In what has become a bit of a tradition, Vancouver didn't register a shot until past 5 minutes in to the first period. Part of that was due to a Garrison penalty just over a minute in to the first, but the Canucks have struggled getting into the offensive zone, period. A few minutes past the 10 minute mark of the first, Vancouver drew first blood. Hamhuis fed Kassian just outside the blue line, and Kassian streaked in and fed a perfect pass from the face off circle to Bieksa, who was flying down the centre lane, and tapped it in. This was a powerplay goal, but it was generated off the rush and had more to do with speed than a man advantage.
Vancouver's penalty kill played a few times in the first, and Minnesota figured out how to crack it. They figured out that if they tempt the defenders with a puck in the corner, it opens up a man in front. Luckily, Luongo stood tall and saved his teams' butt. With about 5 minutes left in the period, the Lappiere line held the puck in for a solid minute, and even pulled off a change mid cycle. Then with about 3 minutes left, Burrows split the defense at centre ice and pulled off on a breakaway. Thanks to a wobbling puck, he was unable to put the puck over Darcy Kuemper's pad.
Vancouver's defensive ability showed off early in the second, as the Canucks held Minnesota to 0 shots in the period until past the 10 minute mark. At about that time, the Schroeder line looked like the Sedins re-incarnated. After Schroeder and Raymond dug the puck out of the corner, Raymond toe dragged around the defender and pulled the puck to the point, then passed cross ice to Ballard. Ballard made a perfect cross ice pass to Hansen, who was wide open in front and roofed it to make it 2-0. A little later, Falk hit Daniel Sedin from behind into the boards, which led to Lappiere, Tanev, and Kassian giving him a good ol' fashioned face washing and a Lappiere penalty.
On this penalty, the Wild capitalized on their new knowledge of the Canucks PK weakness. Cullen pulled the puck out of the corner and fed a wide open Setoguchi in front of the net, who pulled it wide and shot it past Luongo to cut the Canucks lead in half. As the game got tougher and nastier, Kassian played a few shifts with the Sedins to straighten out the likes of Clutterbuck. Feeling left out of the toughness game, Raymond decided to flatten an unknown Wild player in the neutral zone, then run the goalie moments later in an attempt to knock the puck in. Bravo, Raymond.
A couple of quick, back to back, chances by both teams marked the beginning of the 3rd. Couple of heavy hits on both sides, and a few scary moments. The Wild all but dominated 15 minutes of play after the first minute, as the Canucks seemed to be comfy with their one goal lead. With a little over a minute left in the third, Minnesota pulled their goalie, and forced Luongo to stand on his head. Fortunately, he played like he has all year and the Canucks pulled off the win.
Tidbits:
- Henrik Sedin doesn't register a point, is still one point behind Naslund for the all time lead in points.
- Ebbett replaced Malhotra in this game, who wasn't available due to 'personal reasons'
- Malhotra hasn't been skating with the team, and has been mostly working out off ice
- Josh Harding, who was supposed to play this game, was replaced by Darcy Kuemper. Harding has MS, and had a negative reaction to some new medicine he took.
- PK: Good in terms of stats, but the Wild had them figured out. On the other hand, plenty of short handed chances by Vancouver.
- Powerplay: Cannot. Get. The. Puck. In. The. Zone. Had some success on the rush and off faceoff's, but no luck otherwise
- Sometime you've gotta admire the sense of humor these guys have. At one point, a Konopka stole Burrows glove as he went onto the bench, then tossed it back on to the ice just to see Burrows fish for it with his stick from the bench. Pure gold.
- Luongo's shutout streak against Minnesota snapped at 228 minutes.
Next game is Friday against the Stars at 7.
No comments:
Post a Comment