Monday, April 10, 2006
GAME 79: MIGHTY DUCKS 4, CANUCKS 2
Mighty Ducks 4, Canucks 2
[initial partial post]
Guess who just lost control of their own destiny? The Canucks could run the table in their final three games and not make the playoffs. Their hopes aren't that great. Among the possible scenarios include Dwayne Roloson continuing to be shaky in net for Edmonton. Of course, there have been nights over the past week where the out-of-town scoreboard has turned against the Canucks in every direction.
But in this game, their fate landed at the hands of a team run by ex-Vancouver GM Brian Burke. Oh, the sick irony. In Burke's words, the problem with Vancouver is that they lost two of their top four defensemen in the offseason, and if you did that to any team, they wouldn't be that great. Top that off with a period shortly after the Olympic break where the Canucks had Nolan Baumgartner out with an injury for a short time that already added to Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo, and Ed Jovanovski on the shelf, and it was pure carnage on the blueline for the Canucks. In that aspect, you might say it's a minor miracle the Canucks are even in this position. However, if you've followed this team game to game, you know they haven't been playing anywhere close to their potential since the calendar turned over to 2006.
Again, the Canucks ran into a problem they've had so much -- failing to play 60 minutes of good hockey.
1st period
»» 1, ANAHEIM, Scott Niedermayer 13 (Andy McDonald) 0:35
»» 2, ANAHEIM, Rob Niedermayer 15 (Corey Perry, Todd Marchant) 10:34
»» 3, ANAHEIM, powerplay, McDonald 31 (Teemu Selanne, S Niedermayer) 14:10
2nd period
»» 4, ANAHEIM, Selanne 39 (Chris Kunitz, McDonald) 7:47
»» 5, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Ryan Kesler 10 (Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund) 13:41
3rd period
»» 6, VANCOUVER, powerplay, Anson Carter 32 (Nolan Baumgartner, Daniel Sedin) 6:14
Three stars -- (1) Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere, (2) Carter, (3) Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer
skater, goals-assists-points
Carter 1-0-1
Kesler 1-0-1
Baumgartner 0-1-1
Bertuzzi 0-1-1
Naslund 0-1-1
D Sedin 0-1-1
The loss dropped the Canucks to 41-31-7 (4-4 shootout, three overtime losses), good for 89 points with three games to go. They are still ninth in the Western Conference, two points back of Edmonton, who is currently eighth. The Canucks have a back-to-back against San Jose and end the season with Colorado. The Canucks are three points back of Colorado, who is seventh in the West with a game in hand. Vancouver is four back of San Jose, who is sixth with a game in hand. Those are the teams left that the Canucks could possibly catch. If they were to make the playoffs, they would be no higher than a sixth seed. But hey, this is a sport where eighth seeds have beaten one seeds, so anything can happen. They just have to get in, though, and everything has to fall into place.
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