Huge win for the Canucks over the Red Wings 4-1, winning their 4th straight for the first time this year.
Unlike the last one against Nashiville where very few stood out, tonight you had to look long and hard for someone who didn't play well.
Two huge goals by Kesler in the third, while checking Datsyuk and Zetterberg gave them the cushion they needed.
That's all I'm posting tonight ... not feeling good and am going to bed ... will update the blog tomorrowday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took 11 months to do it, but the Canucks 4-1 victory over the league-best Detroit Red Wings is the first time since March last year that this team was won 4 straight games. To do it at this time of year with the race for playoff seeding so tight says a lot about the character of this team. It was only a scant few weeks ago that they had the worst record in the league in their previous 10 games … with last night's win, their last 10 now shows up as a more than respectable 6-1-3.
Yes they beat an injury depleted Detroit team who played the night before in Calgary, but it’s pretty hard for a Canuck fan to have any sympathy for any team that is gonna complain about key players in the medical room and having a tough travel schedule.
Not that I hear a lot of whining coming out of Detroit, and it to be fair when you’re missing the likes of Lidstrom, Rafalski and Chelios from your blue line you know you’ve got it tough, but we all know the Canucks are the leaders as far as missing top Dmen to injury this year and somehow they have done enough to be sitting in a tie for 5th place in the conference, only one point out of the division lead.
"It says a lot about this group that we were able to [play well] even though we went through a flurry of injures, especially on defense. [it says a lot] that we were still managed to get points and stay in the hunt, so our character and our commitment to ourselves and our team I think was evident and has been evident throughout the year.”
Coach Vigneault’s words after the game portrayed those of a proud papa, and rightly so. He had just witnessed a game where pretty much every single player played well, which was in stark contrast to the 3rd win in the streak 48 hours earlier in Nashville when the team rode on the backs of Roberto Luongo and Mason Raymond to a 3-2 shootout win.
This was definitely a team win, from individuals to specialty teams the Canucks were fully deserving of the two points. They outshot the Wings 35-29 on the night, a team that had only been outshot 3 times in their previous 63 games and had outshot the Canucks by an aggregate total of 120-72 in the previous 3 games this year (for an average of 40-24 per game). As for scoring chances in this contest, I had them at 23-11 in the home side’s favour.
This game started before the game even started when Aaron Downey and Alex Burrows had a little conversation which led to Downey giving the Canuck’s agitator a semi-spear in the chest. This brought both teams into a congregation at centre ice for a little get-together. Nothing other than a few shoves here and there ensued, but as Luongo said after the game, “I knew the boys were ready to play”.
Apparently the referees were ready to play as well after the pre-game festivities as it didn’t take long for them to try and show both teams who was boss. The men in stripes appeared to do anything possible to keep the game from getting out of hand all night by calling many penalties that were of the questionable variety, which unfortunately, took away a lot of flow in the game. This was a game that could have had a lot more entertainment value in it if they had been allowed to play, but the patrons at GM Place left happy just the same.
The only Red Wing goal came off a deflection on a first period power play, and even that was a goal that shouldn’t have been. It came after a face-off in the Canucks end that should have been outside the zone after the puck deflected off of Tomas Homlstrom’s shoulder out of play.
The Canucks ended up killing off 6 of 7 Detroit power plays in the game, including a minute of 5 on 3 when the game was tied at one. As always, your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer and Luongo made some big saves, but props need to be given to more than just the guy between the pipes. Willie Mitchell, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows were on the ice for the entire 2-man-short situation and along with Sami Salo, were excellent all night on the PK. Mitchell had a whopping 7:29 of short-handed ice on the game, followed by Kesler at 5:50, Salo at 4:51 and Burrows at 4:23.
On the other side of the ledger, the Canucks ended up with only 3 power plays of their own but managed to score one, which gives them 12 PPG goals in their last 13 games and has seen their league-wide ranking rise up to 12th in the league. Sami Salo gave the Canucks the lead they would never relinquish half way through the second after a great pass from Henrik Sedin who spotted the big Finn all alone in the slot. Salo now has 11 points in his last 16 games and is a big part of the team’s resurgence at both ends of the ice in recent games.
Alex Edler, who opened the scoring for Vancouver on yet another one-timer, is really starting to show his offensive talents and now has 5 points in his last 5 games. We’ve all spouted praises in regards to the 21-year-old’s play this year, but I think the fact that he’s getting off so many one-timers, and hitting the net with the majority of them, really speaks to not only his confidence, but the fact that there is a lot more to come from the young Swede.
Now that Kevin Bieksa is back, after leading the O from the D for this team last year, things are definitely looking up as far as getting the much needed contributions from the back-end. We all know that they are challenged in the scoring department and getting secondary scoring from the defense is a huge component of winning games for this team.
Is it any wonder why Ryan Kesler’s name comes up in almost every trade rumour that involves the Canucks? This kid isn’t going anywhere and last night’s game, the final one before the deadline on Tuesday, did nothing but put an exclamation point on that and looked like he was telling Dave Nonis “Don’t even think about it!”
Playing against his favourite team as a kid, after growing up in Michigan, and against two ridiculously talented players in Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg all night, the 23 year-old potential Selke candidate put in one of his best games of the year. Not only did the he keep the aforementioned Red Wing stars at bay, who were both minus 2 in the game, but he scored 2 beautiful goals in the third period to give his team the cushion needed to get the win.
Both goals were very similar as they each displayed many of Kesler’s talents that make him an emerging talent in this league. Dashing down the ice with his blazing speed, he was able to protect the puck from defenders with his body while driving to the net and tucking the puck between Jamie Howard’s legs on both plays. His hands and brain are starting to catch up to his feet, and when you combine that with toughness and a total lack of fear, you have the makings of a very good player who is going to continue to only get better.
Canuck fans were stoked about Kesler’s play in this game, and so was he:
"I'm playing with some confidence but I know first and foremost my job is to shut down the other team's top offensive guys and being able to score a couple is just a bonus. Those guys are hard to shut down, they're really shifty, great one-on-one guys and to have them on the minus side of things was awesome. It worked the first time might as well try it the second time," said Kesler, who grew up in Livonia, Mich. of his two goals in the game, "Playing against a team I watched growing up, there was a little extra motivation."
Add in the fact that he’s top 20 in the league in face-offs, always faces the opposition’s top lines, is a phenomenal penalty killer, a notorious hard worker (came back 6 weeks early after hip surgery last year) and even has leadership qualities that could make him a potential Captain for this team, and you have a player that every team in the league would want. The future is impossible to predict, but Kesler looks like a guy that could possibly get you 30 goals and 60 points while being a perennial Selke candidate every year.
The future looks bright category was also, once again, on display with Mason Raymond. Coming off his best game as an NHL’er against Nashville where he had a goal and an assist to go along with the winning goal in the shootout, the 21-year old continued to show that he has the makings of a big league player.
The young speedster failed to hit the score sheet in this game, but he still played a very good game. He continues to impress me with his play along the boards, not letting his size be a factor. He even pulled a Forsberg in the second initiating the contact that was coming from a defender in the corner that allowed him to gain control of the puck and spin out of the corner.
More times than not, the under-sized Raymond beats bigger bodies to the puck, takes the punishment offered, and skates away with the puck. I also counted three times in this game where he was the forward back covering for a pinching defenseman who had gotten caught up ice. His line with Ryan Shannon and Matt Cooke had their third straight strong game and there is no doubt that Raymond has been the driving force in their success. If that line can continue its strong play, both the short-term and long-term prospects for this team are looking very good.
The Grades …
A Luongo, Kesler, Raymond
B Ohlund, Salo, Mitchell, Edler, Shannon, Pyatt
C+ Bieksa, Henrik, Daniel, Naslund, Burrows, Isbister, Cooke, Ritchie
C Weaver, Cooke
The Canucks are now off until Wednesday when the Avalanche come to town, so they will be watching the deadline festivities, or lack-there-of, like the rest of us. I’ve said more than once that I don’t see any major moves for this team, and even though they are front-and-center in many of the rumours surrounding the big names, I stand by that opinion.
Chances are the Canucks will be looking up at a few more teams in the standings than they are now when they hit the ice against Colorado, who may even have Joe Sakic back in the lineup for that game, so they’ll have to keep this streak going if they want to continue to have aspirations of finishing with home-ice for the playoffs.
Enjoy the deadline everyone … hopefully there will actually be some movement to justify all the hype!
.
.
.
Join the Discussion:
»