Welcome over to our house for the big game, Jon. Now try not to cry on the way home. The Canucks played way over their heads against the American team that just doesn't lose to squads from America Jr. Sweden's very own AE went career-style nuts with a goal and three assists (the youngster's first four point game), Ryan Kesler nailed home two more goals (to give him five in his last three games), and Luongo didn't only gave up one "should have saved" kind of goal (as the other two were a) on a breakaway and b) on the power play) in Vancouver's gigantic 7-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
By gigantic win, I mean gigantic. Henrik Sedin opened things up at just 53 seconds in with a sneaky goal passed Huet, Mats Sundin scored (his fourth, by the way, Brandon) on the power play with an open net goal anyone could have scored, and Ryan Kesler notched a really nice power play marker at 13:50. What a start! And, they wouldn't blow it. The second period saw goals from Karen's favorite (Stevie Bernier), Brandon's favorite (Deuce Deuce Sedin), and the media darling (Alex Edler) to jump the Orca out to a 6-0 lead. Fans were sitting at GM Place with a huge grin on their collective face for the first time in a long time. With the Canucks on the power play, Kris Versteeg (it's "Ver-sh-teg", right?) got a breakaway to nail home a shortie at 18:52. The second intermission saw an interview with Ryan Kesler, who was called "second pick" after the Blackhawks refused to engage in any interviews after falling behind 1-6. Just kind of shows what kind of team they are. Honestly, it's weak. Adam "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" Burish and Martin Havlat would chip in two more against El Roberto, but the Canucks were just too much for the Windy City Players, as shown by Ryan Kesler's breakaway goal at 13:09 of the final frame. The box score will say unassisted, but you'd have to give the assist to the Hawk defender who flat fell down, allowing the Livonia, MI native to take the puck at attack the second Chicago keeper of the game. A nice "slam on the breaks and score" kind of finish on the breakaway ended things at 7-3. Kesler is going completely nuts, with 8 points in his last 3 games. I mean, completely nuts.
I almost completely agree with the three stars (Edler is a yes for #1, Kes is an easy #2, and I'll swallow Mats as the #3, even though I think it's lame that he earns a top 3 marker just for scoring a goal), so let's get right to the reason that the Canucks won this game. Take it away, Mr. Luongo, "I let them score a few in practice to really build up their confidence and it paid off. Sometimes you've got to do that as a good teammate. You know, it's the captain's job to make the boys feel good." There you have it. I'll dish out underrated love to Stevie Bernier. The Quebec City native now has 12 goals and 13 assists on the '08/'09 campaign, and he continues to show that he has what it takes (and, he's just 23!).
After today's play, the Canucks dropped back down to #3 in the Northwest with their 24-20-8 (56 points) record. As the weekend ends, Van-ca-tesh sits -8 of Calgary (here we come), -1 of the Wild, even with the Oilers, and +5 on the Avs. Looking at the big picture, the recent 2 game winning steak has the Blue & Green in the #8 spot of the Western Conference. With the Oilers equalling our points in the 9 spot, and Columbus (carry the flag!) just 1 point back, the pressure is out. Looking up, we have Minnie (+1) in the 7 spot and the Ducks and Stars (+3) in the 6 and 5 spot respectively. Things are as tight as my Paul Frank jeans after a midnight 3 by 3 and animal fries. Ninja style.
See you March 29, Jon.
0 comments:
Post a Comment