the easy shot, who then "wrists" it home.

Sadly, that was it for the Canucks. They did get a point for losing the game in the shootout, but we have to wait another day to clinch the playoffs.

Other goalscorers include Daniel Sedin and Jeff Cowan for the Canucks, while Joe Sakic and Brett McLean both had 2 goals each for the Avalanche.

• Pretty bad game for Markus Naslund tonight. He just wasn't there. I'm really disappointed, though I'm disappointed at a lot of other players tonight, but he was just lacking on the energy front tonight. I think after that one good shift in the first period, whatever was left of his energy fizzled out.
• Which brings me to the question: Does the Naslund-Smolinski-Bulis line work? We've already seen what they can do for the past 12 games and it just doesn't seem to click. The Naslund-Kesler-Green line, heck, even the Naslund-Moran-Reid line looked better. Whatever it is, this line isn't working the way we envisioned it to work. Nazzy and Smoke sometimes have flashes of brilliance, along with Jan Bulis, where we can see that they have some "chemistry" going, but that's just it. Flashes. You sometimes see it, but most of the time you don't.
• Roberto Luongo looked really average tonight. And his five hole really needs to be shut. Either way, if the Canucks were tighter defensively and made significantly less mistakes, the results would have been in favor of Vancouver. Hang in there Lui!
• Even though the Canucks didn't clinch a playoff spot, at least they gave Colorado a favor by keeping their playoffs dream alive.
  

I just want them to bounce back on their next game against the same team, Colorado Avalanche.

Trying to defend

I don't think this is the way the Canucks wants to play every game, with the other team, again, dominating in the defensive zone, but they were able to come out with a win. Roberto Luongo let in 4 goals, 2 of which were fluky, tipped in/deflected in goals, and it seems the Canucks just had a major defensive breakdown tonight. Thankfully, this breakdown was only limited in their defense since they were able to produce enough offense to win the game.

Colorado played more aggressive and, dare I say, more desperate hockey than the Canucks tonight, despite having played in Calgary the night before. The Canucks, even though they were more rested, took a while to get their feet going, but Avs still controlled most of the play. They really worked hard down low and it seemed to have cause lots of problems for Vancouver as they had a lot of trouble trying to get the puck or clearing it to prevent scoring chances.

One of the Sedins' score

On the other end, Canucks had their fair share of lucky goals. Their first one of the game, by Daniel Sedin, sort of deflected in Theodore's skate before it trickled towards the goalline.  The 4th goal of the game was caused by a miscommunication between Theodore and Klee, as Klee gave the puck away to Henrik Sedin and he didn't fail to put it in the open net.

It's just the type of game where you knew it was going to be a tight, high scoring game. Both the team's defense were brutal, and with the way the puck was bouncing around, something would have gone in eventually.

• Matt Cooke had a good game tonight, 1 goal, 2 assists. I wish he was more into his "agitator" role today, but he still threw some big hits.
• Taylor Pyatt matched his career high of 28 points a few games ago and he can't seem to catch a break on finally breaking that record and establishing a new one. He was so close to finally breaking it, but that goal was disallowed. That would have been a pretty goal if he scored on it. Pyatt actually has a nice wrist shot that I wish he used more often. Sadly, he won't get a lot of chances to do this as his role is to stand around in front of the net and hope that the players will use him as a bounce board to score on. He played really well tonight, especially cause he actually used his size to protect the puck.
• Brendan Morrison was flying tonight in terms of offense, but he made a big boneheaded play in defense that almost lead to a Colorado goal. Why deal with the past? He had 2 goals and 1 of which was the game winner. The GWG was so pretty, as Markus Naslund was able to snap a cross ice pass for Mo to put in.
  

So yes. Tight game. We need to play much better against Anaheim. I usually have more to say, but I'm just too sleepy. :(