Friday, April 16, 2004
GAME 5 -- FLAMES 2, CANUCKS 1
Folks, this is absolutely draining. I've invested more time in this playoff team than probably any other playoff team in my life. Right now, it's really not looking good for the Canucks, and man....to be a sports fan, I tell ya.
The Canucks are down 3-2 and have to pull one out in a raucous Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday in order to stay alive. Calgary's got all the momentum in its favor right now, coming off the Game 4 whooping and tonight's get-and-hold-the-lead game. Of course, one could say now that Calgary is expected to win, and they've got two chances to put Vancouver away, and they probably don't want to lose at home and have to go back to Vancouver for Game 7. Of course, after Game 4, the Canucks had still only lost 1 of 11 games in Calgary (though that one loss was quite ill-timed).
Canuck fans had hoped that when Miikka Kiprusoff was rocked in Game 1 that it would get into his head. Not so. Far from so. Since Game 1, Kiprusoff has given up four goals total in four games. His shutout streak ran tonight into the second period and ended at 114:50.
Before the game tonight, word came around that Alex Auld (yes, the third-string goalie) would be in net instead of Johan Hedberg, which raises the question: what the hell did the Canucks go and get Johan Hedberg for? Isn't this exactly the situation where you'd want him in the net? It's not like it was his fault the Canucks got their asses handed to them in Game 4; that was the entire team doing horribly bad, and you could really only pin the one goal on him. Apparently Marc Crawford played this like it was the Canucks' own Game 7 and probably figured that the bigger and taller Alex Auld would stand up a little better when Calgary started to crash the net. But if there was any time to pull Auld out, wouldn't it have been the fallback in Game 6 in case Hedberg sucked tonight? This whole thing is pretty weird. To his credit, Alex Auld was solid tonight.
But the bottom line was that Calgary knew exactly what to do tonight, and they got the lead and did everything they could to kill time with the puck and make themselves the Canucks' enemy as well as the clock. Getting outshot 12-2 in the third period? No problem, say the Flames, as they fended off the pressure from Vancouver and rode as far as Kiprusoff would take them. Calgary also helped Vancouver dry up on their first five power plays, reverting them back to futile regular season form. The Canucks had five power plays in the first period, and all would have been geat opportunities to score an early goal and get some momentum, but alas...
After having an okay first period in which there were only eight shots a side (Auld stopped Chris Clark on a shorthanded breakaway), Craig Conroy scored 3:50 into the second period to suck the wind out of the Garage. The Canucks built up their pressure slowly but surely as the second period drew on, and finally scored on their sixth power play when a Sami Salo slapshot deflected off the shoulder of Henrik Sedin and past Kiprusoff.
The third period came and Brad Ference put a shot on the net that went off Jarome Iginla and in with 14:23 left in the game. The Flames got only two shots in the entire period and one of them went in, which John and Tom said eerily brought back memories of last year's Minnesota series, in which similar things happened. The Canucks kept pressure in the Flames zone for most of the period after the Calgary goal, and had quite a few chances, but Kiprusoff was a rock in the net. I personally thought Marc Crawford waited about 30-45 seconds too long to finally pull Alex Auld for the extra skater, but it's a moot point now. Ed Jovanovski had a great shot right before the buzzer, but Kiprusoff did his thing.
In the Canucks' playoff run last year, they came back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round and eliminated the Saint Louis Blues. In the second round, they jumped out to a 3-1 lead on the Minnesota Wild and coughed it up, giving the world what it always wanted: an Anaheim/Minnesota Western Conference Final. The Canucks right now are down 3-2 going into a hostile environment in hopes of staving off elimination. I'm hoping a team similar to the one that showed up in the Blues series last year is present for the rest of this series rather than the one that played those final three games against Minnesota last year. Hell, I'd settle for the team that showed up in games 1 and 3 of the series that's going on right now.
I'd really appreciate it if these Canucks would take their game to the Flames, because it's been the other way around for too long, and it's costing them goals right now, and more importantly, wins. Much as Calgary is a fundamentally sound hard-working team, it reminds me of another team in sports: the Utah Jazz. The Jazz didn't quite make the playoffs this year, but Jerry Sloan did one of his greatest coaching jobs of his career with that team.
I've got too much homework still left on the slate tonight and tomorrow, so I'm not going to edit the notes and make them all nice and stuff. Dan, Tom, and John with their words...
Dan: great playoff game...had chances, but fell short
Tom: difference in game is two players -- Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla, who led up front for the CGY team, makes the team go...fluky goal, but the winner. CGY only 2 shots in 3rd, but Kip stops 12 shots.
Dan: some were worried about Iginla having big game, Kip stealing a game, and CGY falling into a comfort zone
John: they look like a machine...key cog is Kip...probably in VAN's head a little bit...goaltending key tonight, but had to do more with Kip than Auld...looked very smart...once got puck down the ice, killed a lot of time in the corners
Dan: five games, one even strength
Tom: CGY 7-1 even strength...people raised brows when they said they wanted 5-on-5, but they were right
Dan: VAN got a lot of power plays
John: had every opportunity to get on the board early...4 straight games without 1st period goal
Dan: Kip every period...Sanderson robbed in 1st...2nd Kip pulled one off line on Henrik...3rd lucky on Naslund, but big saves down stretch
Tom: Jovo got alot on that shot from near 15 feet at the buzzer...Kip's good, not a fluke...thought Game 1 might get into his head, but now he looks almost unbeatable
Dan: we all heard about him, but never really saw him many times
John: McLennan, Turek...seeing him firsthand now and why Sutter made the trade of the year
Dan: gamble by Craw to put in Auld, but he was the second best goalie on the ice
Tom: yeah...just didn't happen tonight
Dan: Auld's series now
John: has to be...wonder how the Canucks voted on that rule change...last year would have been automatically disallowed...
Dan: it's the right rule though
Tom: yeah it is...has nothing to do with the play whatsoever
Dan: when Simon was knocked out of the series, it's amazing CGY has won 2 in row without him
Tom: tip your hat off to how hard they work...fundamentally very sound, always know what to do with the puck...VAN trailing badly in battles against the walls
Dan: facing elimination
Tom: CGY favored now in series...THEY're expected to win...we'll see how they handle it
Dan: two chances to win a series now
John: they've proved they can win anyone...they don't want to come back to VAN though
Dan: up until two nights ago, VAN had ruled in CGY
John: they've lost 1 of 11 in that bldg...they're down to one shot
Dan: mental makeup wonder...losing a game like this is a disappointment, treated this like Game 7
Tom: agree. Some guys really did elevate their game. Not the total A package...this team came back from 3-1 against STL last year, know how to play with backs against wall. Have to pull one out in Cowtown. Most thought series would go distance if VAN didn't pull out 3-2 lead.
Vancouver at Calgary Saturday on ESPN2 and CBC. Would it kill ESPN2 to show a game in Vancouver? It's too bad that if Calgary takes care of business, I won't know the final answer to that question. If this series goes seven and ESPN2 doesn't find some way to air it with their family of networks, then it will be only the stupidest thing ever.
The Canucks are down 3-2 and have to pull one out in a raucous Saddledome in Calgary on Saturday in order to stay alive. Calgary's got all the momentum in its favor right now, coming off the Game 4 whooping and tonight's get-and-hold-the-lead game. Of course, one could say now that Calgary is expected to win, and they've got two chances to put Vancouver away, and they probably don't want to lose at home and have to go back to Vancouver for Game 7. Of course, after Game 4, the Canucks had still only lost 1 of 11 games in Calgary (though that one loss was quite ill-timed).
Canuck fans had hoped that when Miikka Kiprusoff was rocked in Game 1 that it would get into his head. Not so. Far from so. Since Game 1, Kiprusoff has given up four goals total in four games. His shutout streak ran tonight into the second period and ended at 114:50.
Before the game tonight, word came around that Alex Auld (yes, the third-string goalie) would be in net instead of Johan Hedberg, which raises the question: what the hell did the Canucks go and get Johan Hedberg for? Isn't this exactly the situation where you'd want him in the net? It's not like it was his fault the Canucks got their asses handed to them in Game 4; that was the entire team doing horribly bad, and you could really only pin the one goal on him. Apparently Marc Crawford played this like it was the Canucks' own Game 7 and probably figured that the bigger and taller Alex Auld would stand up a little better when Calgary started to crash the net. But if there was any time to pull Auld out, wouldn't it have been the fallback in Game 6 in case Hedberg sucked tonight? This whole thing is pretty weird. To his credit, Alex Auld was solid tonight.
But the bottom line was that Calgary knew exactly what to do tonight, and they got the lead and did everything they could to kill time with the puck and make themselves the Canucks' enemy as well as the clock. Getting outshot 12-2 in the third period? No problem, say the Flames, as they fended off the pressure from Vancouver and rode as far as Kiprusoff would take them. Calgary also helped Vancouver dry up on their first five power plays, reverting them back to futile regular season form. The Canucks had five power plays in the first period, and all would have been geat opportunities to score an early goal and get some momentum, but alas...
After having an okay first period in which there were only eight shots a side (Auld stopped Chris Clark on a shorthanded breakaway), Craig Conroy scored 3:50 into the second period to suck the wind out of the Garage. The Canucks built up their pressure slowly but surely as the second period drew on, and finally scored on their sixth power play when a Sami Salo slapshot deflected off the shoulder of Henrik Sedin and past Kiprusoff.
The third period came and Brad Ference put a shot on the net that went off Jarome Iginla and in with 14:23 left in the game. The Flames got only two shots in the entire period and one of them went in, which John and Tom said eerily brought back memories of last year's Minnesota series, in which similar things happened. The Canucks kept pressure in the Flames zone for most of the period after the Calgary goal, and had quite a few chances, but Kiprusoff was a rock in the net. I personally thought Marc Crawford waited about 30-45 seconds too long to finally pull Alex Auld for the extra skater, but it's a moot point now. Ed Jovanovski had a great shot right before the buzzer, but Kiprusoff did his thing.
In the Canucks' playoff run last year, they came back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round and eliminated the Saint Louis Blues. In the second round, they jumped out to a 3-1 lead on the Minnesota Wild and coughed it up, giving the world what it always wanted: an Anaheim/Minnesota Western Conference Final. The Canucks right now are down 3-2 going into a hostile environment in hopes of staving off elimination. I'm hoping a team similar to the one that showed up in the Blues series last year is present for the rest of this series rather than the one that played those final three games against Minnesota last year. Hell, I'd settle for the team that showed up in games 1 and 3 of the series that's going on right now.
I'd really appreciate it if these Canucks would take their game to the Flames, because it's been the other way around for too long, and it's costing them goals right now, and more importantly, wins. Much as Calgary is a fundamentally sound hard-working team, it reminds me of another team in sports: the Utah Jazz. The Jazz didn't quite make the playoffs this year, but Jerry Sloan did one of his greatest coaching jobs of his career with that team.
I've got too much homework still left on the slate tonight and tomorrow, so I'm not going to edit the notes and make them all nice and stuff. Dan, Tom, and John with their words...
Dan: great playoff game...had chances, but fell short
Tom: difference in game is two players -- Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla, who led up front for the CGY team, makes the team go...fluky goal, but the winner. CGY only 2 shots in 3rd, but Kip stops 12 shots.
Dan: some were worried about Iginla having big game, Kip stealing a game, and CGY falling into a comfort zone
John: they look like a machine...key cog is Kip...probably in VAN's head a little bit...goaltending key tonight, but had to do more with Kip than Auld...looked very smart...once got puck down the ice, killed a lot of time in the corners
Dan: five games, one even strength
Tom: CGY 7-1 even strength...people raised brows when they said they wanted 5-on-5, but they were right
Dan: VAN got a lot of power plays
John: had every opportunity to get on the board early...4 straight games without 1st period goal
Dan: Kip every period...Sanderson robbed in 1st...2nd Kip pulled one off line on Henrik...3rd lucky on Naslund, but big saves down stretch
Tom: Jovo got alot on that shot from near 15 feet at the buzzer...Kip's good, not a fluke...thought Game 1 might get into his head, but now he looks almost unbeatable
Dan: we all heard about him, but never really saw him many times
John: McLennan, Turek...seeing him firsthand now and why Sutter made the trade of the year
Dan: gamble by Craw to put in Auld, but he was the second best goalie on the ice
Tom: yeah...just didn't happen tonight
Dan: Auld's series now
John: has to be...wonder how the Canucks voted on that rule change...last year would have been automatically disallowed...
Dan: it's the right rule though
Tom: yeah it is...has nothing to do with the play whatsoever
Dan: when Simon was knocked out of the series, it's amazing CGY has won 2 in row without him
Tom: tip your hat off to how hard they work...fundamentally very sound, always know what to do with the puck...VAN trailing badly in battles against the walls
Dan: facing elimination
Tom: CGY favored now in series...THEY're expected to win...we'll see how they handle it
Dan: two chances to win a series now
John: they've proved they can win anyone...they don't want to come back to VAN though
Dan: up until two nights ago, VAN had ruled in CGY
John: they've lost 1 of 11 in that bldg...they're down to one shot
Dan: mental makeup wonder...losing a game like this is a disappointment, treated this like Game 7
Tom: agree. Some guys really did elevate their game. Not the total A package...this team came back from 3-1 against STL last year, know how to play with backs against wall. Have to pull one out in Cowtown. Most thought series would go distance if VAN didn't pull out 3-2 lead.
Vancouver at Calgary Saturday on ESPN2 and CBC. Would it kill ESPN2 to show a game in Vancouver? It's too bad that if Calgary takes care of business, I won't know the final answer to that question. If this series goes seven and ESPN2 doesn't find some way to air it with their family of networks, then it will be only the stupidest thing ever.
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