Saturday, January 8, 2011

Red Wings @ Canucks

VICTORY (SO)
2 : Detroit Red Wings @ Vancouver Canucks : 1



Some Notes From The Game:

We start at 945 of the first period due to a ridiculous OT Pistons game. Nothing on this earth will quite match my fiery hatred for the sport of basketball. And I still don't understand how I'm actually missing part of a hockey game because of a basketball game in Detroit. I'll see if I can find time to do the first half of the period. Until then, here's what I got-

The Last Half of the First Period:

Ken lets us know what we missed via a clip of a highlight reel save by Jimmah on Daniel Sedin. Holy shit did he get robbed.

DENIED
Kindl breaks his stick on a shot on goal.

Zetterberg is completely covered in snow. There is a good story behind this, I'm sure.

Just in time to catch our first penalty of the game as Zetterberg heads to the box for holding.

The Caucks have a 25.2% power play. That's tops in the NHL. I won't tell you where our penalty kill is, but it's bad.

Ken Daniels remarks on the fact that the Sedin twins have the exact same amount of points. Haw. Haw.

Anyway, what a good penalty kill. Holy shit. I don't think they got a single shot on goal.

Holmstrom gets dumped twice. Poor guy.

A Canuck jabs Helm in the gut with his stick as they're standing there waiting for the faceoff. Shmuck.

Kronwall sends Daniel Sedin to the box for tripping. Kronwall nearly nails the ref as he goes sliding into the boards.

We squander the first minute trying to make the entry. Holmstrom and a Canuck go at it off camera as the puck clears. The period ends with about 45 seconds of power play time remaining.

The Second Period:

Nothing for the rest of the power play. Rafalski pulls off a nice keep-in by jumping into the air to glove a puck.

There's an ad for the April in the D contest. Murph asks Ken if he has any plans - Ken responds by saying that if he does, he'll run them by Murph first, as Murph is his lead vocal.

Miller gets absolutely rocked by a hip check. Wow. Kudos to the Canuck guy who pulled that off, it was beautiful.

Yup. I'm upside down. Not good.
Burrows trips Rafalski into Howard and the net is dislodged. No one is particularly pleased with this.

What the hell, man? Rafalski says
Franzen and Malhotra mix it up after Franzen shoves him into the boards. Eaves makes an appearance. Good solidarity, hobo.

If only Stuart were here...
Ken finally remarks that Nick Sr and Nik Jr are now playing together. 

He follows this up by noting that this is the only former team Bertuzzi has played for that wont boo him when he's on the ice. And that he's 17 games away from that magical game number 1,000.

He also nets our player profile.



The Canucks nail our goal post.

Nothing until Abby high-sticks someone on the forecheck and heads to the box. Shmuck.

Our penalty kill destroys it. Lidstrom manages to save the day at least once.

Don't worry, I've got it
Immediately following this kill, a Canuck heads to the box for smacking into Jimmah. Power play time.

The first unit has a good time. Bieksa roughs Holmstrom up a little bit and when the opportunity arises during a puck battle on the boards, Holmstrom cross-checks him to the ice and heads to the box. There's a minor line scrum to be had beforehand.

He shoved me first!
We get a decent chunk of 4-on-4 that's mostly played in our end.

The Canucks to move to 50 seconds of a power play. Salei nails H. Sedin with a stick and Sedin spends a little longer than normal on the ice, possibly trying to draw a penalty, or possibly hurt. Not sure which option I'd like to root for here, as they both suck...

Regardless, the Canucks whip out their patented Sedin-Kesler-Sedin and score. Damn.

There's chaos in our crease. A puck smacks the goal post. Ahhhhhhhh-

Holmstrom draws an interference penalty. Attaboy, Homer. Get yourself out of the doghouse.

Franzen rails a Canuck into the boards. Very nice.

No joy on the power play. Zetterberg breaks his stick.

Ericsson heads to the box for hooking.

Ken finally says 'Livonia's Ryan Kesler'.

Lidstrom does that thing where he shoots the puck from the other end of the rink straight into the opposing goaltender, who seems to quibble a little bit blocking it. Ken remarks that Lidstrom hasn't scored from that far yet. Good thing this is a season of firsts for Lidstrom... but save it for later, Nick. There's a first round playoff series, a red line, and a goaltender waiting for you.

Helm gets a breakaway but there's a traffic jam in front of the net. A Canuck emerges from it a little shaky and tries to make it to the bench, but his team turns over the puck in center ice and Miller and Abdelkader almost score on a breakaway.

Traffic jam
A Canuck heads to the box for slashing on the original Helm breakaway.

40 seconds of a 4-on-4. Nothing there.

We get a minute of power play. A Canuck loses his stick. Score god damnit!

In the last two seconds of the power play, a Canuck flips the puck over the glass. Delay of game, baby!

We reload for another power play. We get two seconds of a five on three. It's enough for us to win the faceoff and dish the puck over to Lidstrom, who puts a slapper towards Luongo. A diving Canuck blocks that, and the rebound heads out across center ice, right to the Canuck coming out of the penalty box. Lidstrom puts the hustle on and they're wrestling with each other and closing in on Jimmah as the buzzer sounds and the period ends.

Hoo-boy...

The Third Period:

We've still got most of our power play as we start the last period.

Franzen's goal:

Rafalski passes to Zetterberg in neutral for the entry. Z heads up the middle, passes to Franzen in front of the crease, who wrists one in.

Don't mess with the Mule
Franzen and Zetterberg discuss the play on the bench. Something strikes Franzen as funny. I wonder what it is...

Funny
And because the Sedin twins have to do everything similar, Jimmah absolutely ROBS Henrik in a carbon copy glove-save fashion of Daniel's shot earlier. Holy shit.

DENIED
Lidstrom makes a simple, sickening defensive play. What a master...

Mursak uses badass speed to net a breakaway. He's tripped, so no joy on that.

Helm is clearly working on slowing down for a finish. Good.

Some good back and forth hockey is played for a few minutes. With six and a half left in the period, Helm goes to the box for tripping. Crap.

Zetterberg with the diving block!

Salei with the stick save!

Chaos! It's chaos!

What a great penalty kill.

Daniel and Lidstrom get into a struggle and hug it out on the boards.

Franzen gets a good chance on some hustle by Helm fresh out of the box. Almost.

Zetterberg uses some sick moves that would make Pavel proud. The ref gives Luongo some words when he complains about Holmstrom.

A Canuck gets knocked in the face by something and heads back to the bench. He must say something in route to Abby, because Abby delays his shift change long enough to give the Canuck a solid shove before hopping on the bench. It was funny.

Cameraman behind Abby is pleased
 Lidstrom gets our last good shot on goal. Holmstrom gets in a shoving match following Luongo's save.

Vancouver takes their time out.

No joy by either team.

Overtime:

Zetterberg gets interfered with. Lidstrom gets severely hooked. Bertuzzi gets knocked down. Helm gets a breakaway. So does Ericsson.

Ho boy...

There's a lot of chaos in our zone via the Canucks. There's a lot of good defense by Lidstrom.

Tambellini gets a breakaway and lifts the backhander wide. I'm so nervous I can't even watch.

Jimmah makes a save and our net is dislodged.

Helm, Bertuzzi, and Lidstrom go for a 3-on-2 rush.

Kronwall's goal:

On the rush Lidstrom and Bertuzzi head up the left and middle, respectively. Helm is on the right with the puck. He hangs back a bit and dishes over to Kronner as he makes a late entry down the center. Kronner adjusts his shot and lets loose his wrister on Luongo. Bertuzzi provides the screen.

Kronner's Patented 'OT Wrister'
Nevermind. Luongo dives when bumped by Bertuzzi and the goal is erased due to incidental contact.

Luongo just before melting into a puddle of goo
What a tool.

The Red Wings use their timeout so the first line can try their hand for the remaining twenty seconds.

The Canucks ice the puck with 5 seconds. If we handle the faceoff right, it's possible.

Henrik Zetterberg and Henrik Sedin take the faceoff. Sedin wins, and we head to the dreaded shootout.

Again.

Shootout:

Bertuzzi won the shootout for us last night. Before we begin, he consults his BFF Osgood for some pointers. 

What do you think, bro?
And here we go.

Jeff Tambellini. Career Shootout: 7 of 10 (70%)

Tries for a wrister between the faceoff circles. Jimmah makes a glove stop.

Save

Jiri Hudler. Career Shootout: 7 of 20 (35%)

Slapshot. Flies past Luongo on the stick side.

Goal


Ryan Kesler. Career Shootout: 8 of 25 (32%)

Wrister down the middle. Shoots it right into Howard's pads.

Save

Todd Bertuzzi. Career Shootout: 10 of 28 (35.7%)

Swings wide to the right, and as he drives by the crease he tries for the backhand forehand lift but can't get enough air on it. Luongo makes the stick save.

Save

Daniel Sedin. Career Shootout: 4 of 18 (22.2%)

This one is for all the marbles. Heads straight down the middle with good speed, slows up in front of the crease, throws a few dekes in there and tries to lift up a backhand gloveside. Howard with the pad save.

Save


Sweet victory.

Don't Think We Didn't Notice:

When a Canuck lifts a puck out to center ice, both Nick and Daniel are looking skyward for the chance to glove it. Nick, at the last second, reaches forward and gives Daniel a good shove, who's startled and steps forward to catch his balance. Meanwhile, Nick uses this opportunity to tap the landing puck over to Kronner. I laughed out loud.


No one Served With Pride. Seriously. It's making me sad...


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