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Another Win Bites The Dust |
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I’m not sure what I’m more upset about, the fact that the Canucks silver-plattered another win away or the fact I had to re-write this Blog. I had been writing it as the game was going on and everything was going pretty smoothly for both me and the Canucks. I was planning on posting it soon after the game ended, but then … everything changed. It all changed … and I didn’t feel like starting over last night.
I decided to start over this morning and the Canucks are gonna have to start over tomorrow in Chicago … they just can’t continue to give away points like that if they have any serious thoughts of post season play. Two straight games, and waaaaay too many times to count this year, they have given up 3rd period leads and all you have to do is look at the standings and see how crucial every single point is.
In last night’s loss to the we-have-not-hoisted-the-white-flag-just-yet Columbus Blue Jackets the home side blew a 2-0 lead in a 70 second span. The game before, they let the Colorado Avalanche up off of the mat with 15 seconds left in the game. Holding 3rd period leads is supposed to be a staple of this team and last night’s overtime loss soils the Canucks perfect record when holding the lead after two as it now falls to 23-0-1 … the last of the hallowed stats finally falls by the wayside.
Last night was the first 2-0 lead this team has had in two months since shutting out the Rangers 3-0 January 3rd and with the way Roberto Luongo has been playing of late, it looked to be money in the bank and possibly his 7th goosegg of the year. A shutout win would have been a very fitting way to respond to the late-game collapse against the AV’s, and, even more appropro after Luongo’s supposed throwing-his-team-mates-under-the-bus rant after that game.
This was another opportunity for them to show us all that they have the mettle, the guts, the character and the belief in themselves to get the job done in the face of, yet, more adversity. Through two periods they had complete control of the game. Not only were they leading, but they seemed to be returning to their style of solid positional play in their own end and keeping the opposition to the outside.
Then came the third period … and a new Blog!
Whether it’s more bad luck, the team just being cursed by the hockey gods, or they’re just not good enough to get the job done I don’t know, but the third period was a microcosm of how this season has gone for the Canucks. The first goal was another of those how-the-heck-did-that-thing-go-in goals that we have seen scored against our team so many times this year it makes me sick. There are about 10 guys within 5 feet of the blue and somehow the puck goes up and over everyone, fluttering in the wind like a wounded duck and manages to fall in behind Luongo. There’s lucky goals, then there’s those why-us? goals, and that was definitely one of ‘em.
Just over a minute later Willie Mitchell makes an ill-advised pass at the Columbus blue line with all his mates up the ice with him and the puck bounces off of a skate right to their stud Rick Nash just coming off of the bench, who streaks in all alone on Luongo and shows off his talents with a beautiful move to the back-hand. You could feel the air sucked out of GM Place with that goal … uh oh, here we go again we were all saying, and we were right.
They had their chances after that, especially the twins and Naslund on the power play, but it was not to be. On we went to overtime and we witnessed one of the worst 4 on 4 shifts we have ever seen by the Sedins to start the extra frame. They rarely had the puck and when they did, they couldn’t make a pass if their lives (and season) depended on it.
That’s two straight games, and 3 of the last 4 with nary a point from the guys who look and play the same. The number one line did have two goals disallowed in the game, both of which I thought were good calls, but that is simply not good enough. They had their chances, tons of them in fact, but once again showed a lack of finishing capabilities that supports the naysayer’s theories that we’ll never go anywhere with these guys as our number one unit.
The best line on the night was once again Swedeless as Mason Raymond, Ryan Shannon and Taylor Pyatt continued their strong play as individuals and as a trio. The line ended up a combined plus 5 on the game and shift after shift displayed a complete game by using their speed and puck possession skillz with more than a few good hits sprinkled in.
The Canucks’ first goal was scored by Shannon but it was all Pyatt. The big winger had a very long PK shift that saw him almost score himself and ended with him making a very nice toe-drag-spin one on two at the blue line to give the puck to a trailing Trevor Linden. Linden in turn made a nice play spinning and dishing to Shannon who had just come out of the box and his shot made it through the screen provided by Pyatt in front.
I’ve talked a lot about Raymond this year, and once gain he impressed in this game. The 2-0 goal was created by his speed and tenacity on a puck retrieval as he initiated contact with the Blue Jacket defender sending him to the ice. Pyatt followed that up with another big hit behind the net and the puck eventually found its way to Sami Salo, who continued his offensive resurgence, by ripping home his 5th goal of the year, giving him 12 points in his last 18 games.
Shannon now has 7 points in his last 7 games and has taken that disastrous minus 7 stat to a much more respectable minus 2 since his recall 9 games ago. He definitely has some chemistry with Raymond, and Pyatt has played very well this year on pretty much every line Vigneault has put him on … and that has been too many to count. Unfortunately for Shannon, I have a feeling he is gonna get the short end of the stick when Brendan Morrison returns in the next couple of weeks as neither of them can be effective on the 4th line so one of ‘em will have to sit and you know it won’t be Mo after he’s been out for so long.
I mentioned the ineffectiveness of the top line, but I still want to give Markus Naslund props. Obviously he’s not scoring, but he continues to work very hard and is showing he’s not afraid to go into the dirty areas. He’s also skating pretty good after suffering a bit of a groin injury last week and is using that skating ability numerous times back-checking. There have been more than a few games I have slagged him for his lack of effort and indifference, but the guy has been working his butt off in recent games.
Last night we finally got to see our “Top 6” all play in the same game. Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa’s minus 3 tallies on the game and the final result obviously would lead us to believe it was not so good, but I think it will take a few games for them all to get used to the pairings again. Mitchell and Bieksa were a great tandem last year and this was their first game playing almost every shift together this year. They had some bounces go against them, but I’m not writing them off just yet.
Matt Pettinger started to look a lot more comfortable playing alongside Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows. The guy definitely has NHL wheels and started using his size in this game throwing 3 hits in the first period alone. He’s genuinely happy to be playing here for the team he watched growing up and the early returns look very promising as he should easily be an upgrade over what we have gotten from Matt Cooke in the last two years.
The Grades …
A … nope!
B Luongo, Naslund, Raymond, Pyatt
C+ Ohlund, Salo, Edler, Miller, Henrik, Kesler, Burrows, Pettinger, Shannon, Rypien, Linden
C Mitchell, Bieksa, Daniel, Cowan
The month of February finished at 6-1-5 and is the team’s second best month of the year after November. March gets started tomorrow with a nooner in Chicago followed by a return engagement with Avalanche in Colorado on Tuesday which may be Peter Forsberg’s first game if he doesn’t play tonight against LA.
With all the doom and gloom that this season has been the Canucks are still just 3 points out of the division lead with a game in hand on all three of their rivals. It’s still doable … but the 3rd period collapses have to stop NOW … please and thank you!
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