Sunday, April 11, 2004
GAME 3 -- CANUCKS 2, FLAMES 1
Before I elaborate here, I must say that my computer decided to be absolutely weird to me, doing the kind of weird stuff (unclean restarts, no wave audio) that it only does about once every eight months, prompting me to make a decision -- keep watching the game on ESPN2 or go over to Lind Hall and pull up the Canuck radio guys there. I chose radio. Why? Well, did you hear the crew that was working for ESPN2? It was some guy and Dwayne Roloson of the Wild. Luckily through the stuff I had the sound up for, Roloson wasn't brutally anti-Canuck like the Wild fans are. Still though, that crew was absolutely terrible to the point where I chose not having a visual medium in favor of being more informed about the game. Brutal, isn't it?
The Canucks used a Matt Cooke goal early in the 3rd period to extend their overall winning streak at the Saddledome in Calgary to 10 games and send the crowd of 19289 home disappointed (except for the Canuck fans that snuck into there). It was a tough and grinding game, though, one that resulted in many players going to the bench at least temporarily for injury. Brad May's face met the goalpost at one point, leaving his face quite bloodied. Jarome Iginla landed a ton of blows to the body of Mattias Ohlund in their fight with 11 seconds left in the game. But most importantly for the Canucks, Dan Cloutier tweaked his knee late in the first period after trying to reach a rebound of an Oleg Saprykin shot. He was helped off the ice, hobbled with what is being officially called a "lower body injury." He's got a strained knee, we all know it. This just keeps the Flames (or other opposition) from keying on one part of Cloutier's body to target.
Johan Hedberg stepped into the net for the Canucks right after Cloutier left, and he came in cold. Luckily, there was under a minute left in the period, and the Canuck skaters were able to keep the puck away from a cold Hedberg. Hedberg was then allowed to use the entire first intermission to get himself mentally focused and get his game face on.
Unfortunately, the second shot that Hedberg faced went in. To Hedberg's defense, he really had no chance at the shot, as the defense was shoddy on the play and the Flames executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play. Only 64 seconds into the second period, Chris Simon scored and Calgary had the 1-0 lead.
Eighteen seconds after the Simon goal, Matt Lombardi was whistled for hooking. The Flames had the lead for all of 66 seconds as Markus Naslund had some help from some Canuck bodies raising some ruckus in front of the net (giving Kiprusoff a lot of stuff to look at) and potted the puck to tie the game. Matt Cooke would then find the back of the net in the third period, getting the game-winner 1:29 into the third.
The last game that Johan Hedberg played in for the Canucks was when he blew a 4-2 lead to Columbus and the Canucks lost 5-4. He's had a rocky road this year and his play was termed "terrible" at one point by coach Marc Crawford. Being forced into play late in the first period and stopping 19 of 20 shots (i.e., every shot he had a chance on) no doubt is encouraging to Crawford, but just in case, Manitoba Moose goalie and occasional callup Alex Auld (the Moose season is over) was dressed and in full gear just in case of a meltdown. Hedberg got big help from the Vancouver penalty kill, which held the Flames to 0-for-7 on the power play in the game, and 0-for-5 while Hedberg was in net.
The Canucks take a 2-1 series lead heading into another game in Calgary, also televised on ESPN2, Tuesday night.
Here comes the postgame notes...Jeff Patterson, Tom Larscheid, and John Shorthouse
Jeff: Vancouver has to be feeling pretty good about themselves. They were good on the road all year. Except for the injuries, this was an almost perfect road game
John: They just find a way to get it done on the road. There was a lot of physical play. Calgary is still more physically dominating, but that's their game plan, and they try to outwork/outhit and wear down Vancouver; the Canucks are just bouncing off and getting it done
Tom: Vancouver won because: their special teams were outstanding, Calgary was 0-for-7 on the power play; they were dominating in the faceoff circle and prevented Calgary from getting the tie; Matt Cooke had a sensational game (winning goal), was the most physical forward and played his type of game; Cloutier went down and Hedberg came in and did a fabulous job. He had no chance on the defensive giveaway goal (Simon)
Jeff: 3 weeks ago was Hedberg's last appearance in the Columbus meltdown before Cloutier made his run. He just wants a chance to play, and he might get it here. Here he proves he can get it done
John: He does have playoff experience (took Pittsburgh to a conference final in the East). It was an important game for him to play the way he did. Cloutier was in net all the time toward the end of the season. This should restore confidence to Hedberg and the rest of the coaching staff
Jeff: It didn't look good for Cloutier. He was in serious distress, you could tell. We probably won't see him soon
Tom: even if it's not a torn ligament, it's at least strained/sprained. It'll probably be at least 10 days to 2 weeks. They'll have to ride Hedberg and Auld. They wouldn't hesitate to use Auld. Hedberg will have to continue to play brilliantly like he did tonight. Once he gets Crawford's confidence, he has a chance to get on a good run
Jeff: What will happen to the survivor of this series in the next round? Lots of bodies were battered, or being taken out
Tom: we knew it was going to be physical, that's how Calgary plays, that's how they got successful. They do not a lot of skill players, but everyone plays their roles to perfection, and they get great goaltending
--
Jeff: ScoreTV reports Cloutier was on crutches. Three stars?
John: picked by local radio: 1 Naslund (3gm pt streak), 2 Iginla, 3 Jovanovski. We preferred Hedberg or Cooke in there
Tom: other highlights. Iginla had 22.5 mins of ice time, (lots of time) had 7 shots and 1 assist. Jovanovski had 4 shots, 22.5 minutes of ice time, and was even. Naslund was leading NHL in shots and had 4 tonight (13 shots in 3 games); has 5 power play points in the playoffs
Jeff: Naslund had goals in 3 of his final 4 games. There were 2 goals from the top line tonight. What's disturbing: Sanderson and Henrik Sedin had no shots
John: They have to find a way to get that line going
Vancouver leads the series 2-1.
Game 4 is Tuesday night, televised on ESPN2, or on the CBC for you lucky people in western Washington or close to the border, or those who have NHL Center Ice.
The Canucks used a Matt Cooke goal early in the 3rd period to extend their overall winning streak at the Saddledome in Calgary to 10 games and send the crowd of 19289 home disappointed (except for the Canuck fans that snuck into there). It was a tough and grinding game, though, one that resulted in many players going to the bench at least temporarily for injury. Brad May's face met the goalpost at one point, leaving his face quite bloodied. Jarome Iginla landed a ton of blows to the body of Mattias Ohlund in their fight with 11 seconds left in the game. But most importantly for the Canucks, Dan Cloutier tweaked his knee late in the first period after trying to reach a rebound of an Oleg Saprykin shot. He was helped off the ice, hobbled with what is being officially called a "lower body injury." He's got a strained knee, we all know it. This just keeps the Flames (or other opposition) from keying on one part of Cloutier's body to target.
Johan Hedberg stepped into the net for the Canucks right after Cloutier left, and he came in cold. Luckily, there was under a minute left in the period, and the Canuck skaters were able to keep the puck away from a cold Hedberg. Hedberg was then allowed to use the entire first intermission to get himself mentally focused and get his game face on.
Unfortunately, the second shot that Hedberg faced went in. To Hedberg's defense, he really had no chance at the shot, as the defense was shoddy on the play and the Flames executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play. Only 64 seconds into the second period, Chris Simon scored and Calgary had the 1-0 lead.
Eighteen seconds after the Simon goal, Matt Lombardi was whistled for hooking. The Flames had the lead for all of 66 seconds as Markus Naslund had some help from some Canuck bodies raising some ruckus in front of the net (giving Kiprusoff a lot of stuff to look at) and potted the puck to tie the game. Matt Cooke would then find the back of the net in the third period, getting the game-winner 1:29 into the third.
The last game that Johan Hedberg played in for the Canucks was when he blew a 4-2 lead to Columbus and the Canucks lost 5-4. He's had a rocky road this year and his play was termed "terrible" at one point by coach Marc Crawford. Being forced into play late in the first period and stopping 19 of 20 shots (i.e., every shot he had a chance on) no doubt is encouraging to Crawford, but just in case, Manitoba Moose goalie and occasional callup Alex Auld (the Moose season is over) was dressed and in full gear just in case of a meltdown. Hedberg got big help from the Vancouver penalty kill, which held the Flames to 0-for-7 on the power play in the game, and 0-for-5 while Hedberg was in net.
The Canucks take a 2-1 series lead heading into another game in Calgary, also televised on ESPN2, Tuesday night.
Here comes the postgame notes...Jeff Patterson, Tom Larscheid, and John Shorthouse
Jeff: Vancouver has to be feeling pretty good about themselves. They were good on the road all year. Except for the injuries, this was an almost perfect road game
John: They just find a way to get it done on the road. There was a lot of physical play. Calgary is still more physically dominating, but that's their game plan, and they try to outwork/outhit and wear down Vancouver; the Canucks are just bouncing off and getting it done
Tom: Vancouver won because: their special teams were outstanding, Calgary was 0-for-7 on the power play; they were dominating in the faceoff circle and prevented Calgary from getting the tie; Matt Cooke had a sensational game (winning goal), was the most physical forward and played his type of game; Cloutier went down and Hedberg came in and did a fabulous job. He had no chance on the defensive giveaway goal (Simon)
Jeff: 3 weeks ago was Hedberg's last appearance in the Columbus meltdown before Cloutier made his run. He just wants a chance to play, and he might get it here. Here he proves he can get it done
John: He does have playoff experience (took Pittsburgh to a conference final in the East). It was an important game for him to play the way he did. Cloutier was in net all the time toward the end of the season. This should restore confidence to Hedberg and the rest of the coaching staff
Jeff: It didn't look good for Cloutier. He was in serious distress, you could tell. We probably won't see him soon
Tom: even if it's not a torn ligament, it's at least strained/sprained. It'll probably be at least 10 days to 2 weeks. They'll have to ride Hedberg and Auld. They wouldn't hesitate to use Auld. Hedberg will have to continue to play brilliantly like he did tonight. Once he gets Crawford's confidence, he has a chance to get on a good run
Jeff: What will happen to the survivor of this series in the next round? Lots of bodies were battered, or being taken out
Tom: we knew it was going to be physical, that's how Calgary plays, that's how they got successful. They do not a lot of skill players, but everyone plays their roles to perfection, and they get great goaltending
--
Jeff: ScoreTV reports Cloutier was on crutches. Three stars?
John: picked by local radio: 1 Naslund (3gm pt streak), 2 Iginla, 3 Jovanovski. We preferred Hedberg or Cooke in there
Tom: other highlights. Iginla had 22.5 mins of ice time, (lots of time) had 7 shots and 1 assist. Jovanovski had 4 shots, 22.5 minutes of ice time, and was even. Naslund was leading NHL in shots and had 4 tonight (13 shots in 3 games); has 5 power play points in the playoffs
Jeff: Naslund had goals in 3 of his final 4 games. There were 2 goals from the top line tonight. What's disturbing: Sanderson and Henrik Sedin had no shots
John: They have to find a way to get that line going
Vancouver leads the series 2-1.
Game 4 is Tuesday night, televised on ESPN2, or on the CBC for you lucky people in western Washington or close to the border, or those who have NHL Center Ice.
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