David Booth was a scratch tonight, after feeling "under the weather" and skipping the morning skate. Volpatti played on the fourth to replace him. Bieksa was also out, after experiencing some sort of groin problem Friday night in Nashville, and AV was forced to bring up either Alberts or Barker to replace. So the lesser of two evils was brought up, and Alberts was paired with Ballard. Alberts hasn't played in 11 months. Rather than attempting to explain the lineups, I just wrote them out.
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Kesler-Hansen
Raymond-Schroeder-Kassian
Volpatti-Lappiere-Weise
Hamhuis-Tanev
Edler-Garrison
Ballard-Albert
Much like Nashville, this game started off a little slow. Unlike Nashville, we didn't get killed in shots and chances departments. Lappiere had a good chance 1 on 1 with Howard early on, but Howard stretched out and made the pad save. Five and a bit into the period, Henrik and Daniel caught fire. After cycling the puck along the boards, Henrik took it behind the net and passed it to Daniel at the front, who buried it. Detroit got a brief 5 on 3 off penalties from Kesler and Tanev, and despite their chances, didn't bury anything. They managed to hit the post, and miss with Luongo out of position, but no goals. In fact, at the 10 minute mark, Detroit only had 1 shot on net, yet had 4 or 5 chances that could've been goals. So it was fitting that Detroit's tying goal was the worst chance of the night. After bouncing the puck off Garrisons skates a few times, Tootoo's shot finally bounced off Ballard's foot at the front of the net and in.
A minute and a half later, Datsyuk almost put the puck past Luongo, but drew a penalty in the process. On the delayed call, Kronwall ripped a shot from the point passed a screened Luongo. With less than 4 minutes left in the period, Henrik shot the puck from his own zone all the way down the ice, for what would be an icing call. But because it was outside of the trapezoid painted on the ice, Howard couldn't play it without taking a penalty. So Howard had to watch as the puck bounced right to Daniel Sedin, and then past him as Daniel roofed it. A few minutes later, Higgins managed to recover the puck in the Detroit zone, and pulled a wraparound out of his bag of tricks. The puck was put just inside the far post, which Howard wasn't prepared for. 3-2 Canucks, end of the first.
Early in the 2nd, Kassian and Huskins got locked up heading towards Howard. Kassian got clear, but Huskins collided with Howard. Somehow, Kassian ended up with a penalty on the play, and of course Detroit capitalized on the powerplay. Zetterberg brought the puck around the net and passed to Brunner at the front, whose own rebound came back to him. Brunner's next shot went right to Cleary, who batted it out of mid air and past Luongo to tie the game up. A few minutes later, Jordan Tootoo took a late run at Tanev, and Kassian intervened. Tootoo turtled as soon as the gloves came off. Both received 2 minute minors for their work. Detroit took the lead with less than 5 minutes left in the period, as Zetterberg snapped the puck past Luongo. 30 seconds later, Datsyuk batted the puck over Luongo and in, but Luongo asked for a review. After review, the refs determined that Datsyuk`s stick was too high, no goal. After Kesler was hauled down in the corner, the Canucks bench hollered at the refs for a penalty. Did they get one? You bet, but against the Canucks. Unsportsmanlike conduct, they called it. Against the whole team but served by Kassian. Of course Detroit scored on the man advantage, Brunner roofed the puck over an outstretched Luongo to make it 5-3, end of the 2nd. Vancouver managed only 3 shots in the period.
Not much happened n the 3rd, but Vancouver did have some good pressure for the first 10 minutes. Despite that, Brunner made it 6-3 just past the halfway point. Alberts was screening Luongo, and the shot hit his blocker and went in. 3 and a half left, and it's 7-3. Ballard got his stick in front of an Adbelkader shot, and it flicked up, then down as it went past Luongo. Less than a minute later it was 8-3, as Andersson slapped it past Luongo. Game over, 8-3 Wings.
Tidbits:
- Refs: Made stupid, lopsided calls all night in favor of Detroit. Lost count of the amount of times I wrote "WHY, EXACTLY?!" in my game notes.
- Luongo: Can't blame a lot of those goals on him. Goals 1, 2, 6 and 7 were a direct result of a complete screen or tip from his own defenceman. Not surprised he wasn't pulled, wouldn't of helped.
- Kassian: No problem with the penalty he took for defending Tanev, and the 2 others he took were crap. Despite the stats, he had a decent game.
- PP: 0/2, played the worst it has all season.
- PK: 2/5. Just bloody awful.
So we can blame part of this on the fact that the Canucks played 3 games in 4 nights, and that the refs called a bunch of crap penalties. But excuses aside, Vancouver played terrible hockey tonight and didn't deserve a point, no matter how bad the refs were.
Next game is Tuesday against Phoenix at 7.
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