As with any game between the Calgary and Vancouver, the tension runs high and the hits and bountiful. By this point, the referees know to ignore most of the petty penalties in a divisional match up like this. A early high stick and trip were both ignored. Just minutes in, Mason Raymond took a puck to the mouth, and left a trail of blood as he left to the dressing room. By the 10 minute mark, the shots were only 3-2 for Calgary, despite an early Vancouver powerplay. The newly re-united line did a great job of hemming in Calgary's first line, and seemed to be getting their cycle game back. With around 3 minutes left in the first, Raymond returned and almost set up Weise for a tip in. Schneider stood tall against multiple chances late in the 1st, but couldn't control a rebound off of a one-timer, and Stempniak buried it with just under 2 minutes left. The Canucks picked up the pace after that, and had a few close calls before the period ended. Raymond fed Hansen near the end of the period, but Hansen missed wide over a sprawling Irving.
Both Schneider and Irving were forced to stand tall early in the 2nd, but Vancouver had the majority of the pressure. The Sedins and Burrows had a few good shifts early on, and finally managed to capitalize after Burrows pushed the puck under Irving's pad to finish off a great shift. 27 seconds later, Jordan Schroeder scored his first NHL goal on the powerplay. Burrows went into the boards and managed to send the puck up to Edler, who fed Schroeder with a nice slap pass, and Schroeder just tipped it in between Irving's legs. With 11 minutes left in the first, it was 2-1 Vancouver. Fast forward to 2 and a half minutes left in the second. Bieksa dumped the puck in, and started a vicious Sedin power cycle. Eventually the puck made its way back to the point, and Bieksa hammered it towards the net. It took a fortunate bounce off of a defenceman and went in. With all of that, Henrik moved to within one point of Markus Naslund for the all-time Canucks scoring lead.
The beginning of the third saw a lot more action than the other 2 had, with plenty of speedy end to end rushes. Just over a minute in, Higgins notched his 2nd of the season. Kassian won the battle of the boards, and fed it up to Bieksa, who shot it towards the net. The shot hit Lappiere, and bounced right to Higgins who snapped it low glove side on Irving to make it 4-1. The Canucks dominated the rest of the period, and Schneider remained solid. Schroeder scored his second of the night late in the 3rd, after tucking in the rebound off of a Mason Raymond shot from the wing. With that, the Canucks move 5 points up on their nearest divisional competition, Minnesota.
Lineups:
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Lappiere-Kassian
Raymond-Schroeder-Hansen
Volpatti-Malhotra-Weise
Tidbits:
- As the game ended, Bieksa took a elbow to the chin and walked down the tunnel to the dressing room as the team celebrated on ice.
- Powerplay: Saw a few new combinations, went 1/5. Burrows, Henrik Sedin, and Schroeder played the 1st unit backed by Daniel Sedin and Edler. The 2nd unit saw the combination of Raymond, Hansen and Kassian.
- PK: Didn't get too much ice time, went 2/2. Played solid as usual.
- The Sedin line seems to be a lot more confident with Burrows. Did a great job of hemming Calgary's 1st line in their own zone, and had a great cycle game. Both Sedins played their best game of the season tonight.
- Schneider corralling rebounds pretty well, only mess up was off the Stempniak goal.
- I love how after scoring his first NHL goal, Schroeder just disappears between the Sedins during the goal celebration.
- Mason Raymond received 8 stitches in his mouth
Next game is Tuesday against the Wild at 7. I'm guessing Schneider gets the start again, after playing as well as he did the last 2 games.
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