Game in Review: Canucks vs Sharks, R1G1, May 1/13

With Schneider still sidelined with a mysterious "Body Injury," Luongo got the start for game one of the playoffs. For lineups, the Sedins were paired with Burrows, Higgins and Kassian played wing for Kesler, while Roy centered the third with Raymond and Hansen. Lapierre brought up the fourth with Ebbett and Weise on his wings. The ever reliable pair of Hamhuis and Garrison were the starting defensive pair, while Edler and Bieksa manned the second group. The big surprise: Alberts and Corrado on the final pair. Ballard was sidelined due to 'medical reasons.'

From the start, you could see that pretty much nothing had changed between Saturday nights 7-2 loss to the Oilers, and tonight. Luongo was given plenty of pressure, but he rose to the occasion. After stopping an initial point shot, he came cross-crease and stopped Havlat's wrist shot with his blocker. And that was pretty much the story of the first. Plenty of hits, and even more scoring opportunities for the Sharks. At the 7 minute mark, the hits were 17-11 in favor of the Canucks. Insanity. First period ended with no score, shots 15-9 for the Sharks.

Luongo was again called upon to be incredible in the opening minutes of the middle frame, as Edler tipped a rolling puck right into his own crease. But after that, the Canucks had their 2nd powerplay of the night. Despite the fact that it sucked like a vacuum, it still generated some momentum. With the Canucks pressing, San Jose slowly started caving and making mistakes. With 7 and a bit left in the period, Hansen led a rush up ice. In the zone, he passed back to Bieksa, whose shot hit Niemi and landed in a pile of bodies at the front of the net. Amidst all the confusion, the puck hit more players than I care to count, and wound up in the net. Turns out, Torres (former Canuck) accidentally poked it past Niemi.

After much deliberation, Bieksa was credited with the goal, and the Canucks opened the scoring. Everything was all roses and daisies after that, until Kassian glove punched Couture in the face and wound up in the sin bin. With 3 and a half left, Boyle slipped a cross ice pass past 2 Canucks to Couture, who wired the puck past a screened Luongo. The end of the 2nd left us tied at 1, the Canucks up 23-21 in shots, and the fans feeling a little more confident than after the first.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Vancouver needed a big offensive boost to start the final period, but didn't get it. After almost a full 10 minutes of end to end rushes, San Jose broke the deadlock. After diving for an errant rebound, Luongo found himself surrounded by a massive pile of players, all grasping for a little rubber disc. Wingles managed to push the puck to Boyle, who was wide open and snapped it past Luongo, who literally had the whole team on his back. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd period, Vancouver needed some offense, but just didn't get it. San Jose forced a terrible goal late in the third, after Hamhuis got knocked off the puck behind his own net. The puck dribbled to Marleau, and his shot went off Hamhuis' stick and in.

 Fast forward to the end of the third. 1:43 left, Sharks ice the puck, Luongo to the bench. For the first time in 60 minutes of playoff hockey, Vancouver managed to control the zone. For almost the entire 103 seconds, Vancouver cycled the puck. Problem was, that's all they did. I counted only 2 shots in almost 2 minutes of 6 on 5 hockey. Game over, 3-1 Sharks.


Tidbits:

 - PP: 0/2 Spent all 4 minutes chasing the puck, barely any sustained pressure.
 - PK: 3/4 Couldn't manage to clear the puck, let the Sharks pick holes and drill passes right through their skates.

 - Sedins: Spent most of the game hemmed in their own zone by the Couture zone. Not gonna put pucks in the net from all the way back there.
 - Kesler: Needs to score goals, or make prettier passes, if Vancouver expects to make it out of round 1.
 - Luongo: Held Vancouver in this game, can't be blamed for any of the 4 goals that got past him.

 - Hits: Incredible. 40-26 in favor of Vancouver. 37 in the first two, only 3 in the final frame.

What exactly happened? The goaltending was superb, the defense was great. Only issue was the offense. It never managed to get out of its own zone, and when it did, it just generated a shot from the wing that Niemi easily stopped. The final two minutes was the only time that Vancouver held the puck in the Sharks zone, but even then they didn't really get any quality chances. That needs to change ASAP if they expect to move on.

Next game is Friday May 3rd at 7PM.