Knock, knock... The Sedins at the door of the second round.
It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it.
Good to see the Nucks grind out a game they really didn't have any business winning. Popped a couple greasy goals and then a bang-bang beaut from Hank to Bernier to cap it.
I can't ever remember the Canucks being up 3-0 in a series... And that's because it's never happened as long as I've been freed from the nutsack.
The effort was there, it seemed, but St. Louis came out hard and the Canucks had trouble matching their physicality and tenacity until they finally slowed it down in the second with the mad cycling. I swear, the entire team has started to take after the Sedins, wheeling it around in the corners, setting up until they can get a point shot or take the puck to the net. Wellwood, Raymond and Bernier look to be doing nearly as well, except it seems like the Sedins have magnets on their skates and sticks because they go into the corner and the puck just winds up on them.
D looked shaky off the start, especially Edler and Ohlund (who is just getting crunched like 5 times a game -- hope he can hold up) but they rounded out and were huge killing off all the penalties.
Is is just me, (probably. I don't think anyone's reading these things) but are the penalties getting
a little ridiculous? St. Louis had two five-on-threes longer than 1:25 minutes tonight, and Vancouver had a long one too (that's what she said). This is playoff hockey and there shouldn't be so many of these game changing powerplays.
On the other hand, I can't complain because, even though the Canucks spent far more time in the box, they capitalized big time on their chances, while Luongo, Johnson and the rest of the penalty killers stymied the Blues on so many of their man advantages.
Man, that Andy McDonald is flying though. There's always one guy on the other team where, whenver he touches the puck, you hold your breath, your butthole clenches up and you can't relax until your goalie's smothered the puck or he's off the ice. He's the guy this series.
All in all, it wasn't the Canucks best game, but it was very encouraging to see them win a game where they didn't play their greatest. You have to do that in the playoffs, and in the past three or four months, this really feels like a team that, no matter what happens over the 60 minutes, they know how to get it done and win.
Note:
And just to finish off a comment I made last post, the Blues fans showed how it's done tonight. Other than the smattering of boos the Canadian anthem got, they were classy throughout and were a crowd that definitely got in the heads of the Canucks. "Let's go, Bl-OOOOO-s!" and "Beat Vancouver" are far better than "Mason sucks" or "Blues suck."
No comments:
Post a Comment