Thursday, April 08, 2004
GAME 1 -- CANUCKS 5, FLAMES 3
I muted the pathetic Mariner game and cranked up the radio feed of the Canuck game. THE ENTIRE CROWD at the Garage was singing along with GM Place anthem singer Mark Donnelly in the rendition of "O Canada." The excitement in the air was palpable.
Unfortunately, it became pretty apparent right off the bat that the officials were going to call anything and everything close in this game, Trevor Linden's 100th playoff game as a Canuck. There wasn't a lot of 5-on-5 play tonight, as Vancouver was whistled for 10 penalties and Calgary was nailed for 6.
The first whistle was on Ville Nieminen for hooking only 2:06 into the game. Wouldn't you know it, 26 seconds later, Martin Rucinsky redirected an Ed Jovanovski shot past Miikka Kiprusoff and screened by Brendan Morrison for a power play goal (9th of his career) seconds after Rucinsky broke in on a rush and shot wide of the net. Could the Vancouver power play that has sucked all year (and 9-for-104 since the All-Star break) possibly come out to play tonight? Only 28 seconds after leaving the penalty box, Nieminen was again tagged, this time for high-sticking Matt Cooke. Fifty seconds later, Sami Salo slapped in a one-timer (2nd career playoff goal) and it looked like the Canucks were in the driver's seat as they had a 2-0 lead with only 5:24 gone in the game.
There's a reason this is the playoffs, though. This isn't a cake walk, it's the NHL playoffs. And the Calgary Flames are no slouches. They were incredibly pesky. They came out strong for the second period, waited for the Canucks to get whistled for a couple of penalties, and struck. Sami Salo was in the box for interference at 3:10 in, but then the Canucks got nailed on a questionable too-many-men call, putting the Flames on a two-man advantage. His Ojibwaness Chris Simon put the puck past Dan Cloutier on a play which Cloutier never actually found the puck to put up a sufficient fight. The puck took a weird bounce off the glass behind the net and Cloutier looked to the side that didn't have Simon and the puck. Only 28 seconds later, Oleg Saprykin slapped one past Cloutier to TIE THE GAME. At 11:02 into the period, Martin Gelinas was nailed for hooking. With 15 seconds left in the power play, Henrik Sedin put one past Kiprusoff. With 2:09 left in the period, Mattias Ohlund scored with the extra attacker on a play where Calgary was going to be tagged for blowing over Dan Cloutier to make it 4-2.
Luckily only four penalties would be called in the third period. Too bad three of those were Vancouver penalties. Nieminen was whistled for a THIRD time, this time for roughing. It took only nice seconds for the Canucks to rush down the ice. Brendan Morrison grabbed the puck, deked Kiprusoff out of his shorts, then tucked it into the net as he fell to the ground. Flames' penalty minute hog Kryzstzof Oliwa made the score 5-3 only 50 seconds later. Marek Malik was called for hooking at 12:53. Only 53 seconds later, Mattias Ohlund was sent to the box for a high stick. This meant the Flames had a two-man advantage, and by golly, they played it quite slopplity. Missed passes, intercepted passes, and Canuck clears down the ice were big toward killing off the two-man advantage. The fact that the Canucks killed off this penalty, to me, eased basically any doubt a Canuck fan may have had that Dan Cloutier would let in two quick goals toward the end of the game.
Tonight, somehow, someway, the Canucks went a crazy 4-for-6 on the power play. Ohlund, Jovanovski, Naslund (3 assists), and Morrison (1 goal, 2 assists) were all great. In the realm of shots, the Canucks were outshot 13-6 in the third period, and 29-22 for the game.
What put this game on ice, though, was the penalty kill on the two-man advantage. The Flames could have easily made it a tense game if they would have converted the two-man advantage.
And now, the thoughts of Dan Russell, Tom Larscheid, and John Shorthouse
Dan: There were so many penalties. Did you like the officials? The refs were trying to one-up each other. Weakness in the power play was a question mark, but not anymore it looked like. The 5th goal might as well have been a power play. They were up 2-0 five minutes into game. It was an added bonus to get these goals against Kiprusoff. Simon had a goal then Saprykin had one between Cloutier's legs. Henrik Sedin's goal went off Justin Leopold's skate. Ohlund scored on the delayed penalty. Morrison on the power play deked Kiprusoff, who looked silly on the play. Calgary had a poorly executed 2-man advantage in the 3rd. The Canucks penalty kill has been great, but the Calgary 2-man advantage was brutal. The refs called 16 penalties, and one not in the books. Ohlund was great...
Dan: Morrison 1 star, but sheesh...Ohlund though
Tom: Ohlund's such a warrior. He was against Iginla on 6 of 9 shifts early. He's a key guy, gets goals, played 25:14, 37 shifts, and gets stronger as the game goes on. If things go right for Vancouver, it could be a coming-out party for Ohlund around the league
Dan: how many times did Ohlund break up rushes? He did that and more
John: He played physically, broke up rushes, involved offensively (1g 1a) jumping up in the rush. He started to get attention from Chris Simon in the 3rd period (for Iginla). Ohlund got the better of the battle tonight
Dan: we talked during the season about how the power play is a funny animal in hockey -- it can come and go, and it can come out of nowhere. Who saw 4 power play goals coming?
Tom: absolutely...did you notice the adjustment with Jovanovski going to the front of the net? It seemed to catch Calgary off guard, especially on the 2nd power play goal (Salo booming shot). There was a couple new wrinkles. Marty Rucinsky on the deflection (Naslund low, back to Jovo, nice deflection) after Rucinsky deked Saprykin and shot wide. This was a good team win. Ohlund, Morrison, Naslund,and Jovo were very prominent tonight. Your best players have to show up in big games, they did tonight
Dan: Does anyone know how the teams looked 5-on-5?
John: this is exactly how the STL series started last year. Apparently the officials have a directive to call it close, I don't know why...the STL series, the first game was like this. In 7 games last year, the VAN/STL games had 48-47 penalties, near 7 a night. I hope this doesn't continue Fully electronic love to see more 5-on-5
Dan: Last year's 1st game in STL was STL 6-0; STL was 4-for-8 on power play, VAN went 0-for-7
--
Dan: Stars were Morrison, Ohlund, Saprykin. It was a special teams game tonight. You have to take what you're given and just roll with the punches.
John: It would have been nice to know that it was going to be called close beforehand. You just have to roll with it, and make the best of it. Calgary was 10-6 in power plays (Vancouver took 10 penalties). Vancouver settled, that's the difference
Dan: They've got 7 straight wins and 4 straight playoff wins against CGY going back to 94...
Tom: It's a new season, but it's always nice to get the first one. We know the Canucks can play better. Sutter knows his team can be better too. This is what playoff hockey is. There's major swings, but you can't get excited just playing one game, like last year when STL came to Vancouver and embarrassed them...
John: They shouldn't be counting chickens before they hatch. In the last 3 Vancouver playoff series before this one, the team winning Game 1 lost series...
Dan: They have to hold serve, and try to do it on Friday. To get 5 goals on Kiprusoff on only 22 shots...
Tom: We talked about how his psyche might be. I think I read somewhere that Kiprusoff never gave up >3 goals at any time during the season with the Flames. If that's the case, he's gotta be shaking his head a little tonight
Game 2 Friday in Vancouver. The Canucks lead the series 1-0.
Unfortunately, it became pretty apparent right off the bat that the officials were going to call anything and everything close in this game, Trevor Linden's 100th playoff game as a Canuck. There wasn't a lot of 5-on-5 play tonight, as Vancouver was whistled for 10 penalties and Calgary was nailed for 6.
The first whistle was on Ville Nieminen for hooking only 2:06 into the game. Wouldn't you know it, 26 seconds later, Martin Rucinsky redirected an Ed Jovanovski shot past Miikka Kiprusoff and screened by Brendan Morrison for a power play goal (9th of his career) seconds after Rucinsky broke in on a rush and shot wide of the net. Could the Vancouver power play that has sucked all year (and 9-for-104 since the All-Star break) possibly come out to play tonight? Only 28 seconds after leaving the penalty box, Nieminen was again tagged, this time for high-sticking Matt Cooke. Fifty seconds later, Sami Salo slapped in a one-timer (2nd career playoff goal) and it looked like the Canucks were in the driver's seat as they had a 2-0 lead with only 5:24 gone in the game.
There's a reason this is the playoffs, though. This isn't a cake walk, it's the NHL playoffs. And the Calgary Flames are no slouches. They were incredibly pesky. They came out strong for the second period, waited for the Canucks to get whistled for a couple of penalties, and struck. Sami Salo was in the box for interference at 3:10 in, but then the Canucks got nailed on a questionable too-many-men call, putting the Flames on a two-man advantage. His Ojibwaness Chris Simon put the puck past Dan Cloutier on a play which Cloutier never actually found the puck to put up a sufficient fight. The puck took a weird bounce off the glass behind the net and Cloutier looked to the side that didn't have Simon and the puck. Only 28 seconds later, Oleg Saprykin slapped one past Cloutier to TIE THE GAME. At 11:02 into the period, Martin Gelinas was nailed for hooking. With 15 seconds left in the power play, Henrik Sedin put one past Kiprusoff. With 2:09 left in the period, Mattias Ohlund scored with the extra attacker on a play where Calgary was going to be tagged for blowing over Dan Cloutier to make it 4-2.
Luckily only four penalties would be called in the third period. Too bad three of those were Vancouver penalties. Nieminen was whistled for a THIRD time, this time for roughing. It took only nice seconds for the Canucks to rush down the ice. Brendan Morrison grabbed the puck, deked Kiprusoff out of his shorts, then tucked it into the net as he fell to the ground. Flames' penalty minute hog Kryzstzof Oliwa made the score 5-3 only 50 seconds later. Marek Malik was called for hooking at 12:53. Only 53 seconds later, Mattias Ohlund was sent to the box for a high stick. This meant the Flames had a two-man advantage, and by golly, they played it quite slopplity. Missed passes, intercepted passes, and Canuck clears down the ice were big toward killing off the two-man advantage. The fact that the Canucks killed off this penalty, to me, eased basically any doubt a Canuck fan may have had that Dan Cloutier would let in two quick goals toward the end of the game.
Tonight, somehow, someway, the Canucks went a crazy 4-for-6 on the power play. Ohlund, Jovanovski, Naslund (3 assists), and Morrison (1 goal, 2 assists) were all great. In the realm of shots, the Canucks were outshot 13-6 in the third period, and 29-22 for the game.
What put this game on ice, though, was the penalty kill on the two-man advantage. The Flames could have easily made it a tense game if they would have converted the two-man advantage.
And now, the thoughts of Dan Russell, Tom Larscheid, and John Shorthouse
Dan: There were so many penalties. Did you like the officials? The refs were trying to one-up each other. Weakness in the power play was a question mark, but not anymore it looked like. The 5th goal might as well have been a power play. They were up 2-0 five minutes into game. It was an added bonus to get these goals against Kiprusoff. Simon had a goal then Saprykin had one between Cloutier's legs. Henrik Sedin's goal went off Justin Leopold's skate. Ohlund scored on the delayed penalty. Morrison on the power play deked Kiprusoff, who looked silly on the play. Calgary had a poorly executed 2-man advantage in the 3rd. The Canucks penalty kill has been great, but the Calgary 2-man advantage was brutal. The refs called 16 penalties, and one not in the books. Ohlund was great...
Dan: Morrison 1 star, but sheesh...Ohlund though
Tom: Ohlund's such a warrior. He was against Iginla on 6 of 9 shifts early. He's a key guy, gets goals, played 25:14, 37 shifts, and gets stronger as the game goes on. If things go right for Vancouver, it could be a coming-out party for Ohlund around the league
Dan: how many times did Ohlund break up rushes? He did that and more
John: He played physically, broke up rushes, involved offensively (1g 1a) jumping up in the rush. He started to get attention from Chris Simon in the 3rd period (for Iginla). Ohlund got the better of the battle tonight
Dan: we talked during the season about how the power play is a funny animal in hockey -- it can come and go, and it can come out of nowhere. Who saw 4 power play goals coming?
Tom: absolutely...did you notice the adjustment with Jovanovski going to the front of the net? It seemed to catch Calgary off guard, especially on the 2nd power play goal (Salo booming shot). There was a couple new wrinkles. Marty Rucinsky on the deflection (Naslund low, back to Jovo, nice deflection) after Rucinsky deked Saprykin and shot wide. This was a good team win. Ohlund, Morrison, Naslund,and Jovo were very prominent tonight. Your best players have to show up in big games, they did tonight
Dan: Does anyone know how the teams looked 5-on-5?
John: this is exactly how the STL series started last year. Apparently the officials have a directive to call it close, I don't know why...the STL series, the first game was like this. In 7 games last year, the VAN/STL games had 48-47 penalties, near 7 a night. I hope this doesn't continue Fully electronic love to see more 5-on-5
Dan: Last year's 1st game in STL was STL 6-0; STL was 4-for-8 on power play, VAN went 0-for-7
--
Dan: Stars were Morrison, Ohlund, Saprykin. It was a special teams game tonight. You have to take what you're given and just roll with the punches.
John: It would have been nice to know that it was going to be called close beforehand. You just have to roll with it, and make the best of it. Calgary was 10-6 in power plays (Vancouver took 10 penalties). Vancouver settled, that's the difference
Dan: They've got 7 straight wins and 4 straight playoff wins against CGY going back to 94...
Tom: It's a new season, but it's always nice to get the first one. We know the Canucks can play better. Sutter knows his team can be better too. This is what playoff hockey is. There's major swings, but you can't get excited just playing one game, like last year when STL came to Vancouver and embarrassed them...
John: They shouldn't be counting chickens before they hatch. In the last 3 Vancouver playoff series before this one, the team winning Game 1 lost series...
Dan: They have to hold serve, and try to do it on Friday. To get 5 goals on Kiprusoff on only 22 shots...
Tom: We talked about how his psyche might be. I think I read somewhere that Kiprusoff never gave up >3 goals at any time during the season with the Flames. If that's the case, he's gotta be shaking his head a little tonight
Game 2 Friday in Vancouver. The Canucks lead the series 1-0.
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