After the Canucks lines failed to capitalize on some wide open chances Sunday night in Calgary, AV decided to shuffle the lines. Burrows stuck with the Sedins, while Higgins took over the 2nd line centre position, with Raymond and Hansen on the wings. Booth was bumped down to the third to play with Lappiere and Kassian. Maybe AV hoped that by pairing his slumping players together, they'd form some sort of insane goal scoring machine. Schroeder was still stuck with Sestito and Weise.
Garrison and Hamhuis stayed together as the 1st defensive pairing, same with Edler and Tanev on the 2nd unit. Ballard was released from Vigneault's doghouse, and he brought up the third pairing with Barker. Alberts was a healthy scratch, and Bieksa is still listed as 'day-to-day' after suffering a groin injury in Nashville a week and a half ago.
In what is becoming some sort of a sick tradition, Vancouver took a penalty 2:30 into the game. After killing it off, Vancouver and San Jose played some of the best hockey I've seen all season. It was 5 minutes of solid end to end action, nothing but speed and skill. Vigneault's new lineups almost paid off immediately, as Kassian was sprung by Booth onto a breakaway, but couldn't get it past the pad of Niemi. 12 minutes left in the period, and the Sharks drew first blood. After recovering a rebound 25 feet from the net, Gomez wristed it past a screened Schneider. Minutes later, Sestito almost potted his first point as a Canucks. After barging through the San Jose defense, Sestito fed a cross ice pass to Weise that took a funny bounce and almost ended up being slapped out of mid air and in. As the period moved on, San Jose and Vancouver kept up their pace, but nothing came of it. End of the 1st, 1-0 Sharks.
Vancouver and San Jose traded penalties early in the period, but no one managed to score on their man advantage. Vancouver's powerplay suffered, and even gave up a goal. Less than 5 minutes into the period, with the Sharks shorthanded, Burish pushed past the Canucks defense and wristed one off of Schneider's glove and in. From there, Vancouver's game just fell apart. They couldn't gain the zone, couldn't clear their own and seemed like they'd just given up.
That was, until some beautiful Sedinery put Vancouver on the score sheet. With 6 and a half left in the 2nd, Burrows pulled into the offensive zone and dished to Daniel Sedin on the left wing. Daniel centred a high shot to Henrik, who let it bounce off his body and onto his stick. Henrik just pulled it wide and wristed it past Niemi. The Hansen/Higgins/Raymond line had the best shift at the very end of the period, getting 4 or 5 great chances before tying it up. With the puck along the sideboards, Hamhuis recovered the puck and left it for Raymond, who pulled towards the left wing. Raymond dropped for Hansen, and he snapped it past a screened Niemi with 25 seconds left in the period. End of the second, tied at 2.
More of the same in the third, as both teams struggled to break the tie. With 10 left in the final frame, Kassian sprung Booth down the left wing, but Booth's shot zipped just wide. Minutes later, Schneider did the splits to make a glove save on Couture. Despite the success the Canucks had been having, AV decided to tweak the lines. Lappiere was moved up between Higgins and Hansen, while Raymond was put between Booth and Kassian. Somewhere in the third, Ballard injured himself and went to the dressing room.
With 6 and a bit left in the game, James Sheppard put the Canucks on the powerplay. Vancouver dominated it, controlling the puck for almost the entire 2 minutes. Brad Stuart took a puck to the face, but play continued. Despite probably 6 great scoring chances, the Canucks couldn't bury the puck. Less than a minute later, Edler took a holding call. San Jose came close to scoring a few times, but they couldn't do it. In the final minute, Hamhuis tee'd up Garrison, whose shot beat Niemi but hit the post. End of the 3rd, still tied at 2. Off to overtime they went.
4 on 4 only aggravated the fast paced game that was set early on, as both teams raced to catch the other off guard. A minute and a half into the 5 minute period, Gomez took a penalty for goaltender interference. Vancouver's constant pressure on the powerplay kept the Sharks on their toes, but again nothing was produced on the man advantage. Henrik took a slap shot to the face as he moved to the front of the net, but played his next shift. No goals in the OT period, and after 65 minutes the Canucks moved to a shootout.
Higgins - Strafed left then snapped it right. Off the post and in.
Handzus - Straight up the middle, snapped it at the pads. Saved
Edler - Pulled left, then centre, left at the last second. Saved
Boyle - Up the middle, wrists it glove side. Saved
Hansen - Down the right wing, tried to get Niemi on his belly, Saved
Couture - Left to right down the wing, fakes shot, dekes 5 hole. Goal
Burrows - Waves stick in the air, snaps it. Saved
Pavelski - Down the centre, snaps it under the blocker. Goal
Game over, 3-2 Sharks F/SO
Tidbits:
- Hansen: Continues to produce, his last 3 have easily been his best 3 games.
- Lappiere: Took most of Vancouver's defensive zone face-offs, seemed to have a diminished offensive role.
- PP: 0/5 Seems to be terrible as the start of the game, but always ends up being great towards the end of the game. Schroeder manned the point for the Sedins, seemed to be alright at it.
- PK: 3/3 Couple of scary moments, but held the fort.
Next game is Thursday in Columbus at 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment