7 posts tagged “canucks vs blue jackets”
Hear that sound? That's the sound of the Canucks pissing away another two points.
They started well enough. Scored 2 goals and was leading 2-0 by the start of the third period. But after scoring that second goal, they allowed Columbus to dominate the game and they just kept coming at Luongo and the Canucks just weren't doing enough to stop them.
And you know, it's funny, after getting beat by Colorado due to their inability to clear the puck out of their zone multiple times, they did not learn and everytime Columbus were in our zone, we had multiple chances to clear the puck... for some reason, we didn't and they got chances after chances and that's how they were able to score their first goal.
The second and third, however, were just really bad defensive mistakes. Willie Mitchell was under pressure 4 on 4, and had to quickly move the puck, and it unfortunately hit someone and went to Rick Nash for the breakaway. Their winning goal.. ugh. Bieksa. -_- I don't even know why he just let Chimera waltz in to the net like that.
ugh.
Yeah.
Don't even get me started on the Sedins in the OT. What was with that shift???! They kept missing the puck or passes, and they just gave Columbus every oppurtunity to walk back in our zone.
They were doing okay before the OT though, along with Markus Naslund. Man. They had so many chances to score on the powerplay, and they're just having bad puck luck. Two disallowed goals (the first one. wtf.) and lots of missed chances and good saves by Pascal Leclaire.
Taylor Pyatt had a really good game tonight. His work on the 1st Canuck goal was just amazing, not to mention he had a few opportunities to score on the PK before that as well.
Ugh. I was going to say more, but I don't even want to think about this game.
Canucks after Tuesday's loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets:
Salo: :( I need to play better it's my fault.
Kes: Since we're the PKers, it's our fault, we need to play better.
Vigneault: I can't just point fingers at one guy......... Am I allowed to pick all of the above?
Luongo: X( I WON'T THROW MY TEAMMATES UNDER THE BUS (I'll just step on them) BUT IT IS MY FAULT!!
Salo: :( NO IT'S NOT YOUR FAILT LUI! IT'S MY FAULT!
Luongo: Okay fine, it's your fault. Go under the team bus right now. I SAID NOW!!!
Willie Mitchell, being the sneaky guy he is, did not participate in this confrontation.
Okay. I have 23874234 assignments due in the next few hours so I'm making this short and sweet.
- Roberto Luongo goes for and got the Canucks Shut Out Record! 3 shut outs in a row, baby! :D Glad to have you back in shape, Lui!
- Markus Naslund was robbed of a point tonight. NHL officials are conspiring to never let him have the Canucks All Time Points Record.
- Ryan Kesler is getting under the skin of a lot of NHL players. Careful Kes, we don't want someone crosschecking your mug soon.
Annnnnddddddd a really great Markus Naslund article. Such a good read.
”We had a bad flight after our game in Edmonton (Oct. 20),” goaltender Curtis Sanford said of not arriving in Minnesota for a game the next night until 4 a.m. “This would have been a perfect time to use excuses like we were too tired, jet lag, whatever. But from the moment we stepped on the ice that night, Markus just willed us to a different level with his performance.
”He scored three goals, but he also pulled everyone along with him at a level higher than we had been playing, even though we were 5-0-2 in our previous seven games. You hear stories about great leaders ... Mark Messier ... Steve Yzerman ... Scott Stevens. For me, this was especially special because it was my turn to be in goal.” - Curtis Sanford
”How do you stop a guy like that?” defenseman Willie Mitchell said. “I remember trying to stop him when I was in Minnesota and Dallas. What makes him so good is that you cannot read and anticipate what he’s going to do. He’s so good with the puck, he doesn’t tip off whether he’s going to shoot or pass – and the way he gets off his shot so quickly that it catches defensemen and goaltenders off guard.” - Willie Mitchell
”There are players who are tough to stop like Marian Gaborik and Alexander Ovechkin because of their speed. And there are players who are tough to stop like Brendan Shanahan and Peter Forsberg because of their size and grit,” Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. “But the toughest players to cope with are ones like Markus and Joe Sakic because one-on-one they can do so many things, they can beat you one-on-one with their skating ability or puckhandling ability.
”You can’t stand your ground with players like that and take them on one-on-one. They can catch you flat-footed if you don’t stay alert.” - Nicklas Lidstrom
Nazzy, Nazzy, he's our man! If he can't do it no one can!
I hate my gym. I signed up with them cause they said they will be showing all the Canucks games on the big screen, including pay per view games, AND GUESS WHAT?? They weren't able to show it tonight because of some problems with their satellite or something.
Whatevs.
I was ready to spend 3 hours working my ass off while watching the Canucks pwn, but instead, I had to resort to changing the channels to TSN and The Score in the ladies section to catch the score.
I should have stayed home and listened to the game on radio... or bought the PPV game.
But enough complaining.
As you can see, I'm not fit to make any comments on the game because I was only able to listen to the first period, but for the rest of the game, I was stuck in the gym.
Anyway, it looked like Ryan Kesler had a great game, 2 goals, even though 1 was an empty net, short handed goal, he stole the puck nicely on that play. I'm glad that he's doing well on that line with Cooke and Burrows.
It also sounds like the Canucks got into too many penalties again, including one by Markus Naslund which took them off the powerplay, and eventually lead to a 5 on 3, which then lead to Rick Nash scoring. Not good, Nazzy. No shots for the team in the 2nd period, too, due to these penalty troubles...
Speaking of Rick Nash. I was so freaked out when Tom and Shorty were discussing how "ripped" his body is now, etc.. Really... a guy's "ripped" body/muscles should never be a topic for grown men, even if they are hockey players.
What else...
Even though Naslund had that horrible penalty, he made up for it with such a pretty goal. I loved watching the highlights and seeing all the Columbus players practically collapse one by one in front of Leclaire, while Naslund was still hanging on to the puck, and when the last man fell, he snapped the shot. Classic.
Willie Mitchell also gets an assist on Nazzy's goal! He's almost catching up to Roberto Luongo in the point standings!
Another player worth mentioning is Kevin Bieksa. He scored his first goal of the year and apparently had a much better defensive and physical game. Good for him. We need his confidence back and this game probably gave it a huge boost.
Also congrats to Curtis Sanford on the win. :) He was fortunate enough that the Canucks decided to score which helped him pull the victory.
On a completely different topic...
Forgot to mention this in the other Post game blog, but after the game, on our way out of GM Place, some guy asked if my brother and I were twins XD!
Guy: Hey guys, your jerseys look awesome!
Me: *thumbs up* (I was on the phone with my friend)
Bro: Thanks man.
Guy: (asking while we were walking towards the exit) Who did you get?
Guy: (sees that it's the Sedins) Nice, it's matching. Are you guys twins?
Me: *thumbs up* (because I was still on the phone with my friend and did not really hear what the guy said, until my brother told me afterwards lol)
Anyway, my brother and I are obviously not twins, but we do look alike that we can pass for twins. A lot of people have confused us as twins :P, and are always so surprised when we say that I'm 2 years older, etc. XD
But yeah.
Didn't get to watch this game cause it was on pay per view, so I ended up listening to the radio. Very boring game from the sound of it, but to me it was also nerve wracking.
I can't really comment on the play of everyone, as I can't tell from the radio, but I can discuss Matt -freaking- Cooke.
2 penalties in the first period. The first one is around the time Columbus scored, and the 2nd one is right after Vancouver tied the game. Does this guy have a thing for killing Canucks' momentum or something? Right after we get scored on, we're trying to get back into the game as everyone was still in a state of shock, and "HI GUYS I'LL TAKE A PENALTY CAUSE I NEED A 2 MINUTE BREAK :DDDDDDDD"
Then when we tied the game, momentum shifts to our side, and "HI GUYS, I'LL TAKE ANOTHER PENALTY CAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU GETTING EXCITED :DDDD EVERYONE NEEDS TO CALM DOWN AND SKATE CALMLY" and guess what? Columbus scored on that powerplay to take back the lead, 2-1.
Come on. Really, right after that penalty, I knew it was going to be a long night for Vancouver. Matt Cooke may be able to contribute to the team in other ways like hitting and getting under the skin of players, but the positive that comes out of his "energy" is thoroughly negated by the "timely" penalties he keeps taking. No matter how many times Cooke may have dished out a huge hit that swung the momentum our way, or even scored a goal or helped on, the penalties he take still sticks out like a sore thumb for me.
And our defense? They really need to take "Puck Clearing 101" courses. From what it looks like, they didn't help Luongo again in terms of clearing his crease off players, and pucks. :\
Well, the good thing is, we got a point. The bad thing is... Markus Naslund couldn't put it away in the shootout, and we're still using Josh Green on the shootout.
AV, the Green thing only worked once. Even after the time he scored on the shootout, I wasn't eager to put him back out there, and based on the interviews he did, I don't think he's too excited about going on shootouts either. I don't understand why we don't give Bulis, Pyatt, Ohlund and Linden a[nother] chance on shootouts? I'd put any of those players over Green as they have nicer "hands".
Just when you thought the Canucks have learned their lesson on taking early penalties in the game against Boston, they didn't. Morrison's hooking penalty halfway through the 1st period gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead. And it wasn't only the hooking calls. It's the TOO MANY MEN penalty. There were 3 in the game. I understand 1, but 3??? But still. 5 penalties in the first period alone. We weren't exactly helping ourselves.
Kevin Bieksa's one-timer from Naslund's beautiful pass beat Norenna (who was playing in place of Leclaire after he got injured).
I see a bit of an improvement on our powerplay. I like how Taylor Pyatt is using his size more now when standing in front of the goalie. He and Adam Foote had a good battle in front of the net as Foote was just trying to push Pyatt away, but can barely push him. I think Vigneault should keep that powerplay line together. I'm sure after a few more shifts, Pyatt would get used to his position in front of the net and Markus Naslund or whoever's at the point (usually Salo with Morrison or Krajicek) can take advantage of his positioning more.
The only problem with the Sedin-Sedin-Linden powerplay unit is the passing really. Way too many passing, and I wish they'd just shoot. They ate up a full 2 minutes of powerplay in the 2nd period just passing. Okay they had 2 shots, but still. If they shot more...........
Overall, the line combinations this game were all good. Just no finish. I mean c'mon. Chouinard had an open net to shoot at and he shot it too high into the netting. OPEN NET. With all these scoring problems, I'm sure they are just getting frustrated and are losing their patience with the puck. Especially Naslund. They don't try to settle the puck and just... shoot smartly. When they get the puck they immediately think SHOOT or pass blindly.. and lost chance.
I think this is what happened in the last minute of the 3rd period. After closing in the lead at 3-2, they had another chance to tie the game and..... they can't roof the puck. Heck, Markus Naslund couldn't roof the puck on 2 chances. This is something he used to be able to do effortlessly.
Well anyway. I was going to say something else about the Canucks' play of late.. o_o but I forgot...... it's at the tip of my fingers. WTF. x_x;;;
Well anyway. I just hope they STOP getting early penalties and that I hope Naslund and all of the Canucks get a nice pair of scoring hands for Christmas.
So what happens when the teams that are 28th and 29th in the league in terms of scoring meet?
A 1 goal hockey game, of course!
In Columbus first visit to GM Place this season, not only does it bring with it a new coach and a team with renewed energy to win, but also Anson Carter. The third twin. The long lost triplet. The brother from another mother. Well, after spending most of the season in the 4th line, with 4th line minutes, Hitchcock put Carter back in the 1st line with Fedorov and he looks like he's been making up for points that he could have made.
Of course with his return, there were fans that are obviously bitter that he signed elsewhere in the first place. At first, the boo-ing wasn't loud, just a few scattered ones all over the arena, but after a momentum swing to Columbus due to penalties at our end, the boo-ing got louder, and louder and louder. I'm sure the fan alcohol level also contributed to that, but everytime he touched the puck, he was booed. Anson thinks it's a sign of respect since to him, it's like Canucks fans recognize what he did here.
:) Way to look at it in a positive way.
Anyway, overall, the game was pretty exciting for a 1 goal game. We had 6 pwerplays, and we weren't able to capitalize on any of them, we did have a lot of scoring chances on them, as usual, but yeah. "No finish."
At least our defence, not to mention our goaltending, was solid all night. I think defence is the key, especially now when it looks like our offence won't be producing a lot. Jim Hughson and John Garrett mentioned on the post game discussion that it's not impossible to be a playoff team while being low in scoring. He pointed out that Calgary was second to the last (last/third to the last, forgot) in overall scoring last season, but with good defence and good goaltending by Kiprusoff, they were able to go to the playoffs. If the Canucks defence and Luongo kept playing the way they did last night, then maybe things can still turn out alright.
And welcome to the Canucks Jesse Schultz! He didn't play too bad, for his first game. He didn't make any costly defensive mistakes, and was even able to draw a penalty. He was put in the line with Morrison and Pyatt, and he did pretty well. He has a good shot, and I like how he's not afraid to actually shoot in the net? There was a 2-on-1 with Morrison, and he was controlling the puck, and he shot it instead of passing, didn't score, but the defenceman's stick was right there and could have easily deflected and created a turnover. Anyway, good game!
As for Pyatt..... I actually didn't complain about him this game as much as I did in other games, cause I think he's starting to handle the puck better. I think he's also facing the urgency to score a goal now because I bet he's heard that people think he has zero skill at all and the Sedin's made him. Well, Pyatt has a nice shot, nice "hands", and I really want to see him score soon. Hopefully it's a pretty wrist shot, since he does have a nice wrist shot, but the only reason he doesn't use it more often is cause he's usually the guy who screens the goalie in powerplays, etc.
Anyway, overall good game. I'm scared for the game against the Ducks after the 6-0 whooping we got from them last time. If the defence this time just elevates their game 200% maybe we have a chance to win. Score Nazzy score!
