17 posts tagged “canucks vs stars”

I am lazy and sleepy right now, so I'll just quickly point out my thoughts or summary, whatever.

• Thank you Dave Tippet for starting Johan Holmqvist tonight. I don't want to speculate, but it might have been possible that the Canucks wouldn't have scored those 3 goals if it was Turco starting in net.
  
• Naslund-Morrison-Pettinger line was great. As Naslund said after the game, he's the slow one on that line, so he has to ride those two, but I really think the fast rushing game is what suits Naslund best.
• Markus Naslund was in on all 4 goals tonight. He helped set up the first one by Matt Pettinger, it was his powerplay unit that scored the 2nd goal, then he scored the 3rd one, and threw a puck on the net for Morrison to deflect for the game winning goal. Even though the GWG is such a total garbage goal, Brendan Morrison said Nazzy threw the puck on net because he knew he was heading towards it. He looked back, saw Mo coming, so he just threw it there in case good things happen. Luckily, Marty Turco directed the rebound right at Morrison and Robidas' face.
  
• Although Matt Pettinger scored a pretty goal for his 2nd as a Canuck, what I really liked was his play in Nazzy's goal. I guess I have just been disillusioned recently because of all the 2 on 1 / 2 on 0 opportunities with Bulis last year.. and Bulay will elect to score himself instead of passing to Naslund. But overall, Petting Zoo was again solid. Great on the PK, scored 3 points... Yeah. :)
• Oh right, Nazzy also had a penalty shot. It didn't look good at all. I cringed when they gave him the penalty shot.. :P I think the league should allow the player to choose between a penalty shot or a minor penalty. XD; He also had a late 2 on 1 opportunity.. he hesitated, and then the moment was lost. In times like these, you would just know if that was Naslund of old, he won't even hesitate in going for the goal.
  
• Canucks with a 3-0 lead at one point of game = VERY GOOD
• Canucks giving up that 3-0 lead in the 2nd period = HORRIBLE
• Roberto Luongo is pretty bad at one-on-one breakaways this year... Well, I'm not sure about last year, he may have just been as bad since I remember all those Lombardi SHG, but yeah... maybe it's the speed that fools him? If a player on a breakaway doesn't have much speed on Lui, he usually saves it... It's the fast ones that kill him. (HELLO NAZZY :D! Speed can sometimes kill.)
• Trevor Linden had a pretty okay game for his first game back after multiple healthy scratches (though I noticed everytime the 4th line was on the ice... Dallas is in our zone :x), but icing the puck two times at the last few seconds of the game may have just earned him another one-way ticket to the press box. Unfortunate, but he really just gave Vigneault a reason to place him back there. He was placed on the ice for the last few seconds because he has always been smart with the puck, instead he iced it twice. Poor guy.
  

In other news... CORY SCHNEIDER WITH HIS 2ND PRO-CAREER SHUTOUT!! 33 SAVES! Let's go SCHNEIDS!

Wow. Nazzy has a sort of hat trick!!!

2 goals in regulation, and one goal in the shootout.

Hold it.

Stop.

Goal... in the shootout? Are you sure we're talking Nazzy here and not Linden?

Well, no joke people, Markus Naslund scored his first shootout goal this season! Nothing flashy, he just decided to take the shot and it hit the post and in.

He must have figured shooting is better than dekeing after his failed penalty shot attempt against Tomas Vokoun last week. Whatever it was, he made it work.

Not to mention the two goals he had were from such quality passes from Mason Raymond and Byron Ritchie. I can't even describe both passes enough since they're both so pretty.

The first goal came on the powerplay. Sami Salo faked a slap shot, and went for a slap pass to Mason Raymond instead. Raymond held on to the puck until a Dallas defenceman (Niskanen?) began to overcommit and he quickly passed it to Nazzy to put it in.

The tying goal came from Byron Ritchie's hardwork. Mattias Norstrom gave the puck away and Byron Ritchie just took it from him. Marty Turco thought he would be going for the wrap around so he committed himself to Ritchie, but Ritchie passed it to Naslund, who shot the puck so hard that they thought it his the crossbar and out.

Wow. If that really was the case, the whole CDC forum would have gone nuts with TRADE NASLUND OMG HE CAN'T SHOOT IT IN A WIDE OPEN NET.

BUT.

There is a God, and although he hates the Canucks defencemen right now for eating his cute kittens, he willed that puck to go in to save Nazzy from a month-long bash fest. :D

Just a good game from the Captain in general. :) Pretty good defensive and just left himself open to get those quality offensive chances and capitalize on them.

Meanwhile, the team did lose in the shootout. Roberto Luongo gave them the chance to win it 384723874382 different times and they just can't come up with it.

Daniel Sedin had Marty Turco down and out yet he didn't try to lift the puck over his pad. Trevor Linden was met by the post, and well... Taylor Pyatt needs to probably try something else as I said last time, same with Alex Edler.

I wonder if they've begun practicing different shootout shots yet? I think they should just rotate the players instead of using the same people all the time. :P I mean, the Canucks suck so bad in shootouts, what's the worse that can happen?

Otherwise, I'm reluctantly pleased that we got away with a point from this game, considering our blue line.

Speaking of blue line news.

Aaron Miller is out with a hairline fracture on his foot?

STOP. EATING. THOSE DAMNED CUTE KITTENS.

Just some quick notes...

• Jeff Cowan should stop trying to fight someone. I don't remember the last time he initiated a fight and won it or not get injured. It gets embarrassing sometimes. I was half-wincing while watching him fight that dude and thinking "I miss Mike Brown for these heavy weight scraps. At least he won most of the ones he is in."
• Canucks needs to take advantage of their powerplay. The end.
• On the other hand, I love how the defense (re: Mattias Ohlund) is getting more involved in the PP. It will only be advantageous for the Canucks in the long run as long as he can manage to finish off most of his chances. On that note, I wish Salo and Edler took the shot more. They have the 2 most hardest shots in the team. They should be wreaking havoc on the other teams' PK.
• For a team who needs offense, it's fun to see your checking line out there most of the time. I wish Vigneault double shifted the Sedins against the top-line sometimes, and not just play the checking line all the time. Sure, Kes and his line gets a lot of chances too, but it gets frustrating when either Cooke or Burrows miss 38472734823 open net opportunities. Especially now, that checking line of Burrows-Kesler-Cooke has not looked good recently in terms of defense, I think it's prime time to sometimes use the Sedins against the top-line just so they can get more ice time and possibly more offense. If not the Sedins, use the Naslund line more, too.
  
• As I mentioned in the previous post, Taylor Pyatt is now wearing a visor, and I thought his play went back up to the level he was at pre-injury/pre-cage. They've always mentioned that he was having a hard time adjusting his vision of the puck with the cage, so there was a definite improvement on the way he handled it this evening. He must have had 387492837423 chances, too. Next time, score Pyatt ;).
  
• Markus Naslund scored the Canucks 3rd goal. Nice effort in the end there by the Canucks, but really, the effort should come in the 2nd period and most of the 3rd, not at the last minute of the 3rd.

On another random note, did anyone see how two Stars players tried to hit Taylor Pyatt in the first period, and both of them fell down on the ice, bouncing off of Taylor Pyatt? XD;;; That was hilarious.

I'm usually a very patient girl, finding ways to defend my team when they're playing pretty badly, before criticizing them, but tonight's effort was just pretty pathetic.

I hope they go back home to Vancouver, watch those game tapes and look at how Dallas moves the puck around.

Nice. Crisp. Passes. Tape. To. Freaking. Tape.

And Canucks? You do know the meaning of "offensive zone rush" right? Or a "3 on 2"? Such slow breakouts, and when they do get the oddman rush... they don't rush. Once they gain the zone they sloooooooooo~oooooow down that the other team catches up and well, no scoring chances.

But the real problem was that they can't hold on to the puck for more than 2 seconds. They receive the pass and next thing you know, they're involved in a board battle with a Stars player and 99% of the time, they win it. They can't make any plays, even on the powerplay. How is it that Dallas can hold the puck in our zone for a long time, on even strength and the powerplay, and we can not? Are we just that bad defensively and the Stars, likewise, are better, tighter defensively? Or is it just really our problems with puck movement?

I don't even know if there were any positives that came out of that game. Well, there's Roberto Luongo, who is still true to his All Star form, except he's not getting any help from him teammates.

Just really disappointed. They had 2 chances to finish this off and move on to the 2nd round, but now they've handed over the reins to Dallas, allowing them to come back and tie the series up 3-3. Not only were they able to tie the series, they did it in a way that Dallas is now carrying all the momentum back to Vancouver. Canucks are also under a much larger pressure in home ice, than the Stars.

You just pray that it will be the night Marty Turco does his annual playoff choke.

My attempt to live blog. Sorta. I'm delayed cause I'm watching the CBC live stream~

07:34 - WHEE EAT THAT HAGMAN!!! STOP BUMPING OUR GOALIE!!

07:35 - For a minute there I thought they were using Nazzy-Sedin-Sedin in PP.

07:36 - Useless PP again. UGH.

07:38 - They should outlaw PPs in playoffs. They kill our momentum.
         - Why am I not studying for my Psych final that's at 8:30 tomorrow morning???

07:39 - That TV break was useless. I didn't get any bit of reading done. Smokers syndrome: chest pain, labored breathing, wheezing, coughing, more prone to respiratory infections, pneumonie, bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer ... lalalalalalala this is not going in my heeeeeaaaaaadddddddd

07:41: More chances for the IKEA line.

07:43 - DAMN YOU WHOEVER BLOCKED THAT PYATT SHOT NEAR THE NET. THAT OR IT'S PYATT'S FAULT. I CAN'T SEE. WAS THAT SOPEL JUMPING IN BEHIND THE NET??
         - He can't get his stick on it. X(

07:45 - FIRST PERIOD ENDS! Lots of good chances for the Canucks, coming from all 4 lines. Great PK, so far, horrible PP as always.
         - Joining the Cowgary vs Detroit Game 4 now. Big game for Big Bert! Todd Bertuzzi has 1 goal 1 assist, so far. :D That's the spirit Bert! You remember how much you hate Iginla, right? And you remember how you hit Phaneuf really hard before? :D

07:47 - HI HANNAH! PLEASE STUDY! :D Love, your Brain and your grades! :DDD

07:52 - Fuck. Cowgary scored. AUGH. C'MON RED WINGS. LET'S GO BERT!!! Crush Phaneuf and Iginla already!!!

08:03 - That intermission was very productive. I read about 2 paragraphs. :D Yay! 4 more chapters to go!!!
         - My feed lagged when something happened to Sydor. .. WHAT HAPPENED? I SAW HIM WITH NO HELMET!!!

08:10 - Modano pulling some sexy moves. Luongo pulling even sexier ones.

08:16 - Uhh.. Burrows? Who were you drop passing to?

08:20 - Don't you love commercial breaks? :D You get to read 1 sentence each TV break!

08:22 - Luongo pulling more sexy moves.

08:24 - Stop giving the puck away, giving the other team a chance for a breakaway then hook them. AUGH. I hate those penalties the most!!!

08:29 - Wow. Great PK you guys, especially the Salo-Willie-Bulis-Smoke unit who were stuck in the defensive zone for 1:30 minutes!
         - Is it just me or did Pyatt just hit someone? I couldn't tell cause of the video quality :P

08:36 - Who predicted that? 0-0 after 2 periods again. At least there's a lot of scoring chances, so it isn't that boring.
         - Cowgary still leading Detroit. -_-

08:53 - WTF is up with Morrow? Pushing Pyatt when the Pyllow didn't even touch him. Just skating around the net. X(

08:56 - HOLY SHIT THAT ALMOST WENT IN. WHAT TERRIBLE LUCK. AND NO PK!!! AUGH

09:03 - This game is giving me a heart attack.

09:19 - Why does our powerplay suck so much??

09:24 - I HATE YOU DALLAS STARS!! WHY MUST YOU TAKE THIS TO OVERTIME. WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LET VANCOUVER SCORE? I HAVE A FINAL TOMORROW I CAN'T STAY UP THIS LATE. I NEED TO CRAM. AUGH THIS IS HORRIBLE.

09:49 - Fuck they lost. -_-;

Finals are coming and I definitely need more time to study, so I will keep this short, sweet and in point form.

• Another show of spectacular goaltending on display again tonight. Both Roberto Luongo and Marty Turco pulled the stops by keeping the score 0-0 until the last half of the game where Turco broke and Luongo did not.
  
• No scoring from the Sedin lines tonight doesn't mean anything as other players has stepped up when they were shut down. Although the Sedin-Sedin-Naslund line were kept off the scoresheet for the past 2 games now, they are still creating chances in front of Turco and making sure the momentum sticks our way.
• Taylor Pyatt and Trevor Linden definitely kicked it up a notch. Pyatt has been a real opposition killer.
• Willie Mitchell probably made the Top 10 saves of the series, but thank God for Willie's long hockey stick that was able to quickly shoot the debris on the ice faster and more enjoyable than a game with a whistle blown
• Markus Naslund and Jannik Hansen continue to impress. Okay, sure the goal by the Dallas Stars was because of a blown clearing attempt by Naslund, but other than that, he's been great.
  

    Above all that :D Vancouver Canucks lead the series 3 games to 1. 1 more win, you guys! Let's go do it!  

I will try to post an actual recap tomorrow (if i'm not too lazy), but this will be a quick one as I have a final tomorrow morning at 8 am (not like that stopped me from watching the game).

• The Canucks need to learn how to play a full 60 minutes. If they played like they did in the 3rd-ot periods, we wouldn't be in that much trouble.
• Jannik Hansen recorded the first point in his NHL career. First Danish player to record a point in the playoffs. Another amazing game from him, especially when it comes to puckhandling and hustling back for defence.
• Markus Naslund had another good game and is part of the other line that looked dangerous all night, even though they didn't record a point.
• The refs need to do something about the players running Luongo over, giving him an extra hit or something after each whistle. If this was done to Turco, the Canucks would have had a penalty.
• Taylor Pyatt scored the game winning goal, but as for his playoff game... I wish he plays better soon. He hasn't been that impressive yet, and I hope he proves me wrong.

So, 2-1 :D in favour of the Canucks,

Turco kept Stars from falling

I hate losing. It leaves that bitter taste in your mouth. I most especially hate losing when my favorite player was having one of the best games in his life and was doing everything he can to carry his team to a comeback.

As far as I'm concerned, Markus Naslund showed up, I'm not sure if anyone else did. He did a lot of things right tonight and was just downright amazing. Very good defensively, I remember one defensive zone play in which he blocked a Dallas pass which could have led to a good scoring chance. He was also great in trying to create plays in the offensive zone, drove hard to the net, great on the forecheck, drew penalties, and I must have seen him hold the puck in a couple of times to salvage a scoring chance.

Did I mention that he led the team in hits in the first period? I'm sure he was checking people until the end of the game, but NHL must not have thought they were actual hits to officially count those in.

Also, in the past, when Naslund is put on the Sedin line, it's usually the Sedins who carry the play and spark Nazzy. This time, it was the opposite. The Sedins were having a mediocre game until they were put with Naslund. Since then, that line was very dangerous and Marty Turco was just more solid in net which is why they couldn't score.

The Sniping Viking wants to kick Turco

Another plus was Jannik Hansen's game. The Sniping Viking (courtesy of the folks @ the Prospect Thread) looked very good in his first NHL game, considering that it was also in the playoffs. He started the game as a call-up, but ended it as a "go to" guy for the Canucks.

For all we know, it could just be a case of an adrenaline rush, which is why he was good, but I think otherwise. For one, I don't think you can say it's adrenaline when the kid obviously has great vision on the ice. Once AV started using him more, he really stepped it up. He must have made 3-4 good plays with his passes. I was in awe in that one play he made in which he hit the Canuck trailer with a sweet cross ice pass. It seemed like Dallas kept that line on the perimeter on that play, but Hansen converted it into a good scoring chance with that pass.

He was also good defensively. He hustled back fast in the backcheck. And yes. He was fast.

Seeing Hansen play makes you excited for the future of the Canucks prospects, doesn't it? (Speaking of prospects... MASON RAYMOND!!! :P But that's a story for another day.)

As for the other players. I don't even know. Heh. Really, other than those two above, there wasn't anyone who really stood out. Most of them came out flat until the final period. Even the defense was pretty horrible. Most of them were noticeably sluggish, and can easily get flushed out by the Dallas forechecker.

Roberto Luongo was okay. Even though he faced less shots than Turco, both goalies faced an equal amount of scoring chances. The only difference was that Turco was able to make the saves, with help from the better defensive coverage his dmen provided him with, while Luongo couldn't with no help from his D.

The good thing is, the Canucks has not lost a game for more than 2 in a row since Christmas. After every bad game, they bounce back and play harder. Hopefully they do just that on Sunday.