Monday, January 23, 2006
GAME 49: BLUES 4, CANUCKS 0
Blues 4, Canucks 0
[posted in full Sat ~7:17a]
The Canucks were second in the Northwest Division just behind the Calgary Flames. Though they were starting a seven-game road trip, the first two games were a back-to-back set against two of the NHL's worst teams in the Saint Louis Blues and the Columbus Blue Jackets. This game was in Saint Louis, but coach Marc Crawford elected to give Alex Auld a game off and put Maxime Ouellet between the pipes for only the third time as a Canuck and for the first time in ten games. It was also the return for Ed Jovanovski after 11 games on the shelf with a groin injury.
1st period
About seven minutes into the game, the Canucks were foiled on a scoring chance when Sami Salo centered to Markus Naslund in the low slot, but Naslund couldn't get a hold of the puck and it was tipped away by goalie Curtis Sanford. Shortly after, Anson Carter went to the box for drawing blood on a high-stick, and the Canucks killed off the four-minute penalty. Steve McCarthy and Mark Rycroft got into a scrap ten seconds after Carter left the box. Later on, with Ryan Kesler in the box for a hook, Scott Young rifled a slapshot from the point that was deflected into the net past goalie Michel Ouellet by Mike Sillinger. Later, Kevin Dallman passed to Vladimir Orszagh, who wristed a shot from the high slot past Ouellet.
»» 1, SAINT LOUIS, powerplay, Mike Sillinger 19 (Scott Young, Doug Weight) 16:24
»» BLUES 1, CANUCKS 0
Vancouver outshot the Blues 8-5 in the period. They were 0-for-1 on the power play, and Saint Louis was 1-for-4.
2nd period
Near the midway point of the period, Daniel Sedin from behind the net centered to Anson Carter in front of the crease, but Carter was foiled by Sanford.
»» 2, SAINT LOUIS, Vladimir Orszagh 1 (Kevin Dallman, Christian Backman) 17:06
»» BLUES 2, CANUCKS 0
Shortly after the goal, Sillinger, who has torn up the Canucks this year, got the wrath of Mattias Ohlund finishing a check, as he was mashed into the boards and didn't return to the game. Vancouver again was 0-for-1 (0-for-2 overall) on the power play, and Saint Louis was 0-for-3 (1-for-7).
3rd period
With a Vancouver power play just expiring, Ed Jovanovski had a shot blocked by Dean McAmmond, who made a long pass to Backman steaming out of the penalty box, who broke away and tucked the puck in on Ouellet's glove side.
»» 3, SAINT LOUIS, Backman 3 (Dallas Drake, Jamal Mayers) 1:38
»» BLUES 3, CANUCKS 0
On another early power play, Daniel Sedin took a quick centering pass but couldn't snap the puck past Sanford. On a power play with just under eight minutes remaining, Sanford stopped a Naslund shot from the left side with Todd Bertuzzi trying to provide the screen in front of him. But it all ended when Bryan Allen had one last shot blocked and Petr Cajanek ran it the other way into the open net.
»» 4, SAINT LOUIS, emptynet, Petr Cajanek 5 (Dean McAmmond) 19:20
»» BLUES 4, CANUCKS 0
Vancouver outshot the Blues 21-5 in the period (34-23 overall) and still couldn't get any pucks past Sanford. Vancouver blew it on four power plays (0-for-6 total) while Saint Louis didn't have a power play (1-for-7). Ouellet stopped 19 shots total.
Three stars -- (1) Saint Louis' Curtis Sanford, (2) Saint Louis' Barrett Jackman, (3) Saint Louis' Vladimir Orszagh
skater, goals-assists-points
none for Vancouver
Not the way the Canucks wanted to start the road trip. An interesting stat is that the Canucks missed the net entirely with a grand 20 shots. Shots off goal, if you will.
Vancouver was 31-for-57 (54%) in the faceoff circle, though it definitely didn't amount to a win. Brendan Morrison was 9-for-15, Trevor Linden was 2-for-4, Ryan Kesler was 5-for-14, Henrik Sedin was 7-for-14, Josh Green was 6-for-12, and Todd Bertuzzi was 1-for-3. Markus Naslund led the Canucks with seven shots. Mattias Ohlund dished out a pair of hits and blocked four shots. Ed Jovanovski blocked three shots. Bryan Allen was the lone minus-2 Canuck. Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo, the newly recalled Tyler Bouck, and Anson Carter were even. All other Canucks were minus-1.
The loss dropped the Canucks to 28-16-5 (1-3 shootout, two overtime losses), leaving the Canucks at 61 points. It wasn't exactly a great way to kick off a seven-game road trip. Luckily they only had 24 hours until the next game, so maybe they could get this one out of their system.
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