Vancouver took control of this game from the drop of the puck. They were able to kill penalties, not all, but most of them and more importantly did not take that many penalties. They looked like they relaxed in the third for a few minutes, but came back with goals and some fights from O'Brien and Rypien.
Steve Bernier starts of the scoring for the Canucks midway throught first period with a quick wrist shot that gets past Quick
The Kings answer back with, you guess it, a powerplay goal from Michal Handzus!
Great work from Hansen along the boards, to Kesler who protected the puck and then passed it to Edler who rifled it past Quick. Alex Edler gets the Canucks up to 2-1 at 17:32 of the 1st period
Ed Willes hits the nail on the head with his column today in The Province: exciting hockey with lots of goals is fun to watch, but really just winning the game is the end result we're looking here. After game four, my nerves are shot. It probably didn't help that I sat at a bar with some of Vancouver's biggest superfans all yelling at the screen. The superfans>me.
Andrew Alberts draws back into the lineup tonight as Nolan Baumgartner somehow injured his right leg in the one game he played. Both Rome and Baumgartner are now listed as day-to-day. Any guesses if he gets out of tonights game with more time on the ice or more penalty minutes? As for the Kings Justin Williams is in for Scott Parse tonight.
I'll be at home tonight in lockdown mode. Live blog? Oh that might be a possibility, if not liveblog look out for me on twitter. As always, check out my blogger "other half"*, the Royal Half over at his blog or on twitter.
First of all, great showing to everyone who came out for the Canucks tweetup at Library Square. So great to meet some of you in person! I don't think I've ever felt so much emotion while watching a game at a bar (the tension was crazy in the dying minutes of the 3rd). Our section was super loud (lots of yelling at the big screen), had an appearance of Gino Odjick at the bar and your writer even won some prizes! Woo
I will have you know that I did not appear in any tweetup video that can be found on the Canucks website, stayed away from that camera with a 10 foot pole, but the cute Canucks rep in the polka dot dress did hook me up with a prize.
My blogger buddy, the Royal Half was at game four in Los Angeles, his recap can be found here. He's been to 3 out of the 4 games played so far, which makes me incredibly jealous. His photo adventures of his games are epic, like why are you still reading this post because seriously you should be reading his game four photo adventure.
So thoughts on the game:
I love the Kings' third jersey's. love love love them. They are a very sexy jersey. Such nice lines and simple design, if the Canucks weren't playing the Kings, it would make me want one.
So the game starts off, with Doughty scoring the first goal, guess what on?
The powerplay!
So the Kings celebrate another powerplay goal.God I wish Doughty weren't so goddamn good. I like him better when I could cheer for him on Team Canada
Now a few posts ago I said that LA Kings blogger, The Royal Half was coming to Vancouver to see game two. I ended up spending the weekend with my blogger buddy, and let me say it turned out to be a great weekend (even though the Canucks lost at the game we went to). I don't have my photos up yet, but do check out his:
All is not lost yet, we're only down 2-1 in the series so let's not throw the team under the bus yet. You've been through an 82 game schedule, and if you are a real fan you know that being down 2-1 in a series is not the end of the world. That being said, everything needs to be better about the Canucks. Everyone needs to be better. Luongo, you especially need to be better. If they can't kill penalties, then they should stop taking so many damn penalties. In the 82 games we've watched this year we know this team can be better.
Some of the Kings players are talking about going further in the playoffs than the first round, easy boys it's only game four, you still need two more wins to advance.
Our boy Ryan Kesler has been nominated for the seconds time for the Selke trophy along with Pavel Datsyuk and Jordan Staal. Datsyuk has won the last two trophies for being the top defensive forward. For a full look at all three nominees check out the Canucks.com
I'm not going to cue the Toronto conspiracy theory (someone else can take that angle), but that disallowed goal was a little weak on explanation.
Let's not get away from the fact that the Canucks special teams were NOT as good as the Kings' special teams. And throw in some weak goaltending by Luongo, the Canucks are doomed to fail here. A few sloppy penalties taken by the Canucks led to unnecessary powerplays by Kings and kudos to them, they capitalized on them. Whatever, the game is now over, but he Canucks need to be better, like now.
Today my LA Kings blogger buddy The Royal Half is roadtripping to Vancouver. It will be his first time in Vancouver and his first playoff game since he got his half season tickets to the Kings 8 years ago. I'm hoping the game tonight will not disappoint, and if it is anything like game 1 then there is no way that it could, no matter which team wins.
This is my first playoff game of the season (hopefully not the last) and I'm getting excited for it. My favorite things about playoff games in Vancouver has got to be the intro video to the game and the anthem at GM Place. The intro video starts that nervous feeling that sets aside playoff games from regular season games. When the players hit the ice to U2's 'Where the Streets Have No Name' and Mark Donnelly sings the anthem, I have shivers down my arms....that's what I love about playoff hockey.
Looking forward to what my blogger buddy thinks about seeing a game here where really, everyone is an expert about hockey. During playoff time, everyone wants to talk about hockey (even if you actually don't know that much about it). I'm ok with all you bandwagon jumpers since it means just more car flags driving around the city.
I'll write up a post on our adventures sometime tomorrow.
Thoughts on tonight's game:
The Canucks just need to do everything exactley the same as they did at Game 1 with the exception of Andrew Alberts. Last game we outchanced and outshot the Kings 39-21. Only because of the stupid penalties taken did Vancouver not end the game in regulation. With Aaron Rome still not ready to go, we're going to have to deal with another night of Alberts (unless Baumer gets put in) so brace yourself Vancouver, never have you wished for Aaron Rome to be healthy so badly.
*According to Scott Oake's twitter, Grabner in and Pettinger out for tonight's game
Pregame Linkage:
Battle of California's game preview where Rudy Kelly thinks we're becoming Montreal fans
This year Edler has been pretty mediocre. He's made mistakes, lots of them, and some nights I feel like he has regressed in his progress as a defenceman. But last night, well he were pretty awesome. Edler played 21:37 in the game and had a team high 6 hits including that monster he nailed on Drew Doughty. I didn't expect Edler to step up his game to this level, and what I saw last night was a great surprise.
The Bad:
Alberts, Alberts, Alberts. In the 8:25 you played in last nights game, you were in the box for both of the Kings goals. The first you got late in the 1st on an interference penalty that carried over into the 2nd period where Jarret Stoll got the first goal of the game. The second was due to your boarding penalty on Brad Richardson. Thankfully in the 5 minute major handed out, the Kings were only able to score once.
In the post season players are supposed to step up their game, and instead you were a liability. When you got your game misconduct for the boarding hit, I could not have been happier. Your ejection from the game meant that the Canucks did not have to deal with your liabilities on the ice for the rest of the game but that also mean that you made your team play with only 5 defencemen for 40 minutes of the game. It has come down to the point where I am hoping for Rome to get healthy enough to play so that you don't.
The best part of last night's game really came in video form. Either Sully or Force (I don't know which one is which but the dark green one in this case) went all out last night with a full on handstand when Jack Johnson was sent to the penalty box. Awesome stuff by the the green men last night.
Luongo also looked like he was standing on his head with this huge goal line save. Average goaltending would have satisfied me, but this was a game saving one! And may have elicited a ajjklwjfkelh! reaction from me after he made it.
And here is the game winning goal from Sedin to Samuelsson:
According to TSN's Bob McKenzie, Andrew Alberts will not be suspended for that boarding hit on Brad Richardson. A recap may follow out later today (think way later today) with *gasp* praise for a strong game by Edler.
The rest of the goal videos are tucked after the jump
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The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 