Recap: Nucks WIN! AGAIN! Beat the Minni Wild 3-2 in OT

What a wild game! Ok, that was cheap. And so am I.

It was more of a controlled tempo game, but that’s too many syllables.

The wild part is it’s the first time since the Injury Faeries made the roster choices, the Nucks have won 2 road games in a row. For those counting at home, that is a TWO game winning streak! Just as I predicted in the last recap. Almost.

It wasn’t predicted to be a close, low event game by the media mavens - as the night before the Wild scorched the Jets 4-1, outshooting them 23-5 in the 1st. But that’s yesterday’s highlight reel.

Tonight the tight checking low event players of the Wild were on the ice to face our high scoring freaks of stick-shattering puckery.

1st Period

It started with a show of even strength by the Nucks. And then Gags took a bad penalty. What was so bad about it was the Wild scored right after the faceoff with some speedy passes. The good part was it wasn’t a softie on Marky. He had no chance on the quick bang-bang-bang. It was firecracker hockey at it’s scariest.

The Marquis was back on the right side of stopping. The scariest test was when Coyle cruised down main street with two Nucks defenders giving him stick-tap permission. No problem, Marky flashed the right pad and scared the puck away.

Unfazed, the Nucks continued to seek oppourtunities where none were expected. On a rush led by Hank. A rush in the broad and slow spectrum of speed. No matter, Hank setup a dangerous play and a pinching Eddie made it more so. And Loui scored!!! Not making it up, it happened.

That’s #6 on the season for Loui. For those penny pinchers at home, the current cost per Loui goal is $1.1 million. But, we do get 10 assists for free.

Anyhow, the period ended tied 1-1 and 7-7 on the shot counter.

2nd Period

Just like the last game the Nucks ramped up the pressure. And unlike last game didn’t get any fluky goals for their efforts.

Near the end of the period the Wild pressured the Nucks. Even though pretty much the entire Wild roster got a shift penning the depleted Nucks line to the boards in their own end, nothing unseemly happened.

In fact the Nucks out shot the Wild 9-6. Single digit Wild shot hockey.

3rd Period

All tied up. Wild must get the win to help secure a wildcard spot. The Canucks must get the win to secure the feeling of winning two straight games on the road.

So....everything to play for. One of these teams will break open the game with a wild number of shots. At least you’d expect one team to bust the double digit shot count ceiling. And your expectations are inflated.

It was the low event, high stakes sort of period. Speaking of stakes, the stands were filled with Brock’s family and friends. At least after the Vikings game. Brock had 6 shots on the night, didn’t score - that ties his longest goaless streak at 3. Those Minni players were interrupting the Flow all night and Duuby was selfishly stingy. Oh well, the Flow will go again soon.

Back to the high stakes game. Marky was stopping high risk shot after certain goal. In the NM thread, Westy posited if Marky would steal the game. A complete violation of NM gamethread rules - we only posit post game if possible. So...

On a sloppy behind the net play by MDZ, Stall steals the puck from Del Zotto and sends it into the slot for Winnik to snap past Marky. Wild lead 2-1 with 8 minutes to go. Thanks, Westy! And MDZ.

Would the Wild, now leading the game, put even more pressure on the Nucks? Not really. Marky is keeping the puck out of his net with some great saves. And with 3:30 remaining the Canucks are playing some real good comeback hockey.

The most...ok...2nd most redeeming moment was a sneaky behind the back pass from Brock to the point which setup the sequence to Vanek’s tieing goal.

And increasing Vanek’s trade value.

The game ends tied 2-2 with the Wild edging the shots 9-8. Oh...so close to double digits.

OT

Because the Vikings won, it was decided that the hockey game would continue until a victor was declared.

Can I be frank? Ok, I’ll be jimmi and say OT has not been our happy hunting ground this season. Without Sutter in the lineup.

There were some chances exchanged and Marky was sharp again during some scrambly moments. And we didn’t see Hank on the ice in OT. Or Danny. But, we didn’t see Danny all game either. He missed his first game in 300 with reported ‘back spasms’. Someone in the gamethread, might have been me, stated that ‘back spasms’ is league code for pregnancy cramps. Probably just a fake rumour. But if in say 6-9 months there’s a new triplet...well...

Meanwhile...the moment we have been waiting 21 long games to see again. Should we recount those games now? Ok, maybe later.

On his first night back, Sutter, the WyldSlayer, scores the game winner! Wooo!

Earlier Green had said not to get our hopes up with the guys returning from Fairieland.

“It’s great when you get players back,” Green said. “When you start to miss three, four weeks, five weeks, that’s a big chunk of time. You talk about two months; that’s a summer. To think that a player’s just going to jump in and take off where he left off, that’s not always the case.

“It’s hard. There’s catchup there. You can skate on your own for a week, in some cases two weeks. . . (But) to get into game speed and game action, you can’t mimic that.”

After tonight it will be hard to keep them down.

Another notable post game quote:

“Good win against a team that has been playing well lately” ... “With a yuuuuuge shout out to Markstrom - Gwailoh

Here’s the full vid recap of the this high tension, low event game.

And the game’s first star, speaks and shouts out to Marky too.

And just like that the darkest phase of the Fairie Nights in the IR is almost over. The Nucks and the nerves of NucksNation get a 5 day rest break.

Next Saturday it’s back in the orange glare of the HNIC spin lights. The Nucks visit oiltown to play the tOilers. Yes, that superstar-loaded team that has just 1 more point than our never-gets-to-pick-first team. Could be interesting. The Oils are finally trending up. Sort of. As are we.

Enjoy your NHL-free week. Unless you must indulge a game or two with some other team, you two-faced-off Nucks fan. Try not to talk trades and picks out loud in the supermarket while shopping alone in the produce section.