Monday, January 02, 2006
GAME 39: BLUES 4, CANUCKS 1
Blues 4, Canucks 1
[posted in full Sat ~5:49a]
You know, I've got three teams to root for this winter between the Seahawks, Sonics, and Canucks, with the Sonics kind of in the background since they can't defend. I was hoping the Seahawks and Canucks would pick up the slack. The Seahawks are doing pretty well. The Canucks started out well, but now they're throwing a monkeywrench in the whole deal because now they officially suck. We knew this stretch they were on was bad, sure, but to go on the road and lose to the horrible Saint Louis Blues after you just blew five of six on a homestand...it's unfathomable. This team sucks. I don't know how else to put it. One or two more weeks of this type of listless play and the Canucks will miss the playoffs.
1st period
Just eight seconds into a Saint Louis powerplay, Mike Sillinger on the left-wing boards passed to Dennis Wideman at the blue line, who blasted a slapshot toward the net. Doug Weight redirected the shot past Alex Auld for the game's first tally.
»» 1, SAINT LOUIS, powerplay, Doug Weight 8 (Dennis Wideman, Mike Sillinger) 7:40
»» BLUES 1, CANUCKS 0
The slap-pass play appeared again for the twins; Henrik Sedin on the right-wing boards slap-passed to Daniel Sedin in the slot, who tipped the puck on net, where Curtis Sanford stopped it, but Anson Carter pounced on the rebound and jabbed it through.
»» 2, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Anson Carter 14 (Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin) 13:23
»» BLUES 1, CANUCKS 1
On a Saint Louis power play, Todd Bertuzzi delivered some forechecking, mashing Eric Weinrich into the boards on a dump-in. Again, the Canucks failed to seize momentum from a key goal. Just after a Vancouver power play had expired, Weight left a drop-pass to Scott Young mid-slot, where the latter beat Auld to the stick side.
»» 3, SAINT LOUIS, Scott Young 8 (Weight, Barret Jackman) 16:18
»» BLUES 2, CANUCKS 1
The puck was passed nicely with about four passes between the three names listed on the goal. Auld made a couple of nice saves before the passing play started, but when it was all over, Sillinger was the one who got the final pass and beat Auld on the stick side.
»» 4, SAINT LOUIS, Sillinger 13 (Petr Cajanek, Dallas Drake) 18:28
»» BLUES 3, CANUCKS 1
Vancouver outshot the Blues 12-10. Vancouver was 1-for-2 on the power play, and Saint Louis made good on their only power play chance.
2nd period
Auld recorded a decent save on a Young slapshot from the left-wing boards. Henrik Sedin shot hard from the high slot and couldn't beat Sanford. On a Saint Louis power play midway through the period, Matt Cooke helped protect the Vancouver end by crushing Wideman into the left-wing boards. The Blues outshot the Canucks 9-7 in the period (19-19 overall). Vancouver was 0-for-2 on the power play (1-for-4) while Saint Louis was 0-for-3 (1-for-4).
3rd period
Three minutes in, Daniel Sedin looked like he may have been centering a pass from the end line on the left side, but Sanford gloved it. The Canucks couldn't solve Sanford or the Blues, who were sitting on a two-goal lead. Much later, Vancouver couldn't keep the puck out of their own end for one last time, and this time it was without a goalie. Weight passed to Sillinger near the net, and that was that. It was the first empty-netter the Canucks had given up this season.
»» 5, SAINT LOUIS, empty net, Sillinger 14 (Weight, Drake) 18:21
»» BLUES 4, CANUCKS 1
In his first NHL game, Alexandre Burrows was lured into a scrap with Wideman with just over two minutes left in the game. Wideman didn't get the instigator for the fight. Vancouver was 0-for-2 on the power play (1-for-6 total) and Saint Louis went 0-for-1 (1-for-5).
Three stars -- (1) Saint Louis' Curtis Sanford, (2) Saint Louis' Doug Weight, (3) Saint Louis' Barret Jackman
skater, goals-assists-points
Carter 1-0-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
H Sedin 0-1-1
They lost to the Blues. When the Blues had Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, and Curtis Joseph back in the day, something like this wouldn't have been so bad, but now, they're horrible, so to lose to them...ugh.
Vancouver was 29-for-60 (48%) in the faceoff circle. Brendan Morrison was 8-for-16, Trevor Linden was 3-for-4, Ryan Kesler was 8-for-13, Henrik Sedin was 8-for-18, and Todd Bertuzzi was 1-for-6. Daniel Sedin led the team in shots with five, and Bryan Allen had four. Matt Cooke dished out five hits and Kesler had four.
The only goal for the Canucks was on a power play, therefore, no Canucks were plus skaters on this night. Minus-1 skaters were Bryan Allen, Morrison, Daniel Sedin, Cooke, Kevin Bieksa, and Henrik Sedin. Minus-2 skaters were Mattias Ohlund, Nolan Baumgartner, Markus Naslund, Bertuzzi, and Anson Carter.
The Canucks are now 21-13-5 (1-3 shootout, two overtime losses) and are still stuck at 47 points. Though this wasn't a divisional game, and therefore not a sure loss, it was still a loss to the NHL's worst team, and it dropped their road record to 7-10-2. Mix that with their 5-10-4 divisional record, and you get...well, yeah. Pretty much.
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