Sunday, March 05, 2006
GAME 63: BLUES 4, CANUCKS 1
Blues 4, Canucks 1
[posted in full Sat 29 Jul ~10:18p]
The 115th consecutive sellout at GM Place was on hand to watch the Canucks hopefully avoid being swept in a season series by the cellar-dwelling Saint Louis Blues. The Canucks had been embarrassed in the three previous meetings, which they lost by a combined score of 12-3. To heighten the urgency, the Northwest Division is still very tightly packed, with all teams mere points from being division winners or out of the playoffs. How would Vancouver fare?
1st period
Early on, Markus Naslund missed a goal by just inches high on the glove side of Curtis Sanford in the Saint Louis net. Not long after, Sanford nearly put the puck in his own net. In a sequence that echoed many bad Canuck starts this season, Naslund hooked Dean McAmmond skating across center, who then dished off to Jay McClement, who pushed a centering pass from the left faceoff dot to Scott Young on the doorstep, who put it through on Auld's glove side.
»» 1, SAINT LOUIS, Scott Young 13 (Jay McClement, Dean McAmmond) 2:18
Between the first goal and the next, Keith Tkachuk horsecollared Ryan Kesler and drew a high-stick penalty and Barrett Jackman cross-checked Jarkko Ruutu, giving the Canucks a two-man advantage on which they didn't score. With about nine minutes left in the period, Ryan Johnson had Alex Auld beat but shot one off the post. Auld later pokechecked Tkachuk out in front. McClement had the puck in the right-wing corner and found Jackman, who was sprinting away from Anson Carter (who had checked him into the boards just seconds earlier) and into the slot. Jackman scored through some mild traffic in front.
»» 2, SAINT LOUIS, Barrett Jackman (McClement, Dennis Wideman) 17:58
Naslund tried pulling a spin-o-rama move late in the period, but couldn't quite put the puck through. The Canucks were badly outshot 14-6 in the period. Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play.
2nd period
Lee Stempniak nearly scored but was stopped by Auld. Right after that, Christian Backman unleashed a slapshot from the high slot that hit some inner post and went through.
»» 3, SAINT LOUIS, Christian Backman 4 (Lee Stempniak, Dallas Drake) 8:49
The Sedins and Carter worked their magic again, getting a couple of chances on Sanford that were stopped but then staying with it as Daniel Sedin from the right side found Carter on the stick side of Sanford, who went top shelf as he drew a high stick on the play.
»» 4, VANCOUVER, Anson Carter 24 (Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin) 16:41
Inside the final minute, Sanford withstood a small flurry of shots and made a bigtime save on Carter. The Blues outshot the Canucks 11-10 in the period (25-16 overall). The Blues were 0-for-2 on the power play (0-for-4 overall) while the Canucks never had a power play in the period.
3rd period
To help the Canucks' cause, Richard Park drew five and ten for checking from behind. With the resulting five-minute power play almost over, Trevor Linden couldn't quite clear the puck, resulting in the Blues working the puck for another chance as McClement passed to Tkachuk on the goal line on the right side, who centered to Stempniak, who put the puck into a wide-open net on Auld's stick side.
»» 5, SAINT LOUIS, powerplay, Stempniak 11 (Keith Tkachuk, McClement) 11:49
Later, Todd Bertuzzi and Tkachuk got into a fight. Further on in the period, the Canucks had a goal waved off. Carter said a shot hit his shoulder and he didn't bat it to anyone with his hand, then the goal went in, but Kerry Fraser didn't think so and waved it off. Saint Louis outshot the Canucks one last time at 10-8 (35-24 total). They were 1-for-2 (1-for-6 total) on the power play while Vancouver was 0-for-2 (0-for-4). Auld stopped 31 shots.
Three stars -- (1) Saint Louis' Jay McClement, (2) Saint Louis' Curtis Sanford, (3) Saint Louis' Keith Tkachuk
skater, goals-assists-points
Carter 1-0-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
H Sedin 0-1-1
Congratulations to the Canucks, who were swept in a four-game series by possibly the worst team in the NHL this season, the Saint Louis Blues.
In the faceoff circle, the Canucks won 29 of 57 (51%). Brendan Morrison was 11-for-18, Trevor Linden was 4-for-6, Ryan Kesler was 7-for-13, Henrik Sedin was 5-for-15 (ouch), and Todd Bertuzzi was 2-for-3. Anson Carter led the team in shots with five while Bryan Allen and Henrik Sedin had three apiece. Matt Cooke and Kevin Bieksa led the team in hits by dishing out three each. Markus Naslund and Kesler led with three takeaways. Sven Butenschon led with four blocked shots, and Allen also blocked three.
On the plus-minus list, only Henrik Sedin and Butenschon were plus skaters, and both were plus-1. As for the minuses, Morrison, Naslund, Kesler, Cooke, Bieksa, Steve McCarthy, and Carter were all minus-1. Nolan Baumgartner and Allen were minus-2. All other Canuck skaters were even.
The Calgary Flames had the night off, and the Canucks missed a chance to tie them atop the Northwest Division. The loss dropped them to 35-23-5 (3-3 shootout, two overtime losses), good for 75 points, two back of the Flames, who now have three games in hand, so the lead's effectively a lot bigger than just two points. The Canucks are a mere one point ahead of Colorado and three up on Edmonton within the division. Edmonton is currently eighth in the Western Conference. Vancouver is fifth. Nashville is fourth, and they travel to face Vancouver on Thursday.
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