Retreat! Retreat! Ducks Beat Canucks 3-2
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 16, 2009 11:50 PM PST
in Game Review
32 comments
That was a tough game to watch. Do the Canucks fear the Ducks? It's hard to say. Anaheim skated circles around Vancouver for most of the night, including out-shooting an entranced Nucks 13-2 in the first period. Had it not been for the play of Roberto Luongo the Ducks would have buried the Canucks 7-2 all over again.
Vancouver couldn't establish much of a forecheck for the first half of the game. They lost battles for the puck at both ends of the ice over and over again. They turned the puck over continually. Way too many odd-man rushes against. When Vancouver finally established some pressure in the Ducks' zone and generated quality chances, especially in the 3rd, Jonas Hiller stoned them. By then not only was it too late, but they hardly deserved to be in the game, period.
The Ducks' new red-hot second line scored 5 points. Sexton-Koivu-Calder (?). That dirty little Fin scores the winning goal with under 5:00 to play in the 3rd period. A power play goal. Kevin Bieksa, who I thought was atrocious tonight, was sitting in the box for that one. Actually, I am not sure if words can describe my disdain for Bieksa.
I tip my hat to Luongo's performance, and I also feel bad for him. No help from his mates tonight. Terrible outcome.
A blown chance. A fail. Right there, you want to get it to overtime to at least get that point....
Something tells me the Ducks are going to start rolling now. That is too good a team to be rotting in the Western basement.
Coach Vigneault post game (video)
MY 3 STARS:
1. Roberto Luongo
2. Jonas Hiller
3. Saku "I hate you" Koivu
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SOB and Juice
For me, two players lost the game for us tonight.
Shane O’Brien, for the costly give-away that led to the first goal and getting burned right after that giveaway, allowing the first goal to happen. I dont know how many times I have to say it, but Ive been saying it since mid-last season and will continue saying it until some action is taken, but he has to go. He simply has to go. What he costs us is not worth what he brings to the table. Sure, he didnt take any penalties this game, but he totally fucked us on that giveaway and its not the first time he’s done it. He’s also taken a ridiculous amount of penalties that keep screwing us over, over the course of this season and last season. Not to mention that little poking-with-the-stick incident with Sean Avery. He has to go, there is no denying it now.
Secondly, Kevin Bieksa. I dont want him to go, nor do I think he should. He is no Shane O’Brien. But he fucked us with that late penalty. And he is one of my most favourite players too. Damn shame, seeing Juice shoot us in the foot like that.
by Chuckles Canuckles on Dec 17, 2009 1:29 AM PST reply actions
Sorry, but your disdain for SOB is completely misplaced. Yeah he gave up a turnover that cost a goal, but did u even watch the game? The whole effin team gave up stupid turnovers. I want to know where his defensive partner was when that turnover happened. He got outplayed there, plain and simple, and he was certainly not the only canuck who did. Mitchell gave one up that led to a scoring chance. Schneider gave up like 3. Errhoff a couple. Basically every defenseman, and let’s not even talk about the forwards sloppy play. By the way, SOB did take a penalty, a fighting major that sparked the Canucks into consciousness after 35 minutes of snoozing. I’m seldom a supporter of O’Brien, but tonight he was not the goat of the team, one goal notwithstanding. The kids playing the best hockey he’s ever played, and for a guy who doesn’t seem like the brightest bulb in the pack and obviously doesnt have the natural talent of some of these guys, that’s a good thing.
Bieksa was bad all night, but you know who’s been really bad for like 5 games? Salo. I don’t know why, but he just seems so slow and listless every game. Yeah he’s getting up on the point shot lots specially in the powerplay, but defensively he seems like a pylon lately. Is he playing through injury or illness? Or is he just done? Between Bieksa’s inconsistency and Salo’s apparent lack of giving a shit, coupled with Schneiders age, our defensive core needs some work I think.
The whole effin team gave up stupid turnovers.
Absolutely agree. It’s hard to pin it on one or even 2 guys. The hate for OB is becoming a stupid school bus mentality. I thought O’Brien played better than most of our D. He was decking guys and stirring up shit. That’s what he is supposed to do.
Bieksa though…damn. Just terrible. I’ve never really been a fan. He is a low IQ player. He makes bad decisions all the time.
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 1:00 PM PST up reply actions
Agreed about Bieksa. His has a great nack for pinching in from the point at exactly the wrong time.
Re: Chuckles: Although O’Brien is never good, I actually thought he was okay last night considering that it seemed like he got a lot of ice time (15:41 according to NHL.com, but I sure noticed him out there a lot….maybe that’s a bad thing for SOB).
My disappointment was more from the second lines inability to score. We really need a boost in production from Kes, Sam and Raymond. Without that, all the heroics in the world from Dank and Hank won’t win us very many games.
Lu as usual was great. I though he had a good argument for goalie interference on the second Duck’s goal, but stuff happens and karma tends to even out at the end of the day.
Drinking game
I just can’t take it with Bieksa anymore. Here’s what I want all of you to do: next game, drink a shot each time Bieksa shoots and misses the net. You will be in the ER by the second period. I’m not kidding, pay attention to how often the guy misses the net and you will rip your hair right out of your head.
Another thing I noticed this game: twice, Johnson had the easy chip off the boards to clear the zone on the PK, and instead he tried to stickhandle through the D-man. I think one led to an eventual goal and the other one almost did. Jesus…
A View from a Caps Fan...
If you’re in the ER after three missed shots in a game (i.e. last night, according to the Event Summary), you’re a lightweight! ;-)
Bieksa was only credited with a total of 6 shots – 1 on net, 2 blocked, 3 misses. That’s not too bad, especially given he’s a defenseman. I mean, yeah, his S% is only 1.8 – but he’s a defenseman. He’s not paid to score goals. :-)
Some of those “shots” may just have been a bank pass around to somebody on the other side off the end boards. (I did not watch the game last night, though I frequently do watch Canucks games – I like you guys!)
We’ve got a guy on our team who shoots at the net and misses a lot too… His name’s Alex Ovechkin. ;-) But in all seriousness, the majority of our defensemen haven’t scored a goal yet this season, and a lot of them take shots. Poti: 31 shots, no goals. Jurcina: 29 shots, no goals. Erskine: 24 shots, no goals. … you get the idea. :-)
by IRockTheRed on Dec 17, 2009 11:38 AM PST up reply actions
where are you getting those stats from?
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 1:01 PM PST up reply actions
are you guys looking for missed shots, by any chance?
"If Chuck Norris was up against 7 Rangers, he'd call Ryan Kesler."
GO CANUCKS GO!
Anaheim is a bad match up for the Canucks. Their forwards are so big, they create real problems for Vancouver’s D.
On TSN last night, they mentioned that Willie Mitchell referred to Anaheim as a trap game. With Washington coming in Friday, the Canucks were at risk of looking past the Ducks and toward the Capitals. Clearly then the team learned nothing from the Carolina loss.
I almost feel like it would have been better another 7:2 loss. The embarrassment may have served them better. Right now, after dominating the 3rd, they may feel that they lived up to the challenge.
There is no way that they deserved to be in this game, after the atrocious first two periods.
What happened during the second intermission, that made them come out like a different team in the 3rd? Why play ony in the third, and not the entire game?
Los Angeles, CA
The thing that annoys me about people who bash on Bieksa when he has a bad game is that no one, and I mean no one, EVER talks about how well he has played when he is playing with Mitchell and the other team’s top line gets shut down. I head Mitchell get all kinds of praise for it but never Bieksa. Now obviously they don’t always play together and they don’t always shut down the other teams top line. And when Bieksa has a bad game I have no problem with people pointing it out. But seriously the guy gets no praise when it’s going well and bashed on hard when he has a stinker. And he had a lot of company in the bad performance club last night.
I view this game differently
Yes, it was a very poor start that last for a long time, but once the team settled down, the Ducks were up by one goal only and were on their heels for most of the 3rd period. If not for the penalty and the weak PK, the game would be going to OT and deservedly so. Luongo kept the game close and then Hiller prevented the Canucks from getting the go ahead goal numerous times. I can’t believe the number of excellent scoring chances that didn’t materialize into goals in the 3rd period, but Hiller was great and the Canuck player needed better finishes.
Almost!
Shane O’Brien may have been at fault on the first goal, but he helped wake the team up with that scrap in the 2nd.
Lack of finish killed them. Lost track of the missed opportunities on the PP, and by the top line.
Luongo was da man all night. Love John Garrett’s comment on his “shortstop” save just before the 2nd goal.
Hey Zanstrom, I’m back! Actually, I never left. Just lost my p/w, lol.
I was just gonna say: Welcome back! It’s been a long time since I saw you on a site!
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 1:03 PM PST up reply actions
This was the frustrating part,
the Canucks in the third almost made us forget the poor start, we thought that they can actually win this stinker. And then the letdown…F%ck!
Los Angeles, CA
Too bad Luko’s stuck in the minors. Can we trade him as part of a package to a team who calls him up safely, then trades him back to us to complete the deal?
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
I think the way it would work is that the Canucks get whatever team is last place in the league to agree to pick up Luko off waivers and immediately trade him back to the Canucks for a draft pick or something.
That would be a thought. I miss Luko. The guy is money and reliable as hell. I don’t think that any team that claims him off waivers would trade him back though. Just my guess. Hell, you get him for 1/2 price on re-entry waivers. I wouldn’t get rid of him.
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 1:05 PM PST up reply actions
I was thinking more like this: let’s say we have deal with Montreal to trade Bieksa plus a draft pick for Markov plus a lower pick.
So we say to Gainey, "Hey Bob, if you wanna seal the deal, we want to structure it as follows…
1. Montreal trades the lower pick for Luko and recalls him in the deal.
2. We then trade Bieksa plus a draft pick for Markov + Luko
…and Luko is recalled for us in the process.
Is that even possible?
We would like a better sniper and have lots of D-men (and bitch all we want about them on this board, Canucks D is 3rd in the West so they’re still pretty good overall). A trade may be in order, even after Demo comes back, and of our higher-priced D-men, Bieksa is the one without a NTC or some other reason we’d probably keep him (Ehrhoff’s the golden boy, Edler’s the future etc).
But we’d wanna replace Bieksa and, hey, we have Luko in the minors. If we’re not trading Luko (still a real “if”), then if we’re also making a trade anyway (2nd “if”), can we get Luko outta the minors in the process?
And do we have the cap space if we do (3rd “if”)?
Anyway, just a question about how to get a guy back from the minors, really, without having to risk him on waivers.
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
Is that even possible?
Not with Montreal as an example. There is a waiver priority list. So we’d have to make the deal with whoever gets first dibs.
But if we get Luko back in that deal he has to be on our team, right? Obviously. I don’t know. My brain is fried
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 3:19 PM PST up reply actions
The waiver priority list is only for claiming the guy off of waivers, I thought?
So if we specifically traded his rights to Montreal, I presume they could activate him w/out having him clear waivers, else a guy in the minors would be stuck there when he might have played in the NHL for someone else, a situation I can’t see either mgmt or the union preferring.
If they can activate him – and I guess that’s at the heart of my q – then we can trade him to Mtl and then trade back for him … unless there are specific rules that prevent such gamesmanship, but given the state of front-end loading, I’m guessing not; just a guess tho :)
The opposite of serious is not funny; the opposite of serious is unserious.
I’m guessing there’s no rule against that either. I’m not sure exactly how the waiver priority list works.
Trade his rights? That sounds like something for the summer time when teams have not signed a free agent yet and they trade him and his rights away.
I dunno.
Help anyone?
by Sean Zandberg on Dec 17, 2009 6:59 PM PST up reply actions
just read a tweet from botchford saying that edler is a game away, so that’s some good news.
"If Chuck Norris was up against 7 Rangers, he'd call Ryan Kesler."
GO CANUCKS GO!
Historical
From oral histories, there is evidence of a tradition of an ancient hockey-like game played among the Mi’kmaq First Nation in Eastern Canada. In Legends of the Micmacs (1894), Silas T. Rand describes a Mi’kmaq ball game which the people called tooadijik. Rand also describes a game that was played (likely after European contact) with hurleys, called wolchamaadijik.
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