Saturday, January 31, 2004
CANUCKS 6, CAPITALS 1
Whoa, guys, save some goals for the rest of the road trip...
The Canucks absolutely dominated a hapless Washington Capitals team tonight en route to their fifth win in a row, their tenth road win in their eleven tries, and they became the first team in the NHL this year to 30 wins. The Canucks are now one point back of Colorado, who has a game in hand but has one less win. The Canucks have won the last three meetings against the Capitals by a combined score of 17-2. Vancouver has a 25-game unbeaten streak against teams of the NHL's Southeast Division.
The Canucks did it tonight thanks to scoring on four straight power plays (partly thanks to the Capitals being undisciplined and making stupid penalties). The team had six different scorers overall. Brad May opened up the scoring a mere 26 seconds into the game, but the lead was erased when Robert Lang scored on a fluke goal 50 seconds later. The Canucks poured it on in the second period, as Wade Brookbank, Markus Naslund (two-man advantage), Trevor Linden (two-man advantage, 41 seconds left in the period), and Jarkko Ruutu (power play, under three ticks left in the period) all scored. Sami Salo lit the final lamp in the third period on the remaining power play time from the Jeff Halpern high-sticking double minor late in the second period, ripping a slapshot from the point over Olaf Kolzig's shoulder for Vancouver's sixth goal. Dan Cloutier stopped 15 of his 16 shots tonight in a light night of work, as opposed to Olaf Kolzig, who had to face 40 Canuck shots.
More about a couple of the goals: resident tough guy Wade Brookbank's goal was the first of his NHL career, and it held up as the game winner. Trevor Linden's goal, along with his assist on the Salo goal, moved him to within two points of the all-time lead on the Canuck scoring list. With his assists on the Naslund and Linden goals, defenseman Brent Sopel is up to 30 points on the year, six off his career high, and possibly good for a spot in the top 10 of NHL defenseman scoring pending statistical refreshments tonight.
The game's only tarnish were the fluky Robert Lang goal and the knee injury to the red-hot Magnus Arvedson early in the first period. Apparently it's bad enough to where he has to fly home to get examined. Not good.
As for the team as a whole, they just might be hitting their stride. With this long road trip, having Johan Hedberg back in the fold helps bigtime. He should have one more start on the road trip, as the Canucks head to face the two New York teams and New Jersey. The power play has been sluggish for a large part of the year, but has heated up of late. The Canucks were 4-of-7 tonight on the power play, and are 10-of-their-last-28 on the man advantage.
Top scorers: Linden, Naslund, and Salo with a goal and assist each, and Henrik Sedin, Brent Sopel, and Marek Malik with 2 assists apiece.
Goal tallies: Brad May (3), Wade Brookbank (1), Markus Naslund (29), Trevor Linden (11), Jarkko Ruutu (5), Sami Salo (5)
The Canucks move on to face the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils, on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Canuck play-by-play man John Shorthouse said that if the Rangers tried to waive their entire roster, nobody would get picked up except for maybe three guys because the team is so overpaid and underproductive. Strong words about the Rangers' situation. True, too.
I shall now sit and root for more Colorado losses.
The Canucks absolutely dominated a hapless Washington Capitals team tonight en route to their fifth win in a row, their tenth road win in their eleven tries, and they became the first team in the NHL this year to 30 wins. The Canucks are now one point back of Colorado, who has a game in hand but has one less win. The Canucks have won the last three meetings against the Capitals by a combined score of 17-2. Vancouver has a 25-game unbeaten streak against teams of the NHL's Southeast Division.
The Canucks did it tonight thanks to scoring on four straight power plays (partly thanks to the Capitals being undisciplined and making stupid penalties). The team had six different scorers overall. Brad May opened up the scoring a mere 26 seconds into the game, but the lead was erased when Robert Lang scored on a fluke goal 50 seconds later. The Canucks poured it on in the second period, as Wade Brookbank, Markus Naslund (two-man advantage), Trevor Linden (two-man advantage, 41 seconds left in the period), and Jarkko Ruutu (power play, under three ticks left in the period) all scored. Sami Salo lit the final lamp in the third period on the remaining power play time from the Jeff Halpern high-sticking double minor late in the second period, ripping a slapshot from the point over Olaf Kolzig's shoulder for Vancouver's sixth goal. Dan Cloutier stopped 15 of his 16 shots tonight in a light night of work, as opposed to Olaf Kolzig, who had to face 40 Canuck shots.
More about a couple of the goals: resident tough guy Wade Brookbank's goal was the first of his NHL career, and it held up as the game winner. Trevor Linden's goal, along with his assist on the Salo goal, moved him to within two points of the all-time lead on the Canuck scoring list. With his assists on the Naslund and Linden goals, defenseman Brent Sopel is up to 30 points on the year, six off his career high, and possibly good for a spot in the top 10 of NHL defenseman scoring pending statistical refreshments tonight.
The game's only tarnish were the fluky Robert Lang goal and the knee injury to the red-hot Magnus Arvedson early in the first period. Apparently it's bad enough to where he has to fly home to get examined. Not good.
As for the team as a whole, they just might be hitting their stride. With this long road trip, having Johan Hedberg back in the fold helps bigtime. He should have one more start on the road trip, as the Canucks head to face the two New York teams and New Jersey. The power play has been sluggish for a large part of the year, but has heated up of late. The Canucks were 4-of-7 tonight on the power play, and are 10-of-their-last-28 on the man advantage.
Top scorers: Linden, Naslund, and Salo with a goal and assist each, and Henrik Sedin, Brent Sopel, and Marek Malik with 2 assists apiece.
Goal tallies: Brad May (3), Wade Brookbank (1), Markus Naslund (29), Trevor Linden (11), Jarkko Ruutu (5), Sami Salo (5)
The Canucks move on to face the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils, on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Canuck play-by-play man John Shorthouse said that if the Rangers tried to waive their entire roster, nobody would get picked up except for maybe three guys because the team is so overpaid and underproductive. Strong words about the Rangers' situation. True, too.
I shall now sit and root for more Colorado losses.
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