Sharks take the first bite over the Orcas, 3-1

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:26:26 -0700

That game went by in such a blur, probably because most of the goals were scored in the first period. Honestly, all I remember is yelling a lot at Taylor Pyatt, you know calling him the usual "UGH YOU FATTY" "PYATT YOU'RE A PUSHOVER" "UGH YOU SOFA!!" "DO SOMETHING YOU CUSHION!", and just being generally loud.

And no, I wasn't drunk. Sorry, Mike, I only ended up drinking 3/4 of a Smirnoff... My friend and I were too lazy to get off our butts in the intermissions to get more booze. I just hope you drank 3/8 of booze so that would mean I drank double. :D

Anyway, back to the game.

Unfortunate first period for the Canucks as early penalties killed our momentum. Then Joe Thornton's goal killed it some more.

Roenick scores. BOO

Then Roenick.

At that point I was already yelling "GO BACK TO THE KEG" off the top of my lungs.

First period was bad, second period was so-so-- we definitely could have played better here, knowing that we're behind by 3 goals-- and the third period was just a bit better than the second.

But honestly, I can't remember much. I just really remember laughing at Pyatt a lot cause he must have gotten knocked over 347283423 times by players smaller than him.

At least we scored one

There was also that very sexy move Ryan Kesler tried to pull in the first period? He was one-on-one with the D and he just rushed to the net and it just looked pretty. Lots of open net chances for Ryan Shannon in the powerplay, too bad he couldn't pull the trigger. Roberto Luongo, despite letting in 3 goals, did make some awesome saves.

... What else?

Powerplay was horrendous, but at least we did get some chances? The D definitely needs to shoot more from the point. Kevin Bieksa needs to shoot more from the point.

Mason Raymond

Hmm...

Congratulations to Mason Raymond, though, for scoring his first ever career point. :) Nice work by the boards there Raymond, too bad you scored a milestone on a loss.

Yeah. I'm tired. I think I lost my voice with all the yelling.

Yes guys, I'm totally like those drunk people you see at the game, yelling and mocking the players. The thing is-- I'm not drunk. I just yell a lot like I'm drunk. :P

The good thing is-- tomorrow is the next game and it's against Calgary. :D Hope to see a great bounceback effort by the Canucks, especially against their division rival. Win or lose, but obviously better if it's win, Canucks/Flames games are always the most fun to watch.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Sharks take a bite out of Orcas, 3-1

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:39:12 -0700

'Disorganized' is the magic word for tonight's game. Everything from the even strength plays to the power plays; from the plays in the offensive zone to the defensive zone.

It was really strange, something must have been wrong tonight because they didn't play like this in the past 2 games (I can't comment on the Anaheim pre-season opener because I couldn't watch it). I don't know if it's just nerves of the young players playing on visitor's ice the first time, the travel option the Canucks chose (fly the same afternoon as the game), or the San Jose Sharks' line up that iced a lot of their veterans compared to Vancouver's mostly rookie line up.

Whatever it is, the Canucks did not look good team-wise. There were some good individual performances, most notably Nathan McIver.

It looks like he's putting himself in the race for that 7th defenceman spot. Not only did he score the Canucks' lone goal in the hockey game, he also showed a lot of feisty-ness by getting Sharks' captain, Patrick Marleau, to fight with him, and later on engaging Rob Davison to another scrap after Davison speared Luongo. His overall defensive play wasn't too shabby either.

Mattias Ohlund, and Alex Edler played pretty good on defence, too, considering most of the time, especially on Ohlund's case, they have to overcompensate their defensive duties to cover for their partners. Shaun Heshka and Patrick Coulombe played alright on defence, too. I think it's just really Jim Sharrow that had a horrible outing. I noticed him on the ice for all the wrong reasons.

Mason Raymond doing some moves

As for Markus Naslund, he was alright... Sometimes he was flat and can't seem to get into the play, and other times he is brilliant; making nice plays, backchecking, etc. I still can't believe that Jason Jaffray wasted that opportunity where he was all alone in front of the net, and somehow, Naslund's pass found his stick.. and he just botched up the play and started thinking. SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!!! When he did, he missed the net? Yeah.

I was surprised to see him on the penalty kill in the 3rd period, though. I didn't see if the penalized time was already expiring soon or not, but I think he was on the PK for quite a while. I know he blocked a shot... :D I want Nazzy to be really good defensively that we can use him on the penalty kill, too.

As for Taylor Pyatt, is it just me or did he get pushed around A LOT this evening? I swear, I did not like the way he played one bit in this game. I was extremely pleased with him after the Flames game and couldn't wait to see him continue playing that way, but it seemed like he caught the "disorganized" bug that was going around the team today. As I said, he was getting pushed off the puck a lot, and he also took 2 penalties.

Taylor Pyatt trying hard to do something

I did notice one good thing about Pyatt's game though... he's skating faster. I hope my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, but I swear he looks faster out there. I like that. Now I just wish that he becomes consistent. Really.

That line of Pyatt (Classen and someone, forgot who the other one was) didn't look good at all the whole evening... Actually, no, that's not fair. None of the lines looked good this evening. Even Mason Raymond kept losing the puck mid-skate to the offensive zone, and there's just no chemistry.

What else? Roberto Luongo was overall pretty solid tonight, Canucks took too many penalties, the powerplay is still dry, etc.

I just want them to beat the Ducks tomorrow.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Canucks escape from the Shark Tank, 4-3 + etc

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:56:59 -0700

Time to celebrate!

Wow. Talk about an intense game. I'm still so pumped about the results and its implications that I can barely remember what happened in the game.

This game is basically a must-win for the Canucks, if they wanted to clinch the Northwest Division title. They weren't able to get it done at home against Colorado, but they came out with a lot more jump and drive to clinch in today's game against San Jose.

The Canucks' first goal is a perfect example of that. Kevin Bieksa and Matt Cooke just rushed towards the net and shot the puck towards Nabokov. Cooke was able to find the rebound before Nabokov and roofed it for the goal. Markus Naslund made a great pass from the blueline which Brendan Morrison to start that rush off in the first place.

Bieksa jumps in the play

Taylor Pyatt then cashed in on a goal around 2 minutes after Cooke's goal. Again, nice puck movement by the Canucks, as Pyatt was able to protect the puck in the boards, passed it to Daniel Sedin, who gave it to Sami Salo for the slap shot which Pyatt deflected in.

It was great to see them have an early 2 goal lead, but it was wasted as the Canucks started to become undisciplined, taking two 5-on-3s, and allowed San Jose to come back and tie the game. The refs made the most bullshit call against Roberto Luongo though, which directly lead to the tying goal.

Lui came out to challenge Patrick Marleau who was on a breakaway, and when he got the puck and smothered it, he was called for a Delay of Game penalty. It would have been understandable if there was no Sharks players lurking around, but there was at least 2 skating towards him within that second, and Marleau was still in the vicinity. :\

Anyway, the Canucks were able to take the lead again with a powerplay goal in the 3rd period. Again, the Canucks were able to win the puck battles by the boards, and Kevin Bieksa eventually shot the puck which went in thanks to the screen provided by a Sharks defenceman.

Ohlund scores the game winner

They hold that lead until the last minute or so of the 3rd period, where a series of unfortunate events led to the Sharks' tying goal, and on to overtime we go!

Joe Thornton took a penalty in the opening moments of the overtime, which I thought was a weak call against Jumbo Joe. I don't really think he did anything to trip Daniel, but I guess whatever helps the Canucks. Daniel and Henrik Sedin both remained on the ice, and those two are real threats on 4-on-3s.

Sure enough, Mattias Ohlund scored the gamewinner just seconds into the OT.

Man, this feels good.

I thought Nazzy had a good game tonight. Is it really surprising that he's been playing better with Morrison and Cooke? And what's that now? 5 points in 5 games?
The Canucks should send Joe Thornton a thank you card for taking that much penalties, and helping us win the game. I laughed a little inside when he hit Matt Cooke hard on the boards, but instead, he was the one who required medical attention for smashing his nose on the boards.
In the first period, there was this one time where Dank, Hank and Tank just DOMINATED. They spent triple shifts inside the Sharks offensive zone, and just wouldn't allow the Sharks to even clear the puck. After a long time of cycling, they finally let it go as the Canucks forwards were getting tired as well.
Roberto Luongo must have made the save of the year in this game.

Other news:

Michigan State University defeated Boston College in NCAA Frozen Four Finals. It's pretty depressing for Cory Schneider (Canucks 1st round draft pick) since he played stellar throughout that game, and the playoff run. Bad turnover and defensive play behind the net cost Schneids the Cup.
More prospects are making their way over the farm. Michael Grabner has already arrived with the team last week, but I think Arniel just wants him to get a feel of pro-hockey first before allowing him to jump in. He's a pretty offensive guy, so I hope he'll be put on offensive situations and not 3rd/4th line. Daniel Rahimi's team got eliminated in the playoffs, and he's also expected to come to Manitoba.

As usual, I had more to say, but I just can't remember cause I'm sleepy.

NORTHWEST DIVISION CHAMPIONS!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

NORTHWEST DIVISION CHAMPIONS

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 20:03:13 -0700

YES!!!! NORTHWEST DIVISION CHAMPIONS!!! THANK YOU JOE THORNTON!!!!

Details later.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Canucks makes some Sharks fin soup, 2-1

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:11:19 -0800

Another 1 goal game that's won in overtime. I'm not complaining since we were on the winning side, but both teams played extremely well in terms of defense, offense and spectacular goaltending from both ends of the ice, so both deserved at least a point.
I thought the Canucks were better in this game compared to their 3-1 win against the Sharks at GM Place. They had more scoring chances, and kept the Sharks' big line from walking all over our goaltender.
Speaking of our goaltender, Roberto Luongo broke Kirk McLean's record of most wins in a season. Of course people would argue its validity, a win is a win and Luongo totally deserved it.
Markus Naslund was on fire tonight, but I think he forget the memo where it stated that it was he who's supposed to be receiving passes from Bryan Smolinski, not the other way around. He must have set up Smoke at least 3 times in a game, and also set up Matt Cooke on something that would have been an easy tip in. He's flying, too! It's unfortunate that he wasn't able to score because he was doing so well.
I knew Taylor Pyatt was going to score tonight, not because I had that gut feeling that he will, but more of him shooting the puck a lot more. Instead of waiting for chances to happen like in the first half of the season, Pyatt has been creating chances for himself by snapping those wristers and sooner or later, a puck will eventually go in.
Henrik Sedin redeemed himself after taking that penalty where San Jose was able to tie the game. He scored the game winning goal after Bieksa sent him on a mini breakaway and he buried his own rebound.
... As for the negatives... I don't think there are any, really. All 4 lines played well and created chances and were responsible defensively. Luongo was pretty solid in net and the defense also helped him out a lot by keeping the Sharks to the outside.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Best PK vs Best PP? 3-1 Canucks

nobody@vox.com(Rinslet) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:21:48 -0800

Luongo is a MONSTER

One of the subplots surrounding the 2nd game against the San Jose Sharks is the head-to-head battle of the league's best penalty killing team (Canucks) vs the best powerplay team (Sharks). Although Alain Vigneault probably wouldn't be eager to test who can outlast who, the Canucks obviously didn't listen and took a bunch of hooking/holding penalties.

Luckily, we are the best penalty killing team in the league for a reason, and held San Jose 0 for 7 on the man advantage. Of course, a big chunk of this should be credited to Roberto Luongo as he was a MONSTER in goal. He must have had 3 "save of the year" saves from this game alone.

He has stolen so many games for us. In the game against the Kings, he stole a point for us, and tonight, 2 points! We didn't even deserve to win this one, especially in regulation time. It was just unbelievable that the Sharks were held off the scoresheet, except that 1 goal, especially when they were in our side of the rink for 90% of the game, creating some amazing scoring chances. They outshot us by a huge margin and Luongo just made save after save after save.

For the longest time I haven't fully jumped in the Luongo bandwagon, especially with a less than spectacular start to the season. But in around December, the breaks started going our way, and the team finally gelled and everything just started going well. I think after December was the only time we really saw what Luongo can do.

Pyatt celebrates his goal

Taylor Pyatt was amazing tonight. AV thought Pyatt turned his game around after Thornton laid a big hit on him.. and I actually thought the same. I remember thinking, after that huge hit, that Pyatt will either fight someone or make a big impact, and he did the latter. Seriously. This guy doesn't like getting hit. He gets really angry and ..... last 2 times we've seen him angry both ended up with him fighting someone.

At least this time he scored a goal and added a helper to the game winning goal. His goal is the 14th of the season, and it ties his career high back when he was in Buffalo. It's very similar to the goal he scored in Toronto, this time, except of Ohlund passing, it was Naslund who sent him away for a mini breakaway and Pyatt didn't hesitate on putting the puck through Nabokov's five hole to tie the game.

Really. We should break this guy's thumb more often. He has been playing brilliantly for the past few games he has played. I hope he just continues to improve throughout the season. Love how he also bumped the Sedin's goal slump. :)

Nazzy and Mo celebrating empty net goal

Markus Naslund, and the 4th Line were also outstanding tonight. Nazzy was on the ice for 2 of the goals, both of which he assisted on. The 2nd one is an assist on the Canucks' first empty net goal of the season. ;) The 4th line provided the energy we needed everytime they were on the ice. They should be used more often

We could do much better on defence. Canucks should be enrolled in "Puck Clearing 101". They can't get the puck out of the net for crying out loud! The one time San Jose scored was on a failed clearing attempt. C'mon guys? Luongo may be a monster in goal, but the guy needs help sometimes. :\

Anyway, not overly pleased with the win, but just amazed at Luongo. Just wow. I hope they don't show up with this kind of effort against Columbus, and think that team will be an easy win. (*coughkingscough*) They are starting to depend on Luongo too mcuh, I just wish they'd give him a hand, too. :\

Read and post comments | Send to a friend