Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

[PGT] Flames @ Canucks | Flames lead series 1-0


-Vintage Canuck-

Recommended Posts

Funny how much more sensible the responses are now once the frustration of losing disappears just a little bit.

Really close game. Thought Canucks had better scoring opportunities through 40 minutes and really should've buried a couple more. 3 power plays that looked OK but didn't produce was a killer. Then what can ya say about the 3rd? Mediocre performance with too many odd man rushes. That high-stick on tying goal sucks but that's just the way things go sometimes...Gonna have that in the playoffs and you just gotta let it go.

I personally think the Sedins will pot a few next game and tie the series up 1-1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe the strategy for the Nucks to win this series is to focus on Russel and Wideman as much as possible with a fast forecheck and hitting them every time they touch the puck. They were doing this in the first and it was effective in creating lots of o-zone time and quality scoring chances. They got away from this in the 2nd and the momentum shifted.

Russel and Wideman played 30 minutes last night and they are not that good to sustain that especially if you make them turn frequently to chase pucks and hit them often. IN a series, they will break down.

Calgary has already established their game plan and that is to wear down Weber, who they obviously see as the weak link. It didn't take long for that to be effective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm hoping the Kassquatch will be ready for a game sometime this serious. He'll bolster our third line, especially since he has chemistry with Richardson and Matthias.

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Higgins-Bonino-Vrbata

Matthias-Richardson-Kassian

Dorsett-Horvat-Hansen

Of course, Kenins would have to come out but it's either him or Higgins (and we know WD won't take out the latter).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why can't the Canucks screen goalies like this? Especially on the PP. they just stand there waiting for a damn pass. They really need to score more greasy goals than pretty goals.

Or more importantly, why can't the Canucks screen OPPOSITION goalies? Seems like they did a great job screening Eddie. ;)

Mostly being sarcastic here but one could argue that Bennett was causing the least problems for Lack of the three guys blocking his view of the puck.

Anyway, on to the next one, and hopefully some better puck luck.

Not really worried as the Flames looked very beatable on the night. Just need to play a full 60 minutes and maybe get a bounce or two to go our way. Win the next game and then take back home ice advantage with a road win in Calgary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. You'd think people would be happy to be in the playoffs.

Sedins didn't finish, but they generated chances, dominated possession, and made Calgary's top line look pretty unimpressive. Dorsett had more ES ice time than Daniel. Absurd. Don't understand the hatefest for the twins right now.

2nd line was next to useless. Glad Richy Rich is back. 4th line had good energy and Horvat was awesome (out-Monahan'd Monahan tonight) but far too sloppy (Kenins in particular).

Weber is getting rattled by the physicality. Sbisa has his issues and I never neglect to point them out but he was better than Weber tonight. Please break up SBieksa for so many reasons...Weber needs a physical, aggressive complimenting partner, just like Bieksa works with a rock-steady guy in Hamhuis.

Lack was great, don't be stupid. Not much more he could do last night. Confucius say "If you're going to screen your goalie, at least block the f***ing shot."

And can people give Calgary some respect? Bennett is going to be amazing. Ferland looked great too. They'll get em next game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny how much more sensible the responses are now once the frustration of losing disappears just a little bit.

Really close game. Thought Canucks had better scoring opportunities through 40 minutes and really should've buried a couple more. 3 power plays that looked OK but didn't produce was a killer. Then what can ya say about the 3rd? Mediocre performance with too many odd man rushes. That high-stick on tying goal sucks but that's just the way things go sometimes...Gonna have that in the playoffs and you just gotta let it go.

I personally think the Sedins will pot a few next game and tie the series up 1-1.

It's the heat of the moment. Once you sleep it off, the frustration is usually gone. I think the Nucks will bounce back for Game 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the last goal...

What is Bieksa doing letter an 18 year old 175 lb rookie stand in front of Lack? Either you push him out of the way or you make sure he regrets going to the net. Canucks need to make a statement that if you're going to the blue-paint, you'll pay for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Willie needs to play the sedins more. No point in keeping them fresh during the season only to not play them in the playoffs so they can be fresh for golf season. 4 lines doesn't work when you need goals. You need to shorten the bench in those cases. Willie got badly outcoached in his playoff debut. I can't &^@#ing stand losing to the flames. Would rather lose to LA or Boston over the flames. Can't stand their team and classless fans at calgarypuck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Postives:

- Horvat's Line is ready to carry on where they left off in the regular season

- Richardson is a huge upgrade on Vey. Makes that line with Dorsett and Matthias a real presence on the ice.

- Shutdown the Flames top line for most of the night

- Henrik was a beast in the faceoff circle

- Sedins and Burrows were generating solid offensive chances

Negatives

- Calgary's defence is noticeably better than the Canucks

- Hiller may be a problem if he continues to play as well as he did last night

- Vrbata/Bonino/Higgins were a momentum killing line -- not doing enough for what a 2nd line should be doing

- Canucks played 40 out of 60 minutes again... this trend cannot continue if they want to beat the Flames

- Failed to plant a seed of doubt in the young Flames. They now feel they can win this thing which spells trouble moving forward

Overall, the Canucks deserved better... but that's not how the game works. All the Canucks can do is regroup, and play a solid 60 minutes, and crowd Hiller. Need a BIT more from Lack too... not that he was bad... but that tying goal could/should have been stopped if he was matching what Hiller was doing in the other net.

Haven't lost faith yet. This Canucks team has shown they're quite resilient. Let's hope that continues in the playoffs. A little Irish luck from the Big Irishman up there couldn't hurt either :) Do it for PQ boys.

-Oh yeah, Richardson indeed made that whole line much better; so much zone time from that line. I think we can match up Richardson's line against any line except Monahan's line.

-The usual pattern is that Canucks play the last 40 minutes of the hockey game hard instead of the first 40 minutes. I'm starting to think that the reason why Calgary is so good at coming back is because the other teams are worn out by the third period instead of Calgary getting that much better in the third. Calgary is just playing at same intensity level in the first as they did in the third, maybe a bit higher but more or less at the similar level.

They don't make big hits you to worn you out like LA's or Boston's but they chase and come at you hard to make you skate around hard all game long. So by 3rd period, your legs are dead tired. That's what you can get from having young legs.

I think the team just need to play relaxed. Go in to the games with the mindset of "We have nothing to lose. we weren't supposed to be here anyways but we are so let's go out there and enjoy the playoffs."

Just use the first period to rev up to play hard in the 2nd and 3rd period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the last goal...

What is Bieksa doing letter an 18 year old 175 lb rookie stand in front of Lack? Either you push him out of the way or you make sure he regrets going to the net. Canucks need to make a statement that if you're going to the blue-paint, you'll pay for it.

Yea, our dmen needs to play to their size.

Did anyone see that one play where tanev went to hit gaudreau behind our net and Tanev BOUNCED OFF him?! like what???

Thought our D would nail the flame fwds every chance they get, but nope, we backed off and let them waltz into our zone shift after shift, giving them way too much open space.

Hope to see that changed for game 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are, but screened the wrong goalie.

On the last goal...

What is Bieksa doing letter an 18 year old 175 lb rookie stand in front of Lack? Either you push him out of the way or you make sure he regrets going to the net. Canucks need to make a statement that if you're going to the blue-paint, you'll pay for it.

I think that photo is a bit misleading. From what I could see, Bennett and Bieksa cleared out just before the shot was taken by Russell, but Eddie had lost his angle a bit, leaving too much of the net open. The replay shows the puck crossing the goal line a good two feet inside the post. IMO, that puck hits Lack if he's in better position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...