Coming off their worst 3 periods all season, Vancouver kicked off the last game of February. Booth returned to the lineup, and to his spot on the 3rd line. But Bieksa is still injured, after doing something to his groin against Nashville. Needless to say, his presence is missed.
After having a day of rest, Vancouver seemed to have a little more spring in their step. However, after the initial rush had passed, it looked like someone had stuffed their skates with cement. Phoenix had 2 open net chances in the first, and only some great goaltending by Schneider combined with a lucky post kept it at 0. With 5 and a bit to go, the Canucks defense looked the worst it has in a long time. After winning the battle in the corner, Kyle Chipchura was allowed to skate around the net and walk out in front, untouched, before backhanding the puck past Schneider. That seemed to reinvigorate the Canucks, and they evened up the chances before the period ended.
The fire that the Canucks set late in the first didn't die out, and kept the pressure on. Kesler almost capitalized after Smith was pressured to deal the puck to the wrong side, but Kesler hit the side of the net. Minutes later, Alberts almost buried the puck off a great Sedin passing play but it was blocked just in front of the net. Weise and Chipchura dropped the gloves a little later, seemingly out of nowhere. Weise got some good body shots in but Chipchura got the better of him. The best Canucks chance as of then came off the Schroeder line, who held the puck in for almost a minute, but couldn't put it in. After all that, Phoenix made it 2-0. A dump in from outside the blue line bounced off Lappiere's skate and right to Mikkel Boedker, who roofed it.
Fear not, for a minute thirty one later Garrison put the Canucks on the board. After winning the battle behind the net, Kesler shot the puck up to Garrison at the point, who waited a few seconds before wristing it past Smith glove side. 4 and a little left in the 2nd, and Michael Stone trips Daniel Sedin. Stone was given a penalty for slashing, but Daniel was called for diving. I'm not a fan of the diving call, because it's one or the other. Either Daniel was slashed and tripped, or it was a love tap and he dove. I say he was slashed, but i'm biased. That pretty much did it for period number 2.
More of the same in the 3rd. Phoenix hemmed in Vancouver for pretty much the first 10 minutes of the period, and scored to make it 3-1. A clever pass found Vermette on the rush, and he put it past Schneider.
64 seconds later, the Canucks made it interesting again. Tanev's pass found Daniel on the left wing, and it found it's way past Smith. Henrik may have tipped it, but the scoresheet was never changed and it remained Daniel's goal. And here the referee's again turned a blind eye. Phoenix tripped up the Canucks 3 or 4 times in the last 10 minutes of the 3rd, and Burrows was even glove punched to the face. No calls on any of those. With an empty net, Hamhuis got desperate and tried to slap it up ice. Chipchura intercepted and put it in. Game over, 4-2 Phoenix.
Tidbits:
- Booth: Strong play on the 3rd, but still only getting about 12 minutes a night.
- Kassian: Played on the 4th again tonight. He's always been a streaky player, so i'm not surprised to see him play all 4 lines in the span of 10 games.
- PP: 0/2, had trouble keeping the puck under control but at least they're able to gain the zone.
- PK: 1/1, only real consistency of the past 5 games. Nice little bright spot.
I'm honestly not that upset about the loss. It was Vancouver's 6th game in just 9 days, and fatigue led to poor passing and giveaways.
Next game isn't until Saturday against the Kings at 7.
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