Monday, April 03, 2006
GAME 77: KINGS 1, CANUCKS 0
Kings 1, Canucks 0
[initial partial post]
You've got to be kidding me, right? The Kings just recently had gotten off a road trip through western Canada where they'd basically left themselves dead to rights in the playoff race. They came into this matchup with Vancouver having beaten the Dallas Stars 1-0. The Canucks had everything to play for, they just had to play like it.
I can't decide whether this team is more frustrating than the 2003-2004 team, but it's hard to say. That team won the division and made the playoffs. This one would need a miracle to win the division and might need something just short of that to make the playoffs at all.
But really, this team doesn't deserve to make the playoffs. What'll they do if they got there anyway? They haven't proven they can play sixty minutes of hockey on a game in, game out basis, so what's the point?
One thing about this game, though -- Alex Auld stood on his head. Dan Cloutier's been out for nearly the whole season, sure, but Auld has done a fine job. Now if the team just picked him up, maybe they'd be talking about a division title right now.
Anyway, enough loathing...
1st period
none
2nd period
»» 1, LOS ANGELES, powerplay, Pavol Demitra 23 (Joe Corvo, Lubomir Visnovsky) 13:13
3rd period
none
Three stars -- (1) Los Angeles' Mathieu Garon, (2) Auld, (3) Los Angeles' Pavol Demitra
skater, goals-assists-points
none for Vancouver
The loss combined with seemingly every other team in front of them winning on the same night left the Canucks in a very unenviable position. They are now 40-30-7 (4-4 shootout, three overtime losses) and still stuck on 87 points. They are now eighth in the Western Conference and more than likely will be out of the top eight before the must-win game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. Every team in front of the Canucks has games in hand which will be played between now and Saturday. The Sharks two points behind the Canucks have three such games, the Kings have one. Edmonton one point ahead of the Canucks has one game. Colorado is three points ahead and has two. Anaheim is three points ahead and has three. Calgary is six points up in the Northwest Division lead and has two games on Vancouver. The Canucks may have already dug their grave.
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