Thursday, January 19, 2006
GAME 47: CANUCKS 4, SABRES 1
Canucks 4, Sabres 1
[initial partial post]
The Buffalo Sabres had lost Miroslav Satan and Alexei Zhitnik before the season, but they rebounded by playing more as a team despite their lack of stars. They are also deep in the goaltending department. How would the Canucks fare after coming back from their three-game road trip on the east coast to host a team that was in the top five in the NHL on both the power play and the penalty kill?
1st period
The Canucks had a decent scoring chance on an early power play when Markus Naslund from the right hash centered the puck to Todd Bertuzzi bearing down on the net, but Bertuzzi was foiled by Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. Later in the period, Bryan Allen was upended along the boards in his own end by Ryan Gaustad. Buffalo outshot the Canucks 10-7 in the period. The Sabres were 0-for-3 on the power play, and Vancouver was 0-for-2.
2nd period
Alexandre Burrows made his second NHL goal a great one. On a shorthanded (Henrik Sedin for holding) 2-on-2 rush, Burrows first put a shot on the net from near the slot which was stopped by Miller, then tried to tuck it in from the side of the net, where he was stopped by Miller's stick. He hacked at the puck a third time, though, and banked it in off Miller, who was lying on his chest on the ice by the time the third shot went past.
»» 1, VANCOUVER, shorthanded, Alexandre Burrows 2 (Ryan Kesler, Sami Salo) 11:29
»» CANUCKS 1, SABRES 0
With a mere three seconds left in a Bertuzzi hooking penalty, the Sabres made Vancouver pay. Tim Connolly centered nicely from the left side to Jason Pominville near the right hash, who snapped the puck past Auld.
»» 2, BUFFALO, powerplay, Jason Pominville 9 (Tim Connolly, Chris Drury) 15:56
»» SABRES 1, CANUCKS 1
Vancouver outshot the Sabres 13-6 (20-16 overall). The Sabres were 1-for-3 (1-for-6) and Vancouver was 0-for-3 (0-for-5).
3rd period
With Gaustad in the box for a trip, Henrik Sedin down low found Nolan Baumgartner in the high slot, and the defenseman blasted a slapshot that went off Mike Grier and past Miller on the stick side.
»» 3, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Nolan Baumgartner 4 (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin) 4:07
»» CANUCKS 2, SABRES 1
Off a Vancouver faceoff win, Naslund had a long shot stopped, and the rebound went to Steve McCarthy, who quickly shot from the left-wing boards and was stopped before Brendan Morrison, who won the faceoff to begin with,xs picked up the scraps.
»» 4, VANCOUVER, Brendan Morrison 11 (Steve McCarthy, Markus Naslund) 12:53
»» CANUCKS 3, SABRES 1
Alex Auld steered away a rebound of a Connolly shot, and Jarkko Ruutu took the puck the other way and wristed the puck in from the right point into the empty net.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, empty net, Jarkko Ruutu 9 (Alexander Auld) 19:11
»» CANUCKS 4, SABRES 1
Vancouver was outshot 9-7 in the period, but outshot the Sabres 27-25 in the game. Buffalo was 0-for-1 (1-for-7) on the power play and Vancouver was successful on their only power play of the period (1-for-6). Auld stopped 24 shots.
Three stars -- (1) Auld, (2) Buffalo's Tim Connolly, (3) Burrows
skater, goals-assists-points
Baumgartner 1-0-1
Burrows 1-0-1
Morrison 1-0-1
Ruutu 1-0-1
Auld 0-1-1 (goalie)
Kesler 0-1-1
McCarthy 0-1-1
Naslund 0-1-1
Salo 0-1-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
H Sedin 0-1-1
The win against a solid Eastern Conference team gave the Canucks six wins in seven games heading into a Hockey Night in Canada showdown two days later at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
Vancouver was a very good 37-for-62 (60%) in the faceoff circle. Brendan Morrison was 12-for-16, Trevor Linden was 7-for-11, Ryan Kesler was 6-for-13, Henrik Sedin was 5-for-13, Josh Green was 4-for-4, and Todd Bertuzzi was 3-for-5.
Mattias Ohlund led the team with six shots, including five in the second period alone. Five players recorded two hits each. Ohlund also blocked three shots.
Bryan Allen, Sami Salo, Alexandre Burrows, and Kesler were all plus-2 for the Canucks. Morrison, Markus Naslund, Kevin Bieksa, Steve McCarthy, Jarkko Ruutu, and Bertuzzi were all plus-1. All other Canuck skaters were even.
This win pushed the Canucks to a 27-15-5 record (1-3 shootout, two overtime losses), good for 59 points and a tie for first place in the Northwest Division -- Calgary has a game in hand, which would leave Vancouver as sixth in the Western Conference. They lead the third-place Colorado Avalanche by two points and the fourth-place Edmonton Oilers by four points.
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