Saturday, March 27, 2004
CANUCKS 3, STARS 2 (OT)
What a great way to end my viewing experience of tonight's Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader (though KOMO here stupidly wasn't able to air Colorado/Detroit). After seeing the latter half of the third period and a very entertaining overtime period between Ottawa and Toronto, I was treated to the Canucks' best and most spirited performance since the Todd Bertuzzi incident, though it was against a Marty Turco- and Sergei Zubov-less Dallas Stars team. Adding to the excitement tonight was the chance for Vancouver to crawl to within one point of Colorado for the Northwest Division lead, something I never thought they'd do again after getting skunked 9-2 in the game with the Bertuzzi incident.
It didn't start out too nice though. The Canucks had some decent chances and some good things going for them early in the first period, but that almost seemed deflated after the Brendan Morrow goal that made it 1-0 Dallas. Dan Cloutier had overplayed to his glove side and was sprawled across the ground to block a shot that never came as the puck was carried behind the net and given to Morrow, who had a wide open net. To top it off, the Canucks lost Bryan Allen with a right shoulder injury and lost Brad May in the first period, making the blueline crew extremely thin. The Canucks then tied it late in the first period on a Daniel Sedin redirect off from Marek Malik at the point. Pierre Turgeon beat Cloutier in the 2nd period by moving to Cloutier's glove side and tucking the puck in past Cloutier's left skate.
The Canucks were down 2-1 after the second period. The Canucks have quite a few points in the standings this year when trailing after the 3rd period (ties, OT losses, or wins). However, when leading after three periods, the Stars had gone 69 straight games (61-0-8, longest active streak, 3rd-longest ever) without losing.
The Canucks played hockey like a desperate team in the 3rd period, and it was much of a delight to see. They held the puck in the Dallas zone a lot, and kept hacking away (outshot Dallas 15-6 in the period) even though Ron Tugnutt was solid in goal and the Stars were very good at clogging up the shooting lanes (as demonstrated on a Vancouver power play when Markus Naslund camped with the puck looking for a place to center/shoot the puck, but couldn't).
The game turned when the Canucks took the puck in their own zone and the Stars' defense was caught napping. The outlet pass went to Canuck trade deadline acquisition Geoff Sanderson, who provided the most electrifying play of the night, blasting off toward the Dallas net and beating Ron Tugnutt high on the stick side to tie the game at 2. After many more chances but no goals, the game moved into overtime, where Brendan Morrison capped off the night on another breakaway, netting the Canucks their 11th overtime win of the year.
I didn't think much of Cloutier's gaffe on the first Dallas goal, but I'll let him slide because he stopped Rob DiMaio on a 3-on-1 break. A goal there and the Stars are up 3-1 and the game is probably over. It was a big stop at that point in the game.
This win formally clinched a playoff spot for the Canucks. Yippee!!!
Canuck goals: Daniel Sedin (17), Geoff Sanderson (16), Brendan Morrison (21)
And for the second and final time, here's the postgame notes that were fading in and out on my radio, trying to get CKNW 980AM Vancouver over the air, hundreds of miles away. Here come Jeff Patterson, John Shorthouse, and Tom Larscheid.
Jeff: could Vancouver leapfrog Colorado and turn the tables on the end of last year?
John: Colorado has scored 7 goals in last 6 games
Tom: Colorado has LA, Minnesota, Columbus, and Nashville left on their schedule; Vancouver has Phoenix, San Jose, Anaheim, and Edmonton
Jeff: NSH/COL game could be big for the Predators...might be their entire season
John: If Vancouver has a chance to dethrone Colorado, this game could be a big springboard. They could run the table
Jeff: For a team reeling up until an LA win, you have to take your hats off to Vancouver
Tom: Wild atmosphere in GM Place in 3rd period. The fans got their money's worth. It was the 80th consecutive sellout
Jeff: Cloutier had the nice stop. Sanderson and Morrison may have had the only breakaways of the game
John: It was like the Red Sea parted for Morrison
Jeff: Dallas will take the single point and play tomorrow in San Jose. They probably feel good about Tugnutt.
John: Dallas has been the hottest team in the league since January. They probably are not pleased with some of the front-line guys' performances tonight
--
Jeff: Vancouver Giants beat Kamloops in 5 tonight
John: Great job by coach and crew
Tom: They drew 8000 at Pacific Coliseum even GM Place selling out
John: Sanderson got the first star (though Sopel was great on the tape-to-tape pass), Brendan Morrow got the second star, and Dan Cloutier (3-on-1) got the third star
John: It was important to show they could compete with Dallas, and particularly for Cloutier, who was 3-9 against Dallas lifetime coming in; this game could be big down the road
Tom: 29th win for Clouts...one more means three 30-win seasons for Cloutier
Jeff: This week's practice time made well?
Tom: Yeah, but the power play still needs to get on track...maybe the Canucks need to go with something other than Naslund on the side boards
John: If the power play isn't on track, other teams can take liberties against your best players
Jeff: the Canucks were thin on defensemen
John: they went with 4 defensemen most of the night
Phoenix at Vancouver on Monday. The Canucks and Avalanche have four games apiece to play with Colorado up by one for the Northwest Division lead.
[Edit ~1:45a -- There's no way in hell anyone caught it, but I listed the person who Daniel Sedin redirected the puck from as (name!!!) rather than the correct Marek Malik. It is eerily reminiscent of the one time David Locke nailed the Hoochie Mama (Dwayne Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) for saying that the Mavericks won a certain game, probably on the road against a west coast team, by the score of XXX-XX, meaning he didn't go back in and fill in the score. My mind says he had to have the rest of the article in before press time in the Central Time Zone and put the score in later, but I could be wrong.]
It didn't start out too nice though. The Canucks had some decent chances and some good things going for them early in the first period, but that almost seemed deflated after the Brendan Morrow goal that made it 1-0 Dallas. Dan Cloutier had overplayed to his glove side and was sprawled across the ground to block a shot that never came as the puck was carried behind the net and given to Morrow, who had a wide open net. To top it off, the Canucks lost Bryan Allen with a right shoulder injury and lost Brad May in the first period, making the blueline crew extremely thin. The Canucks then tied it late in the first period on a Daniel Sedin redirect off from Marek Malik at the point. Pierre Turgeon beat Cloutier in the 2nd period by moving to Cloutier's glove side and tucking the puck in past Cloutier's left skate.
The Canucks were down 2-1 after the second period. The Canucks have quite a few points in the standings this year when trailing after the 3rd period (ties, OT losses, or wins). However, when leading after three periods, the Stars had gone 69 straight games (61-0-8, longest active streak, 3rd-longest ever) without losing.
The Canucks played hockey like a desperate team in the 3rd period, and it was much of a delight to see. They held the puck in the Dallas zone a lot, and kept hacking away (outshot Dallas 15-6 in the period) even though Ron Tugnutt was solid in goal and the Stars were very good at clogging up the shooting lanes (as demonstrated on a Vancouver power play when Markus Naslund camped with the puck looking for a place to center/shoot the puck, but couldn't).
The game turned when the Canucks took the puck in their own zone and the Stars' defense was caught napping. The outlet pass went to Canuck trade deadline acquisition Geoff Sanderson, who provided the most electrifying play of the night, blasting off toward the Dallas net and beating Ron Tugnutt high on the stick side to tie the game at 2. After many more chances but no goals, the game moved into overtime, where Brendan Morrison capped off the night on another breakaway, netting the Canucks their 11th overtime win of the year.
I didn't think much of Cloutier's gaffe on the first Dallas goal, but I'll let him slide because he stopped Rob DiMaio on a 3-on-1 break. A goal there and the Stars are up 3-1 and the game is probably over. It was a big stop at that point in the game.
This win formally clinched a playoff spot for the Canucks. Yippee!!!
Canuck goals: Daniel Sedin (17), Geoff Sanderson (16), Brendan Morrison (21)
And for the second and final time, here's the postgame notes that were fading in and out on my radio, trying to get CKNW 980AM Vancouver over the air, hundreds of miles away. Here come Jeff Patterson, John Shorthouse, and Tom Larscheid.
Jeff: could Vancouver leapfrog Colorado and turn the tables on the end of last year?
John: Colorado has scored 7 goals in last 6 games
Tom: Colorado has LA, Minnesota, Columbus, and Nashville left on their schedule; Vancouver has Phoenix, San Jose, Anaheim, and Edmonton
Jeff: NSH/COL game could be big for the Predators...might be their entire season
John: If Vancouver has a chance to dethrone Colorado, this game could be a big springboard. They could run the table
Jeff: For a team reeling up until an LA win, you have to take your hats off to Vancouver
Tom: Wild atmosphere in GM Place in 3rd period. The fans got their money's worth. It was the 80th consecutive sellout
Jeff: Cloutier had the nice stop. Sanderson and Morrison may have had the only breakaways of the game
John: It was like the Red Sea parted for Morrison
Jeff: Dallas will take the single point and play tomorrow in San Jose. They probably feel good about Tugnutt.
John: Dallas has been the hottest team in the league since January. They probably are not pleased with some of the front-line guys' performances tonight
--
Jeff: Vancouver Giants beat Kamloops in 5 tonight
John: Great job by coach and crew
Tom: They drew 8000 at Pacific Coliseum even GM Place selling out
John: Sanderson got the first star (though Sopel was great on the tape-to-tape pass), Brendan Morrow got the second star, and Dan Cloutier (3-on-1) got the third star
John: It was important to show they could compete with Dallas, and particularly for Cloutier, who was 3-9 against Dallas lifetime coming in; this game could be big down the road
Tom: 29th win for Clouts...one more means three 30-win seasons for Cloutier
Jeff: This week's practice time made well?
Tom: Yeah, but the power play still needs to get on track...maybe the Canucks need to go with something other than Naslund on the side boards
John: If the power play isn't on track, other teams can take liberties against your best players
Jeff: the Canucks were thin on defensemen
John: they went with 4 defensemen most of the night
Phoenix at Vancouver on Monday. The Canucks and Avalanche have four games apiece to play with Colorado up by one for the Northwest Division lead.
[Edit ~1:45a -- There's no way in hell anyone caught it, but I listed the person who Daniel Sedin redirected the puck from as (name!!!) rather than the correct Marek Malik. It is eerily reminiscent of the one time David Locke nailed the Hoochie Mama (Dwayne Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) for saying that the Mavericks won a certain game, probably on the road against a west coast team, by the score of XXX-XX, meaning he didn't go back in and fill in the score. My mind says he had to have the rest of the article in before press time in the Central Time Zone and put the score in later, but I could be wrong.]
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