Wednesday, February 08, 2006
GAME 57: BLUES 4, CANUCKS 2
Blues 4, Canucks 2
[posted in full Fri 7 Jul ~12:06a]
The Saint Louis Blues are one of the league's worst teams this year. In two meetings against them this season, the Vancouver Canucks are winless. That's bad. Could they break that disturbing streak in this game?
1st period
With the Canucks in the Blues' zone three minutes into the game, Mattias Ohlund creamed Petr Cajanek into the left-wing boards, helping lead to a shot by Henrik Sedin which was stopped. About halfway through the period, Keith Tkachuk got behind the defense and rushed down the right side toward the net, where he centered backward to Cajanek coming down the slot, who backhanded through the glove side on Alex Auld, who couldn't cover that half of the net in time.
»» 1, SAINT LOUIS, Petr Cajanek 7 (Keith Tkachuk, Mark Rycroft) 9:48
»» BLUES 1, CANUCKS 0
On a pickoff of an errant outlet pass by the Blues, Markus Naslund dished off to Richard Park, who wristed one into the net past Curtis Sanford from just inside the right hash.
»» 2, VANCOUVER, Richard Park 7 (Markus Naslund) 14:18
»» BLUES 1, CANUCKS 1
Naturally, the period had to end horribly. A Cajanek shot from the left side looked to be covered up by Auld, but it wasn't and Cajanek was able to get the puck again, take it behind the net, and come out the other side. Cajanek then put a shot on the net through traffic that was stopped, but Vladimir Orszagh was on the doorstep and stuffed it into the net.
»» 3, SAINT LOUIS, Vladimir Orszagh 4 (Cajanek, Tkachuk) 17:00
»» BLUES 2, CANUCKS 1
Ohlund lost control of the puck behind his own net and Mark Rycroft came away with it and put a shot on the net from the left side that was stopped. Ryan Johnson came from the right side to hack at the puck and was stopped, but Rycroft made good on the rebound to turn a tie game into a two-goal lead for the Blues in the final three minutes of the period.
»» 4, SAINT LOUIS, Rycroft 5 (Ryan Johnson, Dallas Drake) 19:43
»» BLUES 3, CANUCKS 1
The Canucks outshot the Blues 13-11 in the period. Saint Louis was 0-for-2 on the power play while the Canucks were 0-for-1.
2nd period
Patrick Lalime took over in the Saint Louis net. Ohlund passed down the left-wing boards to Brendan Morrison in the corner, who passed to Naslund behind the net. Naslund found Bertuzzi parked in front of the net and hit him with a pass, and Bertuzzi punched it through. If only it always worked like that this season.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Todd Bertuzzi 20 (Naslund, Brendan Morrison) 3:57
»» BLUES 3, CANUCKS 2
Vancouver doubled up the Blues 12-6 in shots for the period (25-17 overall). The Canucks were 1-for-3 (1-for-4) on the power play while the Blues were 0-for-2 (0-for-4).
3rd period
Jarkko Ruutu and Kevin Bieksa got loose on a 2-on-1 and Ruutu took the shot from the left, which was stopped by Patrick Lalime. Johnson smushed Bertuzzi into the boards near the left point later in the period. Later in the period, the Blues had a two-man advantage, and Tkachuk got the puck off a faceoff and beat everyone to the net, deking and putting it past Auld.
»» 6, SAINT LOUIS, powerplay, Tkachuk 10 (unassisted) 7:45
»» BLUES 4, CANUCKS 2
One last good Auld save came against Scott Young on a breakaway from the back of the right circle. The Canucks again outshot the Blues 8-7 (33-24 total). They were 0-for-3 on the power play (1-for-7) while the Blues were 1-for-3 (1-for-7). Auld stopped 20 shots.
Three stars -- (1) Saint Louis' Keith Tkachuk, (2) Saint Louis' Mark Rycroft, (3) Saint Louis' Petr Cajanek
skater, goals-assists-points
Naslund 0-2-2
Bertuzzi 1-0-1
Park 1-0-1
Morrison 0-1-1
This is the type of loss -- a home loss, no less -- for which the Canucks will kick themselves at the end of the season if they end up missing the playoffs. The Blues, especially with an overweight Keith Tkachuk and without the traded Doug Weight, were supposed to be beatable. The Canucks couldn't beat Curtis Sanford and Pat Lalime in the Saint Louis net.
The Canucks were 27-for-59 (45%) in the faceoff circle. Brendan Morrison was a stellar 11-for-16, Trevor Linden was 1-for-5, Ryan Kesler was 4-for-10, Henrik Sedin was 8-for-19, Josh Green was 3-for-7, and Todd Bertuzzi was 0-for-3. Bertuzzi led the team with five shots. Richard Park and Markus Naslund had four shots apiece. Morrison, Linden, and Henrik Sedin had three shots apiece. Kesler led the team by delivering five hits while Jarkko Ruutu laid out three of his own.
No Canucks ended up on the plus side of the plus-minus ledger in this game. Mattias Ohlund, Morrison, Naslund, and Bertuzzi (kinda the guys that are supposed to carry this team) all finished minus-2 for Vancouver. Kevin Bieksa and Prestin Ryan were minus-1. All other Canuck skaters were even.
The loss puts Vancouver at 32-20-5 (2-3 shootout, two overtime losses), good for 69 points, but leaving them two points behind Calgary for the lead in the Northwest Division.
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