What more could I ask for than a thrilling victory like this one? Alexander Burrows came up ridiculously huge with a shorthanded goal as time ran out in the third period to finally break the evil streak, as the Blue & Green came up with a home win (yeah, you read that right) 4-3 over the recently hot Carolina Hurricanes. AB's burial of the rubber with 1:22 remaining lit Canucks Nation on fire, and gave us hope that we aren't completely destined to be jacked from playoff contention.
Speaking about the goal, Mats Sundin said, "It seems like when things are not going great it takes a goal like that to get out of a funk." Indeed, and Mats got himself out of a fun as well at 15:10 of the second period. It all started 2:21 into the game, when Kevin Bieksa nailed home a power play slapper that deflected off of Cam Ward's glove and into the net. It was the Grimsby, ON native's seventh goal of the campaign (his 27th point of the season) and it got things off on the right foot in B.C. Of course, lately we are always wary of the Orca blowing it. Ryan Kesler helped us feel a little more in belief of a win with a goal about 10 minutes later. As he fell to his knees (again), he got off a shot that beat the Cam from Alberta yet again, and with Luongo standing tall against nary a challenge, we were up by 2 heading into the initial break. As you know with the recent Canucks play, this would be the time when the Blue & Green are ready to give something up. After a bad high sticking call on Bieksa, Joe Corvo nailed a power play goal, and about 20 seconds later Joni Pitkanen got another one past Lu that evened things up, and made 7th Canucks around both nations a little anxious. There wouldn't be a need to worry at the second intermission, though, as infrequently connecting Mats Sundin got a goal on a pass from Pavol Demitra to grab the lead back at 15:10. "Mr. Torontonian" punched the glass behind the net after the goal, and the reaction of the home fans seemed to say, "All is forgotten...at least until you don't score against the Hawks on Saturday." By the way, Demitra-Sundin-Kesler seemed to do pretty damned well for itself (with 7 points in the game), but I'll still fight against breaking up the Burrows-Kesler-Bernier line no matter how well they do. At 18:43 of the middle frame, Matty Ohlund went off for a high stick, and it would come back to bite Vancouver about a half of an hour later. Eric Staal opened the third period with a pretty goal just 33 seconds in and we were all knotted up. The 'Canes got called for two goaltender interference calls (Bayda at 3 even and LaRose at 8:44), but the Canucks couldn't convert with the man advantage. Then, it was another Mattias Ohlund penalty that would do the trick. As the puck was left sitting near the boards, Kesler rushed toward it against a Canes player and was able to chip the puck out to center ice. It would have been an adequate clearance, but it ended up being so much more. Alex Burrows was streaking toward center ice, received the chip out by Kesler, and was off and skating on a wide open breakaway one on one with Cam Ward. Backhand to forehand to a backhand top shelf shot and it was all over with one glorious horn.
The media picked the three stars of 1) Sundin, 2) Ryan Kesler, and 3) Alex Burrows, which is close. I'm going with 1) Burrows, 2) Kesler, and 3) Kevin Bieksa (sorry, but I just don't give a grizzled veteran first star because he hasn't scored in a long time and then does.
The win is the first for Vancouver since January 7 (that's right, almost a month), and brings the record that much further away from the .500 mark at 23-20-8 (54 points). In the division, we're sitting -10 of the Flames (still, unbelievable), -1 of the Wild (we're coming to get you!), +1 on Edmonton, and +5 on the lowly Avs. Currently, Van-ca-tesh sits in the #8 spot in the West (let's go playoffs!), but only barely. While the 'Nucks have 54 points (one back of #7 Minnie and #6 Dallas and three back of #5 Anaheim), we also are just above the dreaded nine hole (1 point up on the 9/10/11 trio of Edmonton, Columbus, and Phoenix). Dicey, I know. It is obviously game on this Saturday in a classic LSF battle between my Vancouver Canucks and Jon's Chicago Blackhawks. It hasn't been pretty for the Canucks against the Hawks this year (a 2-4 loss on 10/19 and a 1-3 loss on 12/20), but I have a pretty good feeling that we are going to nail another big one. After about 10 sake bombs, I'll be ready to push play on the DVR and watch the home team prevail (it's in British Columbia, you nerd).
In case you are a Canucks nerd like me, which you aren't, I'll let you know that the Manitoba Moose are 34-14-0-3 (71 points) and leading their AHL division by a measly one point over the equally solid Grand Rapids (Peter) Griffins. Elder statesman Jason Krog leads the team with 17 goals, 33 assists, and a stellar +15 rating. He's followed by Michel Ouellet (40 points), Mark Cullen (34 points), and Michael Grabner (28 points). Meanwhile, in net, it has been Cory Schneider with an 18-3 record and the recently demoted Curtis Sanford looking sharp at 2-0-1 with a 0.80 GAA.
Adios, punks.
2 comments:
it so on
Oh, "It on," is it?
Post a Comment