Thursday, March 04, 2004
AVALANCHE 5, CANUCKS 5 (OT)
I would normally be pretty snappy with a Canuck post, but every Wednesday night for me this quarter is the "stay up really late and make sure I don't look like crap for my isotopes presentation" night. It's usually moot anyway, because I get up in front of the class and stumble aimlessly through whatever I'm supposed to be talking about, usually along the lines of some dense scientific paper that I don't get at all.
To the game...
This one was absolutely draining. The Canucks were down two goals on three different occasions (2-0, 4-2, 5-3). When Alex Tanguay scored 80 seconds into the third period to make it 5-3 Colorado, I pretty much wrote off the Canucks for the night. You don't let Colorado score five times and manage to get any points out of the game, right? In the same game where Joe Sakic has a hat trick and Tanguay notches five points? Here's a travesty: Alex Tanguay had a five-point night and was only the third star in the arena after the game.
Amazingly, the Canucks thought otherwise. Down 5-3 in the third period, they probably had no business getting a point. But at 6:08 of the third, a Vancouver shot sailed wide of the net. From behind the net, Marek Malik pushed the puck forward, and pulled it into the net -- toward himself, except he was behind the net. At 7:50 on a power play, Markus Naslund skated around and put the puck right on the tape of Mattias Ohlund's stick, who redirected the puck past David Aebischer.
That wasn't all she wrote, however. The Canucks had to kill off two penalties in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Dan Cloutier was stellar in net in the overtime, which was well needed in a game that wasn't a real good one if you like good goaltending.
In the first VAN/COL game after the Naslund/Steve Moore incident, there was not a lot of fighting, even with Brad May suggesting there was a bounty on Moore's head. The only thing done to Steve Moore was when Brent Sopel stole the puck from him, leading to his own goal.
Colorado snapped out of their goal-scoring funk. They had scored six goals total in their last seven home games. That said, Vancouver wasn't the team that blew the 5-3 lead on this night, and the Canucks were much more happy with the one point than Colorado was. The Canucks have tallied 17 points in the standings when trailing after two periods.
In the announcers' tidbits section...There were multiple times in the overtime where a Canuck would get the puck behind his own net and stand there until someone else came back, circled around, and pushed it back up the ice. Dan Russell thought that the Canucks were trying to set up the Flying V from the Mighty Ducks movie. Trevor Linden has gone ten games without a point, is still one behind Stan Smyl for the franchise point lead, and managed to not tally a point in a game where the Canucks scored five times. Todd Bertuzzi had three assists, but took the Canucks off the power play twice in the game, something that is infuritating, especially for color man Tom Larscheid, who noticed this trend long ago. Dan Russell noted one of Bertuzzi's penalties may have been partly due to some spotty officiating. Larscheid notes that Bertuzzi always looks for Naslund to score, but pushes people from behind and gets whistled. John Shorthouse put in his two cents on the rumors of Colorado coach Tony Granato being fired and relaced by Joel Quenneville (ex-STL) by saying this game didn't make Granato's job any safer, and the same with David Aebischer. Larscheid said the Canucks need three players to get over the top: depth on defense, a winger to skate with the Sedins, and a center to move Trevor Linden over to right wing. Also suggested was the possibility of Miroslav Satan coming to Vancouver from Buffalo. That'd be a good move.
Canuck goals: Brendan Morrison (17, shorthanded), Brent Sopel (9, career high), Markus Naslund (31), Marek Malik (3), Mattias Ohlund (11, career high)
The big line scored nine points, and the blue line had three goals and two assists, which kinda makes up for all those horrid defensive giveaways they had.
The hits don't stop. Vancouver at Detroit on Friday.
To the game...
This one was absolutely draining. The Canucks were down two goals on three different occasions (2-0, 4-2, 5-3). When Alex Tanguay scored 80 seconds into the third period to make it 5-3 Colorado, I pretty much wrote off the Canucks for the night. You don't let Colorado score five times and manage to get any points out of the game, right? In the same game where Joe Sakic has a hat trick and Tanguay notches five points? Here's a travesty: Alex Tanguay had a five-point night and was only the third star in the arena after the game.
Amazingly, the Canucks thought otherwise. Down 5-3 in the third period, they probably had no business getting a point. But at 6:08 of the third, a Vancouver shot sailed wide of the net. From behind the net, Marek Malik pushed the puck forward, and pulled it into the net -- toward himself, except he was behind the net. At 7:50 on a power play, Markus Naslund skated around and put the puck right on the tape of Mattias Ohlund's stick, who redirected the puck past David Aebischer.
That wasn't all she wrote, however. The Canucks had to kill off two penalties in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Dan Cloutier was stellar in net in the overtime, which was well needed in a game that wasn't a real good one if you like good goaltending.
In the first VAN/COL game after the Naslund/Steve Moore incident, there was not a lot of fighting, even with Brad May suggesting there was a bounty on Moore's head. The only thing done to Steve Moore was when Brent Sopel stole the puck from him, leading to his own goal.
Colorado snapped out of their goal-scoring funk. They had scored six goals total in their last seven home games. That said, Vancouver wasn't the team that blew the 5-3 lead on this night, and the Canucks were much more happy with the one point than Colorado was. The Canucks have tallied 17 points in the standings when trailing after two periods.
In the announcers' tidbits section...There were multiple times in the overtime where a Canuck would get the puck behind his own net and stand there until someone else came back, circled around, and pushed it back up the ice. Dan Russell thought that the Canucks were trying to set up the Flying V from the Mighty Ducks movie. Trevor Linden has gone ten games without a point, is still one behind Stan Smyl for the franchise point lead, and managed to not tally a point in a game where the Canucks scored five times. Todd Bertuzzi had three assists, but took the Canucks off the power play twice in the game, something that is infuritating, especially for color man Tom Larscheid, who noticed this trend long ago. Dan Russell noted one of Bertuzzi's penalties may have been partly due to some spotty officiating. Larscheid notes that Bertuzzi always looks for Naslund to score, but pushes people from behind and gets whistled. John Shorthouse put in his two cents on the rumors of Colorado coach Tony Granato being fired and relaced by Joel Quenneville (ex-STL) by saying this game didn't make Granato's job any safer, and the same with David Aebischer. Larscheid said the Canucks need three players to get over the top: depth on defense, a winger to skate with the Sedins, and a center to move Trevor Linden over to right wing. Also suggested was the possibility of Miroslav Satan coming to Vancouver from Buffalo. That'd be a good move.
Canuck goals: Brendan Morrison (17, shorthanded), Brent Sopel (9, career high), Markus Naslund (31), Marek Malik (3), Mattias Ohlund (11, career high)
The big line scored nine points, and the blue line had three goals and two assists, which kinda makes up for all those horrid defensive giveaways they had.
The hits don't stop. Vancouver at Detroit on Friday.
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