Why the Canucks lost tonight

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:22:51 -0700

If I counted the times Shorty said something along the lines of one Canuck missing the other Canuck's pass, I would have enough money to buy new shoes.
And everytime they get the puck on their stick, it's like someone rubbed butter on it before the game. It just keeps slipping away.
And Nuckies? Dump and chase usually means either you dump the puck all the way behind the goalline, NOT HALFWAY WHERE YOU CAN'T CHASE or when you dump all the way to the goalline... please, CHASE. And not just 1 person chasing. You need at least 2 people to get that puck back.
The Sedin powerplay units are brutal tonight. Even more brutal than the Naslund-Morrison unit. Everytime I see them on the ice hogging the puck for 1.5 minutes without doing anything, I know we won't score on the PP. I miss the days when the Sedins actually sometimes try to shoot the puck on the PP. Or pass it to someone who will.
And it's like the Sedin's defensive game just suddenly decided to disappear recently.
Roberto Luongo: What is up with the first goal you let in? I know you want to improve and diversify your goalie style, but please... do that in the preseason. Don't imitate Hasek now.
Yeah. Just no intensity. They had some at the first 3 or so minutes, then KAPUT!
Everytime we have ordered PPV, I think the Canucks has lost... *trying to think of a game we've ordered that they've won*

[editted]
:P But the main reason they really lost, as pointed out in point no. 7, the Ducks took it to us and won the battles. That's it. We started by playing better, and I think if we just kept puck possession for more than 2 seconds, it would have been a different hockey game, but they beat us in every puck battle. They knew our D is hurting so they hit hard every chance they got. They were just hungrier for the puck and it showed.

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I am Kesler, Hear me ROAR! ROAR! 4-0!

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:49:08 -0800

Snipe!

I was listening to the Post Game Show, and they were interviewing Ryan Kesler about his game tonight and he said that he had a lot of "built up anger" against the Anaheim Ducks because he was injured during that playoff series.

You know what? It's just so amazing watching Kes grow up on the ice, especially better that he's a Canuck. Alain Vigneault gave him a lot of icetime last season, with that an increased role, and he just ran away with it. The points did not come easy at first, he mostly focused on his defensive play, but when the points started coming during the Canucks' miracle run after Christmas, it abruptly ended with his hip surgery.

This season, Kes himself had huge goals for himself. Alain Vigneault elevated his role in the team again as part of the "shut-down" line with Taylor Pyatt and Brad Isbister. Not only does he help shut down the other team's top line, but he has been scoring as well.

The Return of Bert

But yes, Kes had another good game tonight, 2 goals, both on the powerplay, and the Ducks top line were held off the scoresheet.

I wasn't able to watch the first period, I was on my way home from school, but the second and period was just fun to watch.

The Canucks scored 4 goals, the first one and the game winner, was a nice wrist shot by Markus Naslund. That goal was just a beauty... hearing the "ping" of the puck hitting the post and in, then the goal horn is just music. I don't know what the heck Todd Bertuzzi was doing on that shift. Nazzy was just wide open and he didn't even try to check him. Thanks Bert! :D

I already mentioned that Kes scored 2 goals, and the other one was scored by Matt Cooke as he tip in Alexander Edler's point shot.

Other game notes:

Henrik Sedin + Penalty Shot =/= Pretty. At least he was laughing about that missed chance on the bench.
As I said, I did not get to watch the first period, but I'll take everyone's word for it, Luongo was amazing.
Our 4th line? They rock. After getting the 4th goal, the Ducks sent out their 4th line which included George Parros, so AV obliged with our own 4th line. The only brouhaha that was caused was the one that left everyone wondering whether the Sedin Twins were on the ice because they were just puck cycling like crazy out there.
Heehee. Ryan Getzlaf hitting Taylor Pyatt from behind. ;D Fatty would have none of that. HAHA I crapped my pants laughing when they showed Pyatt's swollen lip and Pierre McGuire (or was that Gord Miller?) commented that supermodels will kill for Pyatt's pouty lips right now. HAHA I was thinking "I think they'd kill for his electrifying eyes"
Props to AV for putting the 3rd/4th line on the ice for the last few powerplays along with Willie Mitchell and Aaron Miller. Too bad Willie was too much of a puckhog and won't let Aaron Miller score his first goal as a Canuck. He almost injured Byron Ritchie as well.
2 more points until Markus Naslund takes the Canucks All Time Points leader.
Chris Pronger sucks.

That game was fun. :D

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Canucks are done like dinner, 2-1

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:03:30 -0700

The end of the season

Awful. A very awful and disappointing way to end a wonderful season, and a good playoff run. I expected more fire, more passion and desperation, a team that wouldn't go down without a fight, but it seems like they've given up as soon as that first offside call on a Naslund/Smolinski 2-on-1, 20 seconds into the game.

They just weren't in it, and if they would have won this game, I wouldn't have thought they deserved it. Roberto Luongo deserved it though, but honestly, the rest of the team didn't. Maybe the fourth liners, as they were the only ones showing any energy out there, and it showed as they earned every bit of that tying goal in the 3rd period.

And you know, that game winning goal was probably the most heart breaking, and as good as Luongo has been that evening, that's probably one goal he should have saved, and he could have, but it was just one mistake, thinking that hit on Hansen was a penalty, and lost sight of the puck. I wouldn't fault him on this one though, he gave the team tons of chances to finish it, and Jan Bulis almost did, but almost doesn't cut it.

The tying goal

Doesn't this seem like what happened with Marty Turco in the previous series? Turco kept his team in the game to win, yet Dallas couldn't score? He put on the most spectacular performance that any team just wants out of their goalie, and they still couldn't win because of the lack of offense. This has been a familiar story for the Canucks all season long, but you know, the effort to score just wasn't there. We were being outshot 37-13 at one point in the game. That's a huge difference in shots for. Overall, Luongo made 56 saves (Sabby made 5), and I don't know, he already did everything to get them the win, the effort from everyone else just wasn't there.

Trevor Linden and Markus Naslund had an okay game, definitely two of the better forwards out there. I wish Vigneault kept their line with Smolinski together, or at least just Naslund and Linden since, as I said, other than the 4th liners those two showed just a bit more determination to probably try to get a win for Lui in this game.

The Sedins were just... bad. Taylor Pyatt was just bad. Their line, whether together or separated just didn't play very well. Not only can they not generate any chances, until the 3rd period anyway, most of the time, they were just stuck in their own zone. Anaheim's checking line looked more like an offensive threat than they did. Separating them did not work, and it really just ruined the chemistry other lines were having to accommodate those two, but I hope they just learn from this and get over it.

Other than that? It was a really disappointing way to lose. From the way the team (minus Luongo) played down to the game winning goal.

I'll try to post a season review when I have the time, and when I'm more calmed down. I don't know what to do with this blog now :P for the offseason. I'll try to get in some draft action, and update when something significant, such as trades or free-agent signings, occurs.

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Ducks refuse to get shot, 3-2

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:53:36 -0700

Disappointing. This is the type of loss that's the most disappointing and the most disheartening. The Canucks played well the whole game, played better than the Ducks, and yet we still lose. I don't even remember how it happened, it all went too fast. I just know that we failed to clear the zone in the game winning goal.

What was funny was that, I pretty much predicted that Brent Sopel will be giving the puck away at that moment. When I saw him holding the puck, I just mentioned to my friend that "Now is not the good time to give the puck away, Sopel" and whaddya know? I was right. :D

I'm beginning to think LA gypped us in this trade after we let them sign Dan Cloutier for 2 years. I want that 2nd round pick back, please, and AV, bench Sopel. For good.

On a positive note, Markus Naslund scored the first goal of the game, extending his goal-scoring streak to 3 games. JS Giguere let out a huge rebound off Mattias Ohlund's point shot, and the puck went straight to Nazzy's stick and he just shot it in.

Brendan Morrison also scored his first goal of this playoffs on a nice backhand shot that fooled Giguere. He didn't play that good of a game, though, even if he scored that goal.

Anyway, I'm just tired and disappointed. We were leading 2-0 coming into the 3rd period and we just blew it. The tying goal hurt even more, especially when the refs didn't call that trip on Salo. Bleh.

To make my evening worse... I HATE THE FUCKING ASIAN FLUSH. God. I just drank 2 bottles of Smirnoff Ice and I'm already becoming RED. This is ridiculous. Now I'd be red for the next 3 days. ARGH.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

And oh yeah? Selanne, I fucking hate you.

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The Ducks refuse to surrender themselves as dinner to starving Canucks fans, 3-2

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 01:10:50 -0700

I wasn't able to watch the game properly tonight, hence I couldn't really comment on it properly. I went to my friend's house to watch the game, and since I got off work at 4, I ended up missing the first half of the first period before I arrived at her house at 5:20.

Anyway, the real key to this game was the powerplay. We had around 8 opportunities, including two 5-on-3's, to bury the Ducks, and we failed. On the other hand, the Ducks capitalized on the little powerplay time they received by scoring on 2 out of 4 powerplays.

Looking at both powerplay units, you would see a huge difference in the way they set up and move the puck. Doesn't it seem like once the Ducks are setup, anyone can take a shot from anywhere, and unless it's blocked, it would probably go to the net? They seem to be moving the puck around a lot by making smart passes, getting a good screen in front of Luongo, getting the shot through, whether it be from the point or the faceoff circles, and when Luongo lets out a rebound, there's immediately a lot of guys crashing the front of the net read to knock it in at all costs.

Ours is the complete opposite. Either we don't make smart passes, or we pass too much. The pointmen refuses to take a shot, the player at the faceoff circles also doesn't shoot until the last minute. Even when we do get a shot, we wait for so long that a player can just block it, and it doesn't even go through the net. Where's the one-timers? We also need to win more of those puck battles, better dump-ins and carry-ins.

The list can go on.

It's just really frustrating. We got a lot of powerplays tonight. If we were able to score on the 5-on3s at least, we might have won the game.

Well, we did score one powerplay goal. That was a good PP shift by the Canucks as they won the battles, Markus Naslund read the play well and saw Mattias Ohlund open on the other side and passed him the puck. Ohllie's shot was tipped by Giguere's glove towards Nazzy who just shoved it towards the net to tie the game.

That was it. We had, maybe, a couple more good scoring opportunities in the PP, just no finish. I hope AV's focus on special teams on practice tomorrow would vastly improve it on the game the next day.

Other things.......... hmm... Daniel Sedin scored the other Canucks' goal, Sami Salo was back in the lineup tonight, Willie Mitchell is alive and kicking, and Roberto Luongo thinks he deserves to be blamed for the loss tonight.

As I said, I couldn't really watch the game as me and my friend were focused on other things sometimes, like complaining on how long does it take to make and deliver pizza...

One other thing, I loved when the crowd were chanting "NAZZY NAZZY NAZZY NAZZY NAZZY!" when he scored. It was very heartwarming. Music to my ears. As you can see, my new layout features the man himself, Markus Naslund. *hearts* this guy.

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We have Ducks on the menu boys! 2-1 Canucks

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:10:41 -0700

Just some quick notes as I have a final tomorrow and I've studied.. ZILCH! DAMN YOU DOUBLE OVERTIME!

Great game by the Canucks! I'd say this is the most complete game we've seen them play in the playoffs as they dominated the Ducks in every aspect of the game except in the powerplay. All lines were just good offensively and defensively, creating scoring chances, etc. Just great. Boys really showed a lot of determination and heart, and it really showed as they outplayed the Ducks. Ducks may have more "talent" on their roster on the Canucks, but with the Canucks playing a good team game, their talent barely had any chance.
Markus Naslund scored a goal tonight, a nice wrist shot while he was falling down. Good steal from Pronger, too. He took 3 penalties after that goal, though, but really 2 of those 3 penalties were ridiculous. HI SELANNE, DIVE MUCH? WHY ARE YOU NOT WITH THE FINNISH NATIONAL DIVE TEAM? You'd win more gold medals that way. He also had that one giveaway which led to the game tying goal, but it wasn't a blatant giveaway wherein he passes it to a Ducks player, but he was pushed off the puck and well yeah. Still a good game from the captain.
Cowan the Brabarian strikes again! I'm surprised none of the Canucks fans in the building threw any bras on the ice.. or maybe they did, CBC just didn't show that on TV. Good work Brabarian! Giguere should have that, but tough luck.
Willie Mitchell is a monster. A very lovable monster for his teammates and fans, but a butt-ugly one for his opponents. Yes Willie, please knock Kunitz ugly mug out, but keep yourself healthy!
Powerplay needs more work.
Roberto Luongo is another MONSTER.
Lukas Krajicek, and Alexander Edler both had awesome games on defense tonight. They unexpectedly had to step up since Willie was having injury problems, and they stepped way UP. Both had terrific games tonight and hope to see them continue playing like this when we need them.

Game 3 is at GM Place with a 5:00 pm PDT start time (WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?). Bring your zappers everyone!

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THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING!!!!!1111, Canucks lose 5-1

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:40:16 -0700

We have no one to blame, but ourselves. It started out as a good game for the Canucks. At the beginning of the first period, it seemed like they were the ones controlling the game, getting quality scoring chances, and drawing penalties. Unfortunately, we quickly shot ourselves in the foot, again, by taking too many penalties and making horrible mistakes in our zone. Soon enough, the Ducks began controlling the play, we lost whatever momentum we had at the beginning, and next thing you know they were leading 3-1.

Losing Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo really hurt us this game, not that Edler or Fitzpatrick had a bad game. Both Fitz and Edler did well for their roles as 5th/6th defencemen. Meanwhile, Ohlund really had a pretty brutal game tonight. I'd say Sopel had a brutal game as well, but I think "brutal" is the normal game for Sopes. Please, AV, once Salo comes back, scratch Sopel instead and let Fitz and Edler stay!!!

Anyway, the Canucks tried, but it was too hard to regain form after a million penalties, and a powerplay that couldn't score (again).

There was actually one pretty funny call on Alex Burrows during the game that I just found baffling.

Burrows high sticked Selanne right in front of a referee, and this ref didn't call anything. Selanne got angry so after the whistle, he shoved Burrows, who fell on the ice. One would thing Selanne would get a roughing call or unsportsmanlike penalty for that, right?

NO!!! THEY GAVE BURROWS A DIVING PENALTY INSTEAD!!!!

Oh the hilarity that is the NHL officiating. Seriously. How do you assess a diving call after the whistle, on a guy that was pushed over. I understand that maybe you wanted to make up for that missed high-sticking call, but c'mon? Diving? Can't you find something more realistic in that situation, like maybe, UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT???

Other than that. I have no real beef with anything else. Ducks took advantage of our errors, and we didn't take advantage of our own powerplay opportunities. Done deal.

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Canucks have some peking Ducks for dinner, 3-2

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:01:26 -0800

Dany Sabourin makes a save

DANY SABOURIN GETS HIS FIRST WIN OF THE ~~SEASON~~ CAREER!! IN SPECTACULAR FASHION!!! Stopped 38 shots!!!! SABBY!!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The team didn't play too well on the first half of the 1st period, getting into penalty trouble, and also trouble in clearing the puck. The Ducks were bound to get a goal, and they got a fluky one after Sabby can't find the puck behind him. But after killing off a 5-on-3 penalty, the Canucks "woke up" and finally got their legs going.

After an injury scare on Kevin Bieksa, he came back on a Canuck 5-on-3 to tie the game, and bumping his 24 games goal slump. Thanks to Pronger for screening your own goaltender. ;) Great play on Naslund for drawing that 2nd penalty, though. He just charged to the net and the guy couldn't help but get the penalty.

Before the 2nd period ended, the Ducks were able to regain the lead on a freak penalty on Brendan Morrison, but no worries! Markus Naslund scored an amazing goal to tie the game early in the 3rd period. Totally fooled both Pronger and Giguere as he roofed that shot.

Of course, the Nuckies took it to overtime, and won it during a 4-on-3 powerplay. :D

Dany Sabourin still looked a bit awkward in the net, let out some huge rebounds, but this is to be expected. He doesn't get to play a lot of games, and doesn't have a lot of experience. Overall, he was okay. There were 40 shots on goal tonight, and add another 12 which the defence blocked. Glad the D more or less picked up their game tonight... at least enough to get them the win. I believe Sabby stole this game for us ;) considering our play in our own didn't really improve much compared to the previous games we've played in which Lui stole the game for us.
Not a good first period for Willie tonight. Took 2 penalties, which was very uncharacteristic of him. Also gave away or failed to clear the puck a few times, most notably in the first, but then, just like the rest of the team, his play improved as the game went on.
Trevor Linden wasn't that great either... Bad game defensively for him as he must have given the puck away a bunch of times, but was still good in the Mo-Cooke line. Created tons of chances. Too bad he couldn't get that one timer in the PP. That totally would have been easy peasy for him.. but yeah.
Taylor Pyatt must have been reading the Canucks forums and the non-believers saying he can't skate fast... He was flying tonight. O_O He really turned on the afterburners tonight. Too bad he didn't get a point, though.
If you want to talk about a player who FLEW....... Markus Naslund. Just great. 7 shots on goal?!!! Nazzy's back and I hope he's here to stay.

Western Conference Standings as for 2/20/2006

One point up on San Jose and Dallas, 6th ranked team in the whole league, and the best team in Canada right now.

I think what makes this even sweeter is the fact that everybody wrote Vancouver Canucks off at the beginning of the season, and for the first half, they may have proven their critics right. They couldn't score, Luongo was a bit shaky in the first half, plagued with injuries... Now? We've only lost 3 times in regulation since the Christmas break. This is like Anaheim/Buffalo's record at the beginning of the year.

We haven't been playing great hockey lately but we are still finding ways to win. Hopefully the Canucks doesn't make a habit out of this as it's bound to bite them in the ass.

But wow. Sabby's first win, #1 in Northwest, #6 in the league....... Keep it up boys!

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Dany Sabourin to start tonight

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:10:07 -0800

Lui passes the torch!

I don't know whether to feel bad for Sabourin, or happy that he's finally getting a start, but his last 2 starts were against... top tier teams: Nashville Predators and Buffalo Sabres. He did play a ~~good~~ fantastic game against the Slugs, so I'm hoping he'd play the same way against the Ducks.

In a way it's a good decision by AV. The team has been relying on Luongo to win games for them recently (and why shouldn't they?). This is a good wakeup call to the team to tell them that they need to pick it up or Ducks will... squash us. Maybe to remind them that this is a team game? Sabourin can't be good if the team in front of him isn't good?

Well Nuckies. :D GO GET SABBY HIS FIRST WIN!!!

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4 straight freaking penalties

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:39:24 -0800

Dear god. The Canucks are MASOCHIST.

Edler tied the game to give us a chance to win or at least get a point if we can take it to overtime, but NO. They take 4 straight penalties, 1 of which was a 5-on3. I mean, I know we are good at penalty kill, but that doesn't give you an excuse to take 4 straight penalties.

My GOD. LUONGO. GREAT TIME TO TAKE A DELAY OF GAME PENALTY. But this isn't Luongo's fault. Well, the first goal was pretty weak, but really, same old story with the Canucks. As someone said, they have the ability to make any goalie look like they're Patrick Roy or something.

As for Matt Cooke... No words. This guy is so worthless for what we pay him. We shouldn't pay someone $1+ million to just hit, he doesn't even provide good scoring chances, now he's just taking lazy penalties.

As for the Canucks offense, during practices, they should just practice SCORING. and SHOOTING. Wtf during one of those powerplays, all they did was pass (for the 2nd unit powerplay) until someone mishandled the puck and it goes out of the zone.

*sigh* I didn't watch this game on TV cause it was on PPV, so I don't really have any comments, but really. We took so many penalties, which took away ice time for Sedin-Sedin-Naslund line. And really, just that 4 straight penalties in the 3rd period =_=;. When will they learn? They know they can't score goals so they have to be extra tight defensively.

ahdfkasdhkj

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