Friday, March 03, 2006
GAME 62: CANUCKS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4 (SO)
Canucks 5, Blackhawks 4 (SO)
[posted Tue 11 Jun ~11:31p]
If you lose the first game of a back-to-back set, you always have a chance to quickly erase the memory of the loss by going out and winning the next night. The Canucks went from facing the fourth-place team in the Western Conference to facing a bottom-feeder. Of course, we're getting into the scary part of the season for top teams, the part where the also-rans of the league realize the pressure is off of them and that they're playing for a spot on the team next year or they're playing for pride. That's where the weirdness starts. In a related note, the Norfolk Admirals (AHL affiliate of the Blackhawks) play near me here, and one of my training instructors has an Admiral jersey with Craig Anderson's name and number on it. Anderson would man the Chicago net against the Canucks on this night.
1st period
The Canucks once again didn't get a good start to a game. Bryan Allen lost his footing down low and Rene Bourque from near the left faceoff dot cleaned up a juicy rebound from Alex Auld.
»» 1, CHICAGO, Rene Bourque 12 (Mark Bell, Jim Vandermeer) 1:33
»» BLACKHAWKS 1, CANUCKS 0
Patrick Sharp passed along the right-wing boards to Brent Seabrook at the right point. Seabrook snapped a shot toward the net that was nicely deflected into the net by Bourque. Auld and the Canucks tried to argue the deflection was off a high stick. The goal went under review but was upheld.
»» 2, CHICAGO, powerplay, Bourque 13 (Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp) 8:12
»» BLACKHAWKS 2, CANUCKS 0
Jim Dowd on the left side passed to Jim Vandermeer at the blueline, who rocketed a shot toward the net which was stopped by Auld, but Matthew Barnaby was out in front. Barnaby had one shot stopped before deflecting his own shot into the net on possibly a high stick (no review).
»» 3, CHICAGO, Matthew Barnaby 6 (Vandermeer, Jim Dowd) 8:38
»» BLACKHAWKS 3, CANUCKS 0
Chicago outshot the Canucks 16-12 in the period. The Canucks were 0-for-2 on the power play while Chicago was 1-for-3.
2nd period
Markus Naslund from the right hash centered to Todd Bertuzzi in front of the net, who used the Marek Malik between-the-legs shootout move to shove the puck through on Craig Anderson.
»» 4, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Todd Bertuzzi 21 (Markus Naslund, Nolan Baumgartner) 9:29
»» BLACKHAWKS 3, CANUCKS 1
Anson Carter passed from up high to Henrik Sedin on the right side near the goal line, who was stopped. Henrik Sedin took the puck behind the net and passed back out to Daniel Sedin, who had the puck go off his stick to Carter rushing the slot. Carter shot and was stopped, then Daniel Sedin appeared to jab it in, and both the Canucks' radio and television crews thought in the moment that it was Daniel's goal. In the boxscore, however, it goes to Carter. The goal was scored on a delayed penalty.
»» 5, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Anson Carter 23 (Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin) 10:47
»» BLACKHAWKS 3, CANUCKS 2
Sven Butenschon got caught up the ice as the Blackhawks got loose on a 2-on-1. Kyle Calder rushed up the right side, where he centered across the slot and Bryan Allen got a stick on it, but the puck found its eventual destination in the form of Andy Hilbert, who passed backward to Calder on the doorstep, who jabbed it through on Auld's glove side after Auld had overcommitted on the pass.
»» 6, CHICAGO, Kyle Calder 14 (Andy Hilbert, Todd Simpson) 19:46
»» BLACKHAWKS 4, CANUCKS 2
The Canucks outshot Chicago 9-8 in the period (behind 24-21 overall). They were 2-for-6 on the power play (2-for-8) while Chicago was 0-for-4 (1-for-7).
3rd period
Carter skated along the boards from the left corner and passed back to Henrik Sedin in the corner. Henrik saw a seam and rushed to the net, putting a backhander through on Anderson. Something out of nothing.
»» 7, VANCOUVER, powerplay, H Sedin 15 (Carter, Brendan Morrison) 8:57
»» BLACKHAWKS 4, CANUCKS 3
With a delayed penalty to be called, Matt Cooke near the right corner centered to Brendan Morrison in the slot, who went top shelf on Anderson for his first goal in 14 games.
»» 8, VANCOUVER, Morrison 13 (Matt Cooke, Naslund) 13:04
»» BLACKHAWKS 4, CANUCKS 4
Vancouver badly outshot Chicago 13-4 in the period (34-28 overall). The Canucks were 1-for-4 (3-for-12) on the power play while Chicago was 0-for-2 (1-for-9).
Overtime
The overtime saw Anderson standing on his head in the Chicago net and Baumgartner slashing Calder after the horn. The Canucks outshot Chicago 7-2 in the overtime (41-30 total). No power penalties were whistled in the period, so Vancouver finished 3-for-12 on the power play and the Blackhawks were 1-for-9. Auld stopped 26 shots in the game.
shootout
Naslund -- YES, deke backhand to forehand, off the post and in
Bourque -- NO, deke to backhand, Auld stops him
Ruutu -- NO, forehand stopped
Radim Vrbata -- NO, stopped
Richard Park -- NO, slow, confused, forehand stopped, in too deep
Mikael Holmqvist -- NO, right pad save on a deke to forehand, kinda just ran into Auld's pad
»» CANUCKS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4
Three stars -- (1) Naslund, (2) Chicago's Rene Bourque, (3) Morrison
skater, goals-assists-points
Carter 1-1-2
Morrison 1-1-2
H Sedin 1-1-2
Naslund 0-2-2
Bertuzzi 1-0-1
Baumgartner 0-1-1
Cooke 0-1-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
Well, the Canucks showed some resilience, coming back from down 3-0 to win the game. Of course, another person could wonder why the Canucks were falling behind 3-0 to the Blackhawks in the first place.
In the faceoff circle, the Canucks were 29-for-67 (43%). Brendan Morrison was 9-for-21, Trevor Linden was 4-for-10, Ryan Kesler was 2-for-4, Henrik Sedin was 10-for-19, and Todd Bertuzzi was 3-for-11. Markus Naslund led the team with six shots. Nolan Baumgartner and Bryan Allen had five shots each. Matt Cooke led the team by dishing out four hits. Daniel Sedin led the Canucks with two takeaways. Sven Butenschon led with four blocked shots while Allen and Steve McCarthy blocked a pair apiece.
In the world of plus-minus, there were so many penalties that nobody is grossly plus or minus. Plus-skating Canucks included Morrison, Naslund, and Cooke, all at plus-1. Minus skaters included Baumgartner, Alexandre Burrows, Jarkko Ruutu, Bertuzzi, and Butenschon at minus-1 and Allen, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Anson Carter at minus-2.
The Canucks used possibly the weirdest win of the season to push them to a record of 35-22-5 (3-3 shootout, two overtime losses), good for 75 points and the Northwest Division lead by virtue of having one more point than Calgary, though the Flames have three games in hand. Detroit and Dallas hold up the top two seeds of the Western Conference. It is entirely possible that four of the five teams in the Northwest Division will make the playoffs. Since only one of the teams can win the division, that means the other three will be spread out among seeds four through eight. These teams have been beating the tar out of each other all year in what is the most competitive division on hockey. If you're Detroit or Dallas, I'd be a bit weary of drawing an Edmonton team in the first round -- a team that's beaten the Canucks five out of five teams this season.
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