Roberto Luongo carried Vancouver to their second 1-0 win in the last two games this afternoon, and it has everyone thinking, "Is this our year?" This time around it was a nice 1-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche in overtime that clinched the 2008/2009 Northwest Division Title before the Flames even get a chance to play their last game. H-Bomb scored the OT game winner just 40 seconds in, and Vancouver now has to get their sites set on their first round match against Columbus.
It was a pretty quiet game for a Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Center. Neither team was able to put the rubber in the net over the first 60 minutes, and the penalties were light as well. The Avs earned a too many men in the first, three total penalties graced the middle frame (2 for Vancouver and 1 for Colorad), and each team picked up a penalty on the same play (a hook that was also called a dive) in this third to round things out. Roberto Luongo tried to continue his reign as the greatest goalie in the NHL (which, by the way, I don't agree he has been during this season) earning his 9th shutout of the year, lifting him to #2 in the West. The #1 shutout king? How about Columbus' Steve Mason. Damn. Peter "Czech Mate" Budaj was equally to the task, actually even better in his loss. Budaj make 32 stops on 33 shots compared to Bobby Lu's 22 saves on the 22 put on him by Colorado. Both teams went 0 for 3 on their respective power plays, in a game that saw Vancouver sit a bunch of players as a healthy scratch (Bieksa, Davison, and Hansen) for rest.
The "real" media picked their three stars as follows: 1) Budaj, 2) H-Bomb, and 3) Luongo. It is the third straight game where Lu made it up in the top 3 of the game. Of course, this isn't really the best choice of three stars in my humble opinion. The LSF Underrated 3 stars will go fourth as such: 1) Roberto Luongo (just another shutout win), 2) Hank Sedin (game winning goal), and 3) Daniel "Nintendo DS" Sedin (1 assist, a +1 rating obviously, and 4 shots on goal). I think that covers it.
At 45-27-10, the Canucks have finished the season as the Northwest Division Champions with 100 points. The will either finish up on Calgary by 4, or 2 if the Flames win later tonight, but they will finish up and that is all that matters. It follows, of course, that the 'Nucks will finish the season as the #3 team in the Western Conference and will match up with the #6 team in the first round of the playoffs. As it sits right now, Columbus would be that team. However, with 1 game to go for most teams, Anaheim could climb up to the #6 spot with a win and a Columbus loss. Previously I was cheering for a Chicago round one match up over Columbus. Now I'm praying that the Canucks will get to play Columbus, instead of those Dicks (I mean Ducks. No I don't) from Anaheim. I mean, I'm pretty sure the Orca would triumph over the Mighty Ducks this season in a best of 7, but after losing to them recently, I'm leaning toward wanting to try our luck against the Blue Jackets. The Jackets are playing the Wild tonight, and the Duckies are taking on the Coyotes a little bit later. So, we'll know the match up for my boys sometime around 8:00 pm local time.
P.S. Props to the Sabres for currently leading the Bruins 5-0 in the third period. I like going out in style.
Update (Sunday at 8:05 pm): Well, the Ducks lost in a shootout. As the standings sit right now, we are currently still set to play Columbus. However, there is a slim chance that St. Louis would grab the #6 spot. The Blues play the Avalanche tomorrow at 2:00 pm and a win would set the Canucks first round playoff against the team from one of the most dangerous cities in America. So, who will it be? Columbus or St. Louis? I forgot about the Blues earlier in the post, but now I guess we'll have to wait until about 5:00 pm on Easter to really have the first round locked up. Exciting.
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