Saturday, March 06, 2004
RED WINGS 3, CANUCKS 1
This was one of the more uninspiring efforts from the Canucks this year, which is sad because it's a secret to no one that you have to step up your play to hang with the Red Wings. The big line, which showed up in the Colorado game, was nonexistent (i.e., ONE shot on goal the entire night) in this one. Compound to this the fact that Colorado beat San Jose later in the night to widen their gap over Vancouver to 3 points. This game pretty much eliminated the Canucks' hopes of having the top spot in the West.
In the two games (COL and DET) on this road trip, the Canucks have never had the lead (125 minutes). Other than Bryan Allen (blocked a few shots) and Sean Pronger (first game as a Canuck), there really were few good games by any of the Canucks. Add to this the fact that the Wings were without Mathieu Dandenault, Kris Draper, and Pavel Datsyuk, and still handily won.
The Canucks looked in good shape after the first period. Then early in the second period, Brendan Shanahan beat Dan Cloutier with a slap shot from the blueline (about 60 feet, which should never happen). The downward trend had started subtly in the the first period -- the Canucks put Detroit on six straight power plays. Early in the first, the Canucks got a power play on a Kirk Maltby penalty, but Todd Bertuzzi took his team off the power play again for the millionth time. After Daniel Sedin got nailed for high-sticking early in the second period, coach Marc Crawford started jawing at the officials. The bench was hit with a minor, and Fedor Fedorov served the penalty. The Canucks were nine seconds away from killing off the two-man advantage when Brett Hull did what Brett Hull does. And with Mike Keane's 6th goal of the year coming in the third period, the Hull goal off the two-man advantage where the coach jawed at the officials stands as the game-winner. Oh yeah, when Fedorov came out of the box, he was hit right away with an inteference penalty. Tom Larscheid's disturbing trend of the last two games: the Canucks giving up goals early in periods. It happened twice in Colorado, and it happened twice against the Red Wings. Even more sickening, Detroit scored on their first shot in both the second and third periods. I'm blaming both the defense and Cloutier for this.
Canucks at Columbus tonight.
In the two games (COL and DET) on this road trip, the Canucks have never had the lead (125 minutes). Other than Bryan Allen (blocked a few shots) and Sean Pronger (first game as a Canuck), there really were few good games by any of the Canucks. Add to this the fact that the Wings were without Mathieu Dandenault, Kris Draper, and Pavel Datsyuk, and still handily won.
The Canucks looked in good shape after the first period. Then early in the second period, Brendan Shanahan beat Dan Cloutier with a slap shot from the blueline (about 60 feet, which should never happen). The downward trend had started subtly in the the first period -- the Canucks put Detroit on six straight power plays. Early in the first, the Canucks got a power play on a Kirk Maltby penalty, but Todd Bertuzzi took his team off the power play again for the millionth time. After Daniel Sedin got nailed for high-sticking early in the second period, coach Marc Crawford started jawing at the officials. The bench was hit with a minor, and Fedor Fedorov served the penalty. The Canucks were nine seconds away from killing off the two-man advantage when Brett Hull did what Brett Hull does. And with Mike Keane's 6th goal of the year coming in the third period, the Hull goal off the two-man advantage where the coach jawed at the officials stands as the game-winner. Oh yeah, when Fedorov came out of the box, he was hit right away with an inteference penalty. Tom Larscheid's disturbing trend of the last two games: the Canucks giving up goals early in periods. It happened twice in Colorado, and it happened twice against the Red Wings. Even more sickening, Detroit scored on their first shot in both the second and third periods. I'm blaming both the defense and Cloutier for this.
Canucks at Columbus tonight.
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