Tuesday, April 13, 2004
GAME 4 -- FLAMES 4, CANUCKS 0
STOMPED.
The Flames just plain wanted it more, and the results don't lie tonight, as this series is now a best-of-3, with Game 5 in Vancouver on Thursday and Game 6 in Calgary on Saturday.
The game looked well within reach after the first period, in which Vancouver merely played okay, but no goals were scored. When you're the road team in a very hostile setting in the playoffs and you come out of the first period at 0-0, you'll take that.
It took only 58 seconds into the second period for any good feeling to still remain. The Flames came into the Vancouver end shorthanded and Brent Sopel failed horribly to cover Stephane Yelle, who put the puck in to bring the crowd to its feet.
With 3:54 left in the same period, Calgary got a power play goal from Chris Clark, who roofed the puck when Johan Hedberg played for the pass instead of the shot (crowd INSANE at this point). Only 27 seconds later, the Flames crashed the net (even strength this time) and Shean Donovan jammed one in (amid Vancouver goalie interference complaints), a goal resulting from just plain hard work by the Flames., an element largely missing from the Canucks tonight.
The only true chances where the Canucks had anything going for them tonight happened late in the third when the game was virtually over and Marc Crawford started pulling Johan Hedberg and sending out the extra attacker on multiple occasions. Other than that, most of the Canuck shots either weren't getting through traffic, missed the net, or were stopped by Miikka Kiprusoff (20 of those). Of course, this also means they didn't get enough shots, because the Flames were clamping down tight on any chances for Vancouver. Where the Canucks were great on special teams in the first three games of the series, tonight they blew. They gave up the shorthanded goal and needless to say were oh-fer on the power play. They also got burned once on the penalty kill for good measure.
And yes, this was Calgary's first win at home against the Canucks in 11 tries overall.
Here's what the radio guys thought about it...
Dan: I guess the law of averages said VAN would lose in CGY one of these days
John: teams don't generally get dominated in their own rink that badly...averages said CGY might win a special teams battle in the series sometimes too, but that started with hard work and hard ethic
Dan: that second period they killed the Canucks
Tom: from the first goal on, there was no stopping them. I'm not sure if VAN ever had momentum at all in the hockey game. 0-0 after one is not bad for team on the road, but that was it. Other than maybe faceoff circle, that was it. Tonight was the best performance of series by either team in the series
Dan: maybe they were too reliant on the newfound power play?
John: maybe. They definitely weren't prepared to pay price the like CGY was 5-on-5. They must ask themselves if they want to work as hard as CGY does, because they'll lose the series if they don't
Dan: 5-on-5 play...Vancouver has ONE even strength goal (minus a goalie-pul situation) all series
Tom: CGY thinks they're a better hockey team 5-on-5. They think they can work harder and better than the Canucks, and they showed they could tonight. Did they just see that Chris Simon was out tonight and thought it'd be a walk in the park? That wasn't the case.
Dan: Who was the best Canuck tonight?
Tom: (long silence) I have to think about that...hard to come up with one
John: I'll give Jovanovski marks for trying. He didn't finish with a minus, which is a feat.
Dan: How about momentum? It's a seven-game series
Tom: This win is so big for CGY. Now they have to feel good about their game and their goalie. If they steal one in VAN, they could end it in CGY. This is a momentum shift bigtime for CGY. If you look at the two teams, there really wasn't a lot separating them during the season. A lot of people don't want to give CGY respect, not a lot of gamebreakers, but they are great working as team.
Dan: Will the Canucks flirt with a goaltending change?
John: I'm not sure. Crawford wouldn't tell me if I asked him either. I didn't like the Clark goal (broke it open). I think Hedberg will come back
Dan: If Hedberg didn't win the next game, I think Auld would come in
Tom: It's a difficult decision for them. It was important for Hedberg to play well. I think Hedberg is on a short leash. He had to put together string of good games. The people in charge wouldn't hesitate to play Auld
John: Hedberg had 28 saves. The Clark goal was huge Clark goal, and was one he didn't play very well.
Dan: CGY owned the neutral zone tonight. If they take this into Game 5, a lot of people are going to be worried.
Tom: This is going to be a most difficult series, and I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games. One has to wonder if VAN can even win the series now. They better all start getting on the same page, because not enough of them left it all on the ice tonight
Dan: One has to wonder how much of a toll the physical contact is taking
John: Bryan Allen didn't play much, but this was his first game back. Everyone seemed okay. Both teams wearing down, but VAN more so
I wish this could have been an easy series, but it's getting absolutely draining now. Help me, I'm scared.
Game 5 Thursday at Vancouver on your local CBC carrier.
By the way, both the Flames and Mariners had 4-0 leads tonight.
Uuuuuggggghhhhhh.....
The Flames just plain wanted it more, and the results don't lie tonight, as this series is now a best-of-3, with Game 5 in Vancouver on Thursday and Game 6 in Calgary on Saturday.
The game looked well within reach after the first period, in which Vancouver merely played okay, but no goals were scored. When you're the road team in a very hostile setting in the playoffs and you come out of the first period at 0-0, you'll take that.
It took only 58 seconds into the second period for any good feeling to still remain. The Flames came into the Vancouver end shorthanded and Brent Sopel failed horribly to cover Stephane Yelle, who put the puck in to bring the crowd to its feet.
With 3:54 left in the same period, Calgary got a power play goal from Chris Clark, who roofed the puck when Johan Hedberg played for the pass instead of the shot (crowd INSANE at this point). Only 27 seconds later, the Flames crashed the net (even strength this time) and Shean Donovan jammed one in (amid Vancouver goalie interference complaints), a goal resulting from just plain hard work by the Flames., an element largely missing from the Canucks tonight.
The only true chances where the Canucks had anything going for them tonight happened late in the third when the game was virtually over and Marc Crawford started pulling Johan Hedberg and sending out the extra attacker on multiple occasions. Other than that, most of the Canuck shots either weren't getting through traffic, missed the net, or were stopped by Miikka Kiprusoff (20 of those). Of course, this also means they didn't get enough shots, because the Flames were clamping down tight on any chances for Vancouver. Where the Canucks were great on special teams in the first three games of the series, tonight they blew. They gave up the shorthanded goal and needless to say were oh-fer on the power play. They also got burned once on the penalty kill for good measure.
And yes, this was Calgary's first win at home against the Canucks in 11 tries overall.
Here's what the radio guys thought about it...
Dan: I guess the law of averages said VAN would lose in CGY one of these days
John: teams don't generally get dominated in their own rink that badly...averages said CGY might win a special teams battle in the series sometimes too, but that started with hard work and hard ethic
Dan: that second period they killed the Canucks
Tom: from the first goal on, there was no stopping them. I'm not sure if VAN ever had momentum at all in the hockey game. 0-0 after one is not bad for team on the road, but that was it. Other than maybe faceoff circle, that was it. Tonight was the best performance of series by either team in the series
Dan: maybe they were too reliant on the newfound power play?
John: maybe. They definitely weren't prepared to pay price the like CGY was 5-on-5. They must ask themselves if they want to work as hard as CGY does, because they'll lose the series if they don't
Dan: 5-on-5 play...Vancouver has ONE even strength goal (minus a goalie-pul situation) all series
Tom: CGY thinks they're a better hockey team 5-on-5. They think they can work harder and better than the Canucks, and they showed they could tonight. Did they just see that Chris Simon was out tonight and thought it'd be a walk in the park? That wasn't the case.
Dan: Who was the best Canuck tonight?
Tom: (long silence) I have to think about that...hard to come up with one
John: I'll give Jovanovski marks for trying. He didn't finish with a minus, which is a feat.
Dan: How about momentum? It's a seven-game series
Tom: This win is so big for CGY. Now they have to feel good about their game and their goalie. If they steal one in VAN, they could end it in CGY. This is a momentum shift bigtime for CGY. If you look at the two teams, there really wasn't a lot separating them during the season. A lot of people don't want to give CGY respect, not a lot of gamebreakers, but they are great working as team.
Dan: Will the Canucks flirt with a goaltending change?
John: I'm not sure. Crawford wouldn't tell me if I asked him either. I didn't like the Clark goal (broke it open). I think Hedberg will come back
Dan: If Hedberg didn't win the next game, I think Auld would come in
Tom: It's a difficult decision for them. It was important for Hedberg to play well. I think Hedberg is on a short leash. He had to put together string of good games. The people in charge wouldn't hesitate to play Auld
John: Hedberg had 28 saves. The Clark goal was huge Clark goal, and was one he didn't play very well.
Dan: CGY owned the neutral zone tonight. If they take this into Game 5, a lot of people are going to be worried.
Tom: This is going to be a most difficult series, and I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games. One has to wonder if VAN can even win the series now. They better all start getting on the same page, because not enough of them left it all on the ice tonight
Dan: One has to wonder how much of a toll the physical contact is taking
John: Bryan Allen didn't play much, but this was his first game back. Everyone seemed okay. Both teams wearing down, but VAN more so
I wish this could have been an easy series, but it's getting absolutely draining now. Help me, I'm scared.
Game 5 Thursday at Vancouver on your local CBC carrier.
By the way, both the Flames and Mariners had 4-0 leads tonight.
Uuuuuggggghhhhhh.....
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