Thursday, March 02, 2006
GAME 61: PREDATORS 3, CANUCKS 1
Predators 3, Canucks 1
[posted in full Mon 10 Jul ~10:46p]
Fresh off the big win at Calgary, the Canucks hoped to keep the emotional high and parlay it into a couple of points against the Nashville Predators, who had slumped before the Olympic break. The injury woes of the Canucks' defense were still in force, with the top three defensemen still being out.
1st period
none
The Canucks outshot Nashville 13-8 in the period. They were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Predators were 0-for-2.
2nd period
Fresh off a faceoff to start a two-man advantage (hook by Marek Zidlicky and puck over glass by Shea Weber), Nolan Baumgartner had the puck inside the blueline and found Markus Naslund down low on the right/short side, who beat Tomas Vokoun above the left shoulder.
»» 1, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Markus Naslund 28 (Nolan Baumgartner, Todd Bertuzzi) 2:15
»» CANUCKS 1, PREDATORS 0
Just past the halfway point, the puck was dumped into the Nashville zone and Steve Sullivan crushed Kevin Bieksa into the boards. Seconds later, Daniel Sedin had a shot blocked by Ryan Suter, but Anson Carter swooped in on the right side to get a good shot on the net, but it was stopped by the pad of Vokoun. Later, Jarkko Ruutu had a quick shot in the slot stopped by Vokoun. Late in the period, Paul Kariya faked a shot from the back of the right circle and passed to Yanic Perreault down low on the right side, who got the puck through on Alex Auld.
»» 2, NASHVILLE, powerplay, Yanic Perreault 21 (Paul Kariya, Adam Hall) 17:01
»» PREDATORS 1, CANUCKS 1
Vancouver badly outshot Nashville 17-7 in the period (30-15 overall). They were 1-for-5 (1-for-8) on the power play while Nashville was 1-for-2 (1-for-4).
3rd period
Right out of the gate, a pass went to the right point for Nolan Baumgartner. Baumgartner passed to Bertuzzi, but it went off of him and to center, where Greg Johnson got a hold of it and pushed it through center as a 2-on-1 developed with Adam Hall, but Johnson ended by putting the puck through Auld from the right side.
»» 3, NASHVILLE, shorthanded, Greg Johnson 7 (unassisted) 0:45
»» PREDATORS 2, CANUCKS 1
A pass through center was picked off by Scottie Upshall, who took the puck into the Vancouver zone and dodged Ruutu, then centered to Daniel Hamhuis in the slot, whose shot was nicely stopped by Auld, but not covered. That's when Mike Sillinger, just traded to the Predators from Saint Louis, made good on the rebound.
»» 4, NASHVILLE, Mike Sillinger 24 (Daniel Hamhuis, Scottie Upshall) 6:09
»» PREDATORS 3, CANUCKS 1
Vancouver outshot Nashville 12-5 (42-20 total). They were 0-for-3 (1-for-11) on the power play while the Predators were 0-for-3 (1-for-7). Auld stopped 17 shots in the game.
Three stars -- (1) Nashville's Tomas Vokoun, (2) Nashville's Greg Johnson, (3) Nashville's Scottie Upshall
skater, goals-assists-points
Naslund 1-0-1
Baumgartner 0-1-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Mike Sillinger has done a number on the Canucks this year.
In the faceoff circle, Vancouver was 27-for-65 (42%). Brendan Morrison was 5-for-14, Trevor Linden was 7-for-13, Ryan Kesler was a nice 9-for-12, Henrik Sedin was a brutal 5-for-19, and Todd Bertuzzi was an icky 1-for-7. Matt Cooke led the team with seven shots. Bertuzzi and Anson Carter had six shots apiece. Jarkko Ruutu led the team by dishing out six hits. Bryan Allen led the team by blocking four shots.
The Canucks had no one on the plus side of the plus-minus ledger. Bertuzzi was the lone minus-2. Minus-1 skaters were Nolan Baumgartner, Morrison, Markus Naslund, Kesler, Cooke, Kevin Bieksa, Steve McCarthy, and Ruutu. All other Canuck skaters were even.
The loss bumped the Canucks to 34-22-5 (2-3 shootout, two overtime losses), good for 73 points and still a lead in the Northwest Division, though it's basically not a lead since Calgary has two games in hand. Vancouver has 21 games left in the regular season.
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