After getting streak up to four straight games thanks to an impressive come from behind win against Phoenix on Thursday (thank you, Ilya Bryzgalov), my boys from Van-ca-tesh went for a fifth straight in a back to back matchup with Dallas. Prince George, BC native Jason LaBarbera was in the pipes for our captain, and despite some simply mind boggling saves, the Orca dropped the match to the Stars by the final score of 1-2.
My first thing about this game is that if Joel Lundqvist and Henrik "The Beast" Lundqvist played on the same team, the would have a wicked rivalry with Vancouver: a battle of teams with twins would be so much fun. Of course, Joe hasn't been that good, no goals in the regular season since March 15, 2008; but also of course, he was the man with the plan for the Stars in the battle against the Blue & Green. The game started out all apples for Vancouver, with Taylor Pyatt simply walking in on Turco and taking a hard wrister that went straight through the 5 hole as if there wasn't even a goalie. For TP, it was the seventh goal of the year, and the Canucks would sneak out of the opening frame with a 1-0 lead. The second period wouldn't go quite our way. Loui Eriksson got one on the power play, and that jerk (with a jerk for a twin) from Are, Swede would get what would be the game winner at 16:27 of the middle brick. The rest of the game would have silence in the twine, but it wouldn't have silence around the net. Dallas broke on an unprecedented three on none breakaway, only to be stonewalled by The Barbarian, and would follow that up with another breakaway that ended in the same result. How many times did the 18,532 fans at the American Airlines Center stand up thinking they had a goal, only to clutch their heads in sadness once they realized that LaBarbera had stolen yet another one. The Barber (do I like that better than "Barbarian?") stole the show, and did plenty to keep the 'Nucks close enough to get back into it. Unfortunately, the squad was all scored out after nabbing 21 goals in their previous four tests. On this night, it would be a loss in the crucial race for the top 8.
I'll also give credit where credit is due. Turco came away with some mighty saves as well, earning himself the first star of the game. The Saul Ste. Marie, Ontario native (for some reason, I always thought he was American) finished with 32 saves, stopping Deuce Deuce 7 times, turning Wellwood away on 6 occasions, and even turning back 5 blasts from the X-Man. Nice work by the enemy keeper (although not as nice as the good guy's goalie).
Crashing back down to reality after an amazing run (that all started with Chicago, thank you very much), the Fightin' Orca are 26-21-8 (60 points). The #2 spot in the division is -9 of leading Calgary, and only +1 on Minnie and +2 on Edmonton. The Avs are in the lonely basement with 51 messily points. Looking at the bigger picture, the Canucks are in the #7 spot in the West. Looking up, we see Anaheim and the aforementioned Dallas at +1, and Chicago out of reach for now at +8. Looking out down below, we've got Minnie and Columbus on our tail (-1), Edmonton still pressing (-2), and Los Angeles (who have been crazy hot based on the "On The Fly" highlights I've been watching), Nashville, and Phoenix still within reach (-5). The Wild, Jackets, Oilers, Kings, Preds, and Coyots all play tonight. Things will definitely change by 10 pm tonight.
The Blue & Green will host a Sunday night affair against the East's #5 team in Montreal (66). As a side note, I'm going to take you on a quick trip to explain why we call Montreal the "Habs." In 1924, Madison Squad Garden owner Tex Rickard was falsely told by someone that the "H" in the logo of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team stood for "habitant", a French word that in those days was used to denote the farmers of Quebec. Rickard was told that the French players on the team came from the farms and that they were therefore "habitants" or "habs." At the time, the Canadiens were recognized as the French Canadian team of the Montreal as opposed to the Montreal Maroons, the English Canadian team. In reality, the team logo of the "C" wrapped around the "H" stands for the "Club de Hockey Canadien." In 1917, as the founding of the NHL, the team changed its name to that from the previous. Club Athletique Canadian. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
So, will the 'Nucks be able to get back to their winning ways against the Habs? My thought would be that Montreal, Quebec native Roberto Luongo just isn't going to lay an egg against his home town squad. The first round draft pick fro 1997 will be ready to shine, so get ready to come away with nothing, Andrei Kostitsyn, you Belorussian bitch. Whoa, wait. I actually have to kind of like Kostitsyn. He was born on my birthday. No wait, he was born on the same day as me, but three years later! Revert to previous sentiment, you Belorussian bitch!
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