Three words...Bingo Bango Bongo.
Roberto Luongo is on his way to achieving sainthood here in Canuckland. 38 saves, a standing ovation, first star and pretty soon a key to the city after single handedly defeating the Sharks 3-1 on Sunday night.
Luongo always looks like he could play another three periods when he's interviewed after the game. He loves the puck.
"It seems like when we give up more shots, we get more wins," said Luongo after the game. "Whatever works. The guys played a great third period. I thought we were very disciplined in our system and we made some keys plays in getting the puck out and sacrificing our bodies. Some nights I'm going to bail them out, and some nights they're going to bail me out. That's the way it works on a team."
Markus Naslund spoke about the amazing saves Luongo made on the first shot and the rebounds...
"We see it a lot of times in practice too. That's why a lot of us lose confidence - because you can't score on him," joked Naslund. "He's definitely playing outstanding. It's exciting to have a goalie like that because you know you have a chance to go far in the playoffs."
Well done Roberto, well done indeed.
And hello to sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division. Bring on the Blue Jackets!
ps - This is a backwards running thread, starting with the morning skate.
-------------
Wow. This is the second consecutive game the Canucks have given up 22 shots in the second period. Anybody have Willie Mitchell's phone number?
Roberto Luongo must feel like he's being hit with a fully automatic paintball gun. Bap bap bap bap bap...
Despite the high shot totals, the Canucks lead 2-1 after two periods on two strong efforts by Taylor Pyatt(doing his best Todd Bertuzzi impression).
Pyatt went five hole on a breakaway for the first goal and then drove wide and fed Danny Sedin in the slot for the second. Strong work Taylor.
Thornton wasn't as boisterous in the second period, but he did hit Jeff Cowan along the far boards and then Cowan followed him all the way to bench..and I don't think they were discussing dinner plans.
Interesting tidbit: The Sharks media guide lists Justin Timberlake's "Bringing Sexy Back" as the ringtone on Thornton's cell phone. Oh my.
------------
Joe Thornton is an absolute beast. Scrap that. He's a manimal - half man, half animal.
Every time his line is on the ice, it's like a power-play. The GM Place crowd goes silent and Thornton controls the play whenever he touches the puck. He's playing feisty tonight too. During one shift in the first, he nailed Pyatt with a high elbow behind the net and then slammed Mattias Ohlund into the boards.
During a TV timeout with five to play, there was a scrum at the Sharks blueline and Thornton grabbed the top of Matt Cooke's helmet and ripped it off with one swipe. He's like a bear out there.
Scoreless after one, but the Canucks are in tough tonight. Shots were 11-9 for San Jose but only because the Canucks had a late power-play.
---------
I just made my way down to the press room to see if there were any Sharks media guides laying around. No such luck - but I did get a pretty good chuckle.
In a pre-game ritual for most NHL teams, Henrik and Daniel Sedin were outside the dressing room juggling a soccer ball. Both have pretty good left feet I might add. One of the Sedin Twins (don't ask me who) lunged for a ball and got a little too much leg on it. The ball ricocheted off the wall, hit the ceiling and lodged itself in the air conditioning duct.
No worries, though. Hank and Danny, like two misfit brothers found the nearest hockey stick and started poking at it trying to knock it down - speaking Swedish the whole time. It was priceless. Where's a camera when you need it eh?
BTW - this thread is running backwards. Below you'll find info and quotes from this mornings game day skate.
-----------
The Canucks just left the ice after their brisk pre-game skate and now the Sharks are loosening their legs too.
Henrik Sedin was given the day off practice yesterday to nurse a sore foot, but assistant coach Rick Bowness says Hank will play tonight versus the Sharks.
"Henrik is fine - he's 100% and he's ready to go," said Bowness." They'll be no holding him back tonight whatsoever."
Bowness also addressed the status of Willie Mitchell.
"He's still day to day. He had a great skate earlier this morning before the team went on the ice but he's still not to the point where he'll practice with the team," said Bowness. "The good news is that he's on the ice and he had a difficult skate this morning."
Tonight will be a battle of the super powers with the Sharks #1 power-play matched up against the Canucks #1 penalty kill.
Bowness said the key is to not give them any chances.
"Hopefully we'll do our best to stay out of the box because when you're facing the #1 PP you don't want to get them out their five, six, seven times like we've been doing because inevitably they're going to score."
Roberto Luongo spoke about the Sharks and who's more dangerous, Joe Thornton or Jonathan Cheechoo.
"They've got a great team, so we'll have to be on top of our game tonight," said Luongo. "More often than not, Joe is trying to feed Cheechoo, so we've got to make sure we're of both of them on the ice and when Joe's got the puck, we have to know where the other guy is."
Tonight I'll be updating my hockeybuzz blog with updated info during the game from my perch in the press box.
Enjoy the game everyone - it should be a doozy.
[email protected] 
Join the Discussion:
»