Following an uncommon offensive fiesta in Nashville last night, the Canucks flew to St Louis. Bieksa managed to obtain another lower body injury against the Predators, so he joined Tanev and Higgins on the injured list. Burrows started on the first line with Henrik and Daniel, while Kesler centred Roy and Hansen. This 2nd line paid off handsomely last night in Nashville, generating plenty of chances and combining for 4 points. Raymond and Kassian played with Ebbett on the 3rd, while Lapierre played with Weise and Sestito on the 4th. Pinizzotto was a healthy scratch.
Thanks to the fact that Tanev and Bieksa were injured, the D lines needed a little work. The tried and true Hamhuis and Garrison headed up the defensive lines, while Edler and Barker played on the 2nd. Alberts and Ballard brought up the rear.
Not much action on the Vancouver end of the spectrum in the beginning. In fact, in 12 minutes of hockey, they only generated 3 shots while allowing 10. Oh, did I mention that 2 of those were from centre ice? Not a good start against a team who will most likely be our first round playoff matchup. Only real action came from a couple of good Vancouver PK's. Ballard seemed a little antsy towards the end of the period. I only clued in after he cross checked Leopold in the back of the head 6 times. Play wasn't dominated by St Louis, but certainly run by them, until the final minute. Ebbett, Sestito and Lapierre were caught in their zone for over a minute, and were only barely bailed out by Schneider. End of the first, tied at 0, shots 14-5 in favor of the Blues.
Right off the faceoff, the hatred from nowhere continued. Kesler and Sobotka challenged each other to fight after the puck was dropped, but neither actually dropped the gloves. Then followed 5 minutes of Schneider saving the Canucks butts, because apparently we don't have an offense anymore. Any attempt we made into the offensive zone was just a single shot from the wing, with no forecheck or attempt at generating a rebound.
Stayed that way until about 4 minutes left, when the crap finally hit the fan. In the Canucks zone, Backes shoved Ballard into the boards, which Ballard understandably didn't like. Ballard came up with a cross check, and the 2 dropped their gloves. But before Backes could beat the crap out of Ballard, Burrows came out of nowhere and pinned Backes' arms to his side. Somehow in there, Backes got a cut on his hand. Enough B's for yeah? Burrows and Backes both received 4 minute penalties, and Ballard was handed a 2 minute minor. No clue why, but that's how it went down. Personally, it was nice of Burrows to be a "knight in shining armor" for Ballard, but Ballard knew what he was getting into.
Through all of this, the Blues continued to press, and the Canucks continued to rely on Schneider. But it wasn't the Blues who drew first blood, it was Vancouver. With 12.2 seconds left in the 2nd, Henrik fed Edler cross-point, who wristed one past Halak with Hansen screening. Did I mention this one was on the powerplay? Through 40 minutes, 1-0 Canucks. Shots 25-11 in favor of St Louis.
It actually looked like the Canucks would hold this one together. They were able to generate more chances early in the third, and actually looked like they were playing in sync. Aside from a few defensive blunders, that is. But that's what eventually cost them. With 9 minutes left in the game, Barker tried to kick the the puck off his own blueline, but just turned it over to Bouwmeester. With Edler the only man back, the Canucks faced a 3 on 1. Bouwmeester snapped it 5 hole on Schneider, and just like that, tie game. And the Blues kept coming. Schneider was forced to make a flurry of saves a few times, as he continued to be the only reason Vancouver was in this game. And let's not forget the violence. It seemed every time Schneider made a save, or someone went into the boards, a crowd gathered and players ended up on their backs. Somehow, everyone got out of the third period alive. Tied 1-1, shots 35-18 for the Blues.
Vancouver looked a lot better in the OT period, only allowing St Louis one or two decent scoring chances. Keith Ballard ran Backes with his stick late in the period, but no penalty. Other than that, nothing excited. Off to a shootout!
Macdonald up first, - Pulls left, catches Schneider on his belly, roofs it. (1-0)
Roy - Down centre, backhand forehand, Halak barely caught it. (1-0)
Shattenkirk - Down the middle, shoots it in close, Schneider barely hangs on. (1-0)
Burrows - Tries his trademark fake shot backhander-er, doesn't get it high enough. (1-0)
Steen - Right wing cutting to left wing, snaps it top left corner past Schneider. (2-0)
That'd do it. Final shots: 36-22 St Louis. Vancouver didn't put up much of a fight, and were lucky to come away with a single point.
Tidbits:
- PP: 1/3 Very on and off. When it's gonna score, you can tell. Otherwise they're just chasing the puck.
- PK: 4/4 Always found a way to clear the zone before the Blues could start a cycle, impressed with how well it performed.
- Kesler: Seems like he's back into great shape. But he should stick to putting the puck in the net, not wasting his time discussing a fight with Sobotka.
- Schneider: Fan-freaking-tastic. Only reason the Canucks got anything out of this game.
- Ebbett: Looked like a real third wheel on the third line. Raymond and Kassian have good chemistry with each other, but Ebbett is just always out of place.
That win moved St Louis into 6th place. With Vancouver all but locked in third, it looks like the Canucks first round playoff matchup will be either St Louis or Minnesota. If this game is any indication of whats to come, we`ll see a face paced, hard hitting, series with multiple injuries. And if Vancouver can`t pull together a decent defense/offense, they're going to get crushed. Granted, they had 2 starting defenceman injured, but what if that happens post season? And what about the third line? Ebbett cannot play that roll, he just gets crushed. This is where Gillis' trade deadline failures come into light. Essentially, any injury and we are absolutely screwed.
No comments:
Post a Comment