Game in Review: Canucks vs Wild, Mar 18/13

With Kassian still out with a back injury, and Booth struck down with a foot injury, the Canucks were forced to bring up some replacements. Schroeder was recalled from Chicago to centre the fourth line, and Sestito was brought out to man his left wing. Pinizzotto was brought up to the 3rd line to play with Higgins and Lappiere. The Raymond/Ebbett/Hansen 'speed line' was kept together, same with the Sedins/Burrows line.

Luongo got the start.

What an awful start to a game. Minnesota all but dominated the first 10 minutes of play, and the Canucks turned the puck over every chance they got. Their first powerplay just a few minutes in didn't generate a single shot. Just as the powerplay was ending, Burrows took a high stick and had to go to the dressing room. He returned, but it set the tone for the game. 8 minutes left in the period, and Suter cross checked Henrik in the kidneys. Later, on another Canucks powerplay, Luongo left the net to play the puck. He dropped it to Bieksa, who bobbled it and almost watched it slide into his own net. Tensions rose, and so did the Canucks. Weise and Sestito started crushing Minnesota's players, and even double teamed to take town Falk.

Yep, that was a whole period. 0-0 after 20, shots 10-7 Canucks. Goes against my normal 'essay-per-period' policy.

Weise and Tanev nearly opened the scoring 5 minutes into the 2nd. Coming in to the zone, the puck wound it's way to Tanev on the rush. His shot through traffic bounced to Weise, whose shot was barely saved by Backstrom. That play ignited the Canucks, and a flurry of scoring chances. None of them counted, but it was  more than happened in the 1st. Weise's line had another chance float over the top of the unguarded net, but no cigar. 

And then the powerplay. The drought, it's over. After going 0/35, everything came together. Edler tee'd up Garrison, whose rocket point shot nailed Daniel Sedin and bounced right to Henrik. Henrik had a wide open net, and couldn't miss if he wanted to. Of course the Wild scored a few minutes later. On the powerplay, Brodin and his merry men were left all alone on the point, and hammered a slapper past Luongo. Few more chances back and forth, but no results. 1-1 going into the 3rd.

Early in the third, Minnesota took the lead, after Coyle tipped Stoner's shot over Luongo's shoulder. Henrik and Pinizzotto almost combined to tie the game just a few minutes later, but Backstrom was centred to it. Henrik had pulled the puck out of the corner, and found Pinizzotto streaking down the middle lane. His shot was rushed, and he didn't have time to get it up high. Around the 10 minute mark, Ballard and Tanev were stuck back on a 2 on 2. Tanev took his man and check him, while Ballard somehow ended up behind his man. Long story short, Cullen scored and I feel like revising my last article. 

Fast forward to the end of the third. 2 minutes left, 3-1 Wild, faceoff in the Minnesota zone. Vancouver pulls their goalie. Despite an entire 2 minutes of pressure, the Canucks couldn't bury anything. Game over, 3-1 Wild. Yeah, that just happened.

Tidbits:

 - PP: 1/4. Wow, finally. Everything had slowly been coming together over the last 3 or 4 games, and finally clicked tonight. 

 - PK: 1/2. Has had a tendency over the last few games to leave a whole half of the zone open.
 - Garrison: Has been able to get his point shot going in the last few games, but still unable to get real accuracy on it.

Next game is tomorrow night against the Blues.

Game in Review: Canucks 2 - Wild 1

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.

Game in Review: Canucks 4 - Wild 1

     And the goaltending controversy somehow gets bigger. Who plays next? Schneider didn't have to be great in this game, but he played well enough to show he belongs in the #1 spot. More on that a little later. The first started off a little slow, with no shots for either side 3 minutes in,  until a Vancouver powerplay generated a few.

     7 minutes in, the shots were 7-1 Vancouver as the domination began. Weise dropped the gloves with Konopka early on, and it dragged on for a while before the pair exhausted themselves.Just around the 10 minute mark of the first, Burrows cut  to the net and left a juicy rebound for Daniel Sedin, who buried it. Daniel had been covered by  both Parise and Koivu, but neither checked Sedin's stick, which was way out in front of him. 5 minutes later, Higgins made it 2-0 with his first of the season on the powerplay. It came when Lappiere took a pass just above the faceoff circle from Garrison, and fired it at the net. Higgins stuck his stick in front and redirected it 5 hole on Backstrom.

     After a few powerplays, hits, and some end to end action we find ourselves at the end of the 2nd period. Schroeder's line circled Backstrom like sharks, and looked sharp in doing so. After Garrisons shot from the point bounced towards the corner, Schroeder dove and scooped the puck right to Raymond, who sniped it top shelf. Somehow, Schroeder did not get an assist on the goal. A minute and 35 seconds later, Raymond banked the puck off the boards and dropped it right into Hansen's glove, who was past the defense. Hansen dropped it onto his stick and snapped it top corner on Backstrom to make it 4-0.

     Josh Harding replaced Backstrom in goal for the 3rd, after Backstrom had let in 4 goals on 16 shots. Weise and Konopka dropped the gloves again in the 3rd, but Weise was reluctant to go. Konopka dropped his gloves and hung onto Weise until he dropped his too. Konopka got 5 for fighting, 2 for instigating and 10 for 'inciting,' no different than instigating. A little while later, Gilbert made it 4-1 on the powerplay. Gilbert was fed a beautiful pass just above the faceoff circles, and buried it on a nice slapper as he was left all alone. Schneider got over and almost made the stop, but couldn't stop it on such a close shot. After trading a few more penalties, the game ended. 4-1 final.


So onto the goaltender controversy. I'm going to remain neutral, and just state what I see. Luongo has played terrible in Minnesota, losing his last 3 straight. But he's done well against them at home, so it seems like just a coincidence. Luongo deserved to play this game because he had played so well the last few, and was on quite a hot streak. On the other hand, AV has stated that Schneider is his #1, and the starter should start the majority of the games. But back to the other hand, goalies tire out quickly. Why would you exhaust Schneider? Why not play Luongo as much as possible, to save Schneider for the more important games later on in the season?

Tidbits:

 - Minnesota players were actually boo'ed by their fans after the the periods
 - Schroeder demonstrated a few times he's not afraid to cut to the net, or cut off players
on the way to his net.
 - Schneider is still stone handed when it comes to handling the puck. Almost gave the puck away after bobbling it in his feet towards the end of the third.
  - Minnesota actually outhit Vancouver 23-11, and out shot them 23-22.
 - Powerplay: Meh, went 1/6 but had trouble crossing the blue line and frequently coughed up the puck.
 - Penalty Kill: Again, not as great as it has been. Still playing the collapse around the net, but when it fails it leads to an easy open man. Take a look at Gilbert's goal tonight, he was wide open 25 feet from Schneider.