Sunday, February 12, 2006
GAME 59: CANUCKS 3, WILD 2 (OT)
Canucks 3, Wild 2 (OT)
[posted in full Sat 8 Jul ~5:30p]
Hopefully the Canucks could motivate themselves for one more win to cap off an enigmatic first half of the season before the Olympic break. After experiencing a half-season whose only consistent trait has been inconsistency (sans the Sedins and Anson Carter), perhaps the Canucks could take this break in the season, recharge their batteries, step back, and come back on the same page and have more things click. For this game, though, a win against a key division rival who hates your guts (the fans certainly do) should be motivation enough.
1st period
The Canucks shook a bad habit of late by getting off to a high-effort and nice fast start. Inside the first minute of play, Markus Naslund held a clearing attempt in the offensive zone and Jarkko Ruutu moved down the slot to put a shot on Manny Fernandez as well as a shot attempt on his own rebound, but Fernandez held strong. Just past five minutes in, Alexandre Burrows had an outlet pass from his own zone picked off by Todd White, at the right point, who centered to Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who tipped the puck on goal but Alex Auld made the quick save. Later, Ryan Kesler took the puck across center and dished to Matt Cooke on the left side. Cooke centered for Todd Bertuzzi, who was knocked over by Wes Walz but got a stick on the puck, shoving it mid-slot where Kesler backhanded it through on Fernandez.
»» 1, VANCOUVER, Ryan Kesler 7 (Todd Bertuzzi, Matt Cooke) 7:56
»» CANUCKS 1, WILD 0
Just past the halfway point, Daniel Sedin centered to Carter, whose shot was deflected by a skate. Just after that shot, Mattias Ohlund delivered a big hit on Brent Burns along the left-wing boards. Just outside the final minute of play off a faceoff, Daniel Sedin on the right side passed to Henrik Sedin, who had a shot stopped in the slot. Carter couldn't quite put back the rebound from the left side. Of course, the fact that the Canucks had all but dominated the period meant little to the Wild. Seconds later, Stephane Veilleux brought the puck up the right side and tried to center, but had the puck go off of Ohlund's skate. The puck knuckled over to Walz, who picked up the puck at the right hash and skated over to the slot to beat Alex Auld on the stick side.
»» 2, MINNESOTA, Wes Walz 11 (Stephane Veilleux, Filip Kuba) 19:17
»» WILD 1, CANUCKS 1
Vancouver outshot the Wild 11-3 in the period. Both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play.
2nd period
Just over five minutes into the period, Cooke took a pass from Richard Park and moved toward the net from the right side. He decided against putting a shot on the net and instead went behind the net and out the other side to the corner, where he passed toward the left point. Waiting there was Bryan Allen, who one-timed a slowish slapshot through Fernandez.
»» 3, VANCOUVER, Bryan Allen 6 (Cooke, Richard Park) 5:28
»» CANUCKS 2, WILD 1
Seconds after the Allen goal, the Wild got a tip-in attempt on which Auld had to make a nifty save. Later, Bouchard passed from the left-wing boards out to Kurtis Foster at the blueline. Foster wristed one to the slot, where it was deflected and stopped through traffic by Auld. The Canucks outshot the Wild 7-6 in the period (18-9 overall). Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play (0-for-3).
3rd period
With just under five minutes elapsed, Walz brought the puck up on the right side and passed to Pascal Dupuis skating beside him. Dupuis passed back to him, and Walz centered to Filip Kuba down low, who swiped at the puck but was stopped. The rebound ended up on the stick of Dupuis in the slot, who wristed it through traffic and through Auld.
»» 4, MINNESOTA, Pascal Dupuis 9 (Walz, Kuba) 4:46
»» WILD 2, CANUCKS 2
On the waning seconds of a Vancouver power play, Cooke stole the puck behind the Minnesota net and nearly tucked one through from behind. Kesler tried another wraparound that was stopped, but Cooke stuffed in the rebound. However, the officials suggested the play had been whistled dead. With just over four minutes remaining, the Sedin line had a good shift. Daniel Sedin put up a shot from the left side that was stopped, then the puck worked around to him again from the right circle, where his shot was stopped again. The Canucks outshot Minnesota 11-7 in the period (29-16 overall). The Wild were 0-for-4 on the power play (0-for-7) while the Canucks were 0-for-2 (0-for-5).
Overtime
Henrik Sedin passed to Daniel Sedin, who took the puck into the Minnesota zone. He skated to the left circle and a bit toward the slot before passing back to Henrik closer to the boards on the left side. Henrik passed right back to Daniel in the high slot, who beat Fernandez high to the glove side on a brilliant goal.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, Daniel Sedin 16 (Henrik Sedin, Allen) 1:26
»» CANUCKS 3, WILD 2
The Canucks outshot the Wild in overtime by providing the only shot (30-16 overall). There were no power plays in the period, so the Wild finished 0-for-7 and the Canucks finished 0-for-5. Auld stopped 14 shots in the game.
Three stars -- (1) Cooke, (2) Minnesota's Wes Walz, (3) D Sedin
skater, goals-assists-points
Allen 1-1-2
Cooke 0-2-2
Kesler 1-0-1
D Sedin 1-0-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Park 0-1-1
H Sedin 0-1-1
Well, that's a way to take some good momentum into the Olympic break. Vancouver's next game on the schedule is on the final day of February in Calgary.
The Canucks were 28-for-56 (50%) in the faceoff circle in the game. Brendan Morrison was 8-for-14, Alexandre Burrows was 2-for-4, Trevor Linden was 4-for-7, Ryan Kesler was 5-for-12, Henrik Seidn was 5-for-10, and Todd Bertuzzi was 3-for-6. It was pretty much a team-wide distribution of half-and-half faceoff numbers for the team. Daniel Sedin led the team with five shots. Mattias Ohlund had four shots, while Bryan Allen and Kesler had a trio of shots apiece. Jarkko Ruutu led the team with four hits and Matt Cooke dished out three. Allen and Sami Salo blocked three shots apiece.
Plus-skating Canucks included Allen, Kesler, Cooke, and Kevin Bieksa at plus-2 as well as Bertuzzi and Tomas Mojzis at plus-1. Minus-skating Canucks were Morrison, Linden, Steve McCarthy, Anson Carter at minus-1 along with Salo as the lone minus-2. All other Canuck skaters were even.
On the same night, the Colorado Avalanche had a 3-2 lead in Detroit before the Red Wings scored the next four goals and won. Thus, Vancouver's win put them back into second place in the Northwest Division going into the Olympic break. After 59 games, the Canucks are 33-21-5 (2-3 shootout, two overtime losses) with 71 points, a single point ahead of Colorado, and three points ahead of Edmonton. They are two points behind Calgary, who has played two less games. Detroit and Dallas lead the Western Conference with 83 and 79 points, respectively.
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