Wednesday, November 30, 2005
GAME 26: CANUCKS 5, AVALANCHE 2
Canucks 5, Avalanche 2
[actual post Sat ~5:04p]
The Canucks looked once again to overcome their bad habit of slow starts. They looked to improve their not-so-stellar record against opponents in their division. In particular, they hadn't had that good of a record against Colorado coming into the game either. They'd also just lost to the Avalanche three nights earlier.
1st period
The good start thing looked like it might wither away once again. A soft rink-wide pass across center ice by Todd Bertuzzi was stolen at the Colorado blue line. Joe Sakic came away with the puck, split a pair of Vancouver defenders (Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo), and wristed the puck past Alex Auld's glove side.
»» 1, COLORADO, Joe Sakic 11 (Milan Hejduk, Brett Clark) 1:52
»» AVALANCHE 1, CANUCKS 0
With 9:06 to go, Wade Brookbank woke up the subdued crowd a bit by wiping Brad May into the boards in the Vancouver end. The multiple-time Manitoba Moose call-up Josh Green got some spotlight time. A very long pass from Richard Park along the left-wing boards in the Vancouver end met Green in the Colorado zone on a breakaway, who then bore down on the net, dodged a hook attempt from Rob Blake, and put the puck over David Aebischer's stick.
»» 2, VANCOUVER, Josh Green 1 (Richard Park, Sami Salo) 11:22
»» AVALANCHE 1, CANUCKS 1
The Canucks appeared to respond to being down in the period. A long Sami Salo slap shot was jabbed through by Henrik Sedin from beside the net as Patrice Brisebois was a bit late getting back to him.
»» 3, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Henrik Sedin 7 (Salo, Nolan Baumgartner) 12:52
»» CANUCKS 2, AVALANCHE 1
With just over a minute left in the period, Aebischer showed some moxie. A loose puck in the slot was picked up by Bertuzzi, who passed behind him to Brendan Morrison, who was stopped beside the net by Aebischer. The clearing attempt went to Bryan Allen behind the left circle, who put another puck on the net that was stopped. Allen got the rebound back to him and put a shot off a stick and wide. Vancouver outshot the Avalanche 16-11 in the period and was 1-for-3 on the power play. Colorado was 0-for-2 on the power play.
2nd period
A couple minutes into the period, former Canuck Brad May and current Canuck Wade Brookbank exchanged fists. Brookbank got the upper hand and wrestled him to the ice. About six minutes into the period, Skrastins had a shot blocked and Trevor Linden and Jarkko Ruutu were off on a breakaway. Linden was the last one with the puck, and he tried to go with the backhand to the stick side, but Aebischer made the stop from his back, getting his glove (far arm) on the shot. Colorado tied it. Rob Blake centered the puck from the right-wing boards and Sakic and Alex Tanguay were going to the net. An unimpeded Tanguay got the puck beside the net and put it through as Auld had left the stick side quite open trying to make a play on Sakic.
»» 4, COLORADO, Alex Tanguay 9 (Rob Blake, Sakic) 7:54
»» AVALANCHE 2, CANUCKS 2
With just over nine minutes remaining in the period on a Vancouver power play, Alex Auld played the puck from behind his own net and to his right. Bertuzzi was near the puck, but so was Patrice Brisebois until he was smeared by Ed Jovanovski. The hit left him slow getting onto his feet. The Canucks cleared a rebound in their own zone, and Markus Naslund tried passing to Todd Bertuzzi at center, but the puck hit two Colorado skaters who had collided into one another. Brendan Morrison was near the two-player pile and took the puck, rushed toward the net, and tucked one in on the glove side before Aebischer could close it.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, Brendan Morrison 5 (Markus Naslund, Ed Jovanovski) 18:00
»» CANUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 2
The Canucks outshot Colorado 14-8 in the period (30-19 total) and was 0-for-3 on the power play (1-for-6 total). Colorado was 0-for-1 on the power play (0-for-3).
3rd period
A Nolan Baumgartner shot from the blue line was deflected past Aebischer by Ruutu out front.
»» 6, VANCOUVER, Jarkko Ruutu 3 (Baumgartner, Trevor Linden) 5:25
»» CANUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 2
Naslund from the left hash kicked the puck out to Bertuzzi near the blue line, who dished back to the captain. Naslund powered toward the net, probably putting one shot on the net that was stopped and then tucking the rebound through as Karlis Skrastins bowled him into Aebischer. The Swiss goalie was beyond ticked after the goal, which he obviously thought wasn't a goal.
»» 7, VANCOUVER, Naslund 15 (Mattias Ohlund, Todd Bertuzzi) 14:07
»» CANUCKS 5, AVALANCHE 2
Vancouver outshot Colorado 14-13 in the period (44-32 total) and was 0-for-2 on the power play (1-for-8). Colorado was 0-for-2 on the power play and was 0-for-5 for the game. Alex Auld stopped 30 for Vancouver.
Three stars -- (1) Morrison, (2) Colorado's Joe Sakic, (3) Jovanovski
skater, goals-assists-points
Naslund 1-1-2
Baumgartner 0-2-2
Salo 0-2-2
Green 1-0-1
Morrison 1-0-1
Ruutu 1-0-1
H Sedin 1-0-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Jovanovski 0-1-1
Linden 0-1-1
Ohlund 0-1-1
Park 0-1-1
The Canucks scored the final three goals of the game after it was tied in the second period. They got a better start and got more of a complete effort, and they happened to beat a division rival along the way.
In the faceoff circle, Brendan Morrison was 5-for-15 (probably the only bad thing about his night), Ryan Kesler was 7-for-11 (nice), Henrik Sedin was 10-for-16, and Josh Green was 1-for-6 (but he did score). Mattias Ohlund dished out a pair of hits. Todd Bertuzzi led the team with six shots, and Morrison followed up with five. Ohlund and Ed Jovanovski blocked a trio of shots apiece.
Plus skaters (all plus-1) included Nolan Baumgartner, Bryan Allen, Brendan Morrison, Trevor Linden, Markus Naslund, Steve McCarthy, Henrik Sedin, Josh Green, and Ed Jovanovski. Ryan Kesler was the only minus skater (minus-1). All other Canucks were even.
The win moved the Canucks to 16-8-2, good for 34 points and a three-point lead over Calgary and Colorado for the Northwest Division lead.
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