Thursday, November 24, 2005
GAME 23: CANUCKS 3, SHARKS 2
Canucks 3, Sharks 2
[posted in full Fri ~10:13p]
With a win, the Canucks would sweep their two-game laundry stop and would have won five of six. But could they do it against a team hungry for a win after losing seven straight? Further, could they overcome their tendency of starting games slowly? Alex Auld would get another start due to Dan Cloutier suffering a knee sprain in the penalty-fest against Anaheim.
Sven Butenschon was called up from Manitoba for the game, as was goalie Rob McVicar, who dressed as the backup for Alex Auld. Dan Cloutier was out with a knee sprain.
1st period
The game started out in a fairly sluggish fashion. With 1:19 left in a Richard Park penalty, Mattias Ohlund put a high-stick onto Jonathan Cheechoo's nose, putting the Canucks down two men. Grant Stevenson had a shot from near the goal line on the left side stopped, and the rebound trickled out to the right hash, where Tom Preissing slapped it onto the net, but it was stopped as well. Seattle Thunderbird alum Patrick Marleau got the rebound of Preissing's shot and roofed it over Auld's glove.
»» 1, SAN JOSE, powerplay, Patrick Marleau 10 (Tom Preissing, Grant Stevenson) 8:28
»» SHARKS 1, CANUCKS 0
The Canucks did manage to kill off the remaining 1:41 of Ohlund's penalty. The Sharks nearly led 2-0 not long after, but Cheechoo couldn't bury the puck on a good chance. The pace of the game slowly picked up. Ryan Kesler was horse-collared by one of the Sharks, but there was no call. Ohlund later put a big hit on Alyn McCauley. Todd Bertuzzi battled for the puck and used some moves to bear down on the net, but Evgeni Nabokov pokechecked him after he got in too deep. Kesler was later hit hard by Scott Davison. Vancouver was outshot 7-6 in the period. San Jose was 1-for-2 on the power play, and no penalties were called on the Sharks.
2nd period
Mark Smith was called for an early hook. On the resulting power play, Brendan Morrison had a shot miss the net, which set off Canuck radio color man Tom Larscheid, who disgustedly said, "you have to hit the net on the power play!" Markus Naslund had a wrister stopped and covered later in the shift. The power play went away, but a couple minutes later, Brendan Morrison dished from the top of the left circle to Todd Bertuzzi to the left of the slot. Bertuzzi didn't have the puck long, but had it long enough to dish a nifty pass to Wade Brookbank on the doorstep. Brookbank was set up nicely and put it through easily over Nabokov's glove side. Brookbank was the last of the Canuck regular players to hit the scoresheet this season.
»» 2, VANCOUVER, Wade Brookbank 1 (Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Morrison) 6:43
»» SHARKS 1, CANUCKS 1
Anson Carter was checked from behind on a nice chance on a rush with the Sedins. A trip was later called on the called-up Sven Butenschon, though the fans wanted a dive on the player he tripped. The Canucks killed off the penalty, and also killed off a penalty where Cheechoo was high-stuck in the nose once again, this time by Naslund. Bertuzzi nearly got loose, but got in too deep once again with his shot, and other members of the top line failed to bury the rebound. The Canucks outshot the Sharks 5-4 in the period (shots 11 apiece through two periods). The Sharks were 0-for-2 on the power play in the period (1-for-4 overall), and the Canucks were 0-for-1 on their only power play chance of the game in the first 40 minutes.
3rd period
The Canucks yielded an early goal. Stevenson passed from the goal line on the left side to Marco Sturm in front of the net, who did touch the puck, but definitely didn't get much of it and mostly whiffed. Auld had played for a shot from Sturm, but never got it. The puck leaked behind Sturm to Marcel Goc, who put it over a prone Auld to give the Sharks an early third-period lead.
»» 3, SAN JOSE, Marcel Goc 6 (Marco Sturm, Stevenson) 1:57
»» SHARKS 2, CANUCKS 1
Todd Bertuzzi chased a dump-in along the left-wing boards and came back out, backhanding a pass through a couple of defenders and onto the tape of Naslund to the right of the slot, who one-timed it past Nabokov on the short side. If you notice the time of this goal, after John Ashbridge's announcement, radio play-by-play man John Shorthouse exclaimed, "oh, thank heaven!"
»» 4, VANCOUVER, Markus Naslund 14 (Bertuzzi, Brookbank) 7:11
»» SHARKS 2, CANUCKS 2
Henrik Sedin came toward the net on a rush with Scott Hannan draped on him and had his shot stopped by Nabokov, who kept sliding to his left, leaving the net wide open for Anson Carter, who easily potted the puck. Hannan had fallen after trying to defend Henrik, and he slid into and knocked off the net (and ran into Nabokov) as Carter buried the puck. The puck went through after the net was knocked off, but different rules now exist when pertaining to a situation such as this. In this case, there was no way the Sharks could have kept the puck out of the net even if the net was not knocked off, and it was also a San Jose defender that had knocked the goal off its pegs rather than an offensive player. The play was signaled a goal on ice originally by referee Kerry Fraser, though it did eventually go upstairs and to the league offices in Toronto for review. The goal was given, and the Canucks had the lead.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, Anson Carter 6 (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin) 8:06
»» CANUCKS 3, SHARKS 2
A few minutes later, Bertuzzi was called for a phantom goalie interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, the mother of all penalty kills took place as Auld stood on his head in the Vancouver net, making great stops on at least three and possibly four chances from the Sharks that very well could have been goals. These chances were by a combination of Marleau, Cheechoo, and Milan Michalek. With 1:06 left, Goc threw a puck on the net that both he and Scott Thornton went into the net, but it wasn't signaled a goal on the ice, and apparently the whistle had blown. Regardless, the feed was sent upstairs and to Toronto as well, much like the Carter goal. Unlike the Carter goal, Goc wasn't awarded a goal. With Nabokov pulled for an extra attacker, Brendan Morrison won the next two faceoffs to greatly help the Canucks hold the lead in the final minute-plus. The Canucks were outshot 11-9 in the period and 22-20 overall. Both teams were 0-for-1 in the power play in the period. San Jose went 1-for-5 total on the power play while the Canucks were unsuccessful on their only two power plays.
Three stars -- (1) Ohlund, (2) Bertuzzi, (3) San Jose's Patrick Marleau
skaters, goals-assists-points
Brookbank 1-1-2
Bertuzzi 0-2-2
Carter 1-0-1
Naslund 1-0-1
Morrison 0-1-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
H Sedin 0-1-1
General consensus after this game was that the first 40 minutes or so was absolutely boring. At least there weren't 33 penalties called. Seven were called, five on Vancouver.
This team can get some grand playoff positioning if they manage to get Dan Cloutier and Alex Auld both healthy for a prolonged period of time. It's goaltending like Auld's display on that third-period penalty kill that can get a team like this a long way. The Canucks got that kind of play from their backup goalie. That's grand. Now if they could just get their third and fourth lines warmed up a little bit on the scoresheet, they'd really have something. Wade Brookbank is among the bottom lines of the skaters (wasn't playing blue line in this game), but he was on the ice with two-thirds of the big line.
The Canucks got a rare advantage in the faceoff circle, winning 27 of 52 (52%). Brendan Morrison was a superb 12-for-18, Trevor Linden was 7-for-13, Ryan Kesler was 3-for-6, and Henrik Sedin held up the bad end, going 4-for-13. Ed Jovanovski dished out four hits. Brookbank and Todd Bertuzzi dished out a trio of hits apiece. Mattias Ohlund blocked four shots. Jovanovski blocked three.
Plus-1 skaters included Bryan Allen, Morrison, Daniel Sedin, Brookbank, Henrik Sedin, Todd Bertuzzi, and Anson Carter. Plus-2 skaters included Ohlund and Nolan Baumgartner. The only minus skater was Sven Butenschon at minus-1. All other Canuck skaters were even.
The Canucks have won five of six and are 15-6-2 overall, good for 32 points and a two-point Northwest Division lead over the Calgary Flames with a game in hand. The Canucks are 10-1 at home on the season.
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