Canucks Escape Tilt Against Blackhawks with 3-2 Win in Overtime

Leigh Ramsden lives in Vancouver and is an avid Canucks fan, having been a partial season ticket holder for over 10 years. He's old enough to have witnessed all three Stanley Cup losses, as such, his prime goal is to remove those scars by seeing a Cup brought to Vancouver. Leigh is Fighting For Stanley's (www.fightingforstanley.ca/vancouver) west coast correspondent, and will also blog after all Canuck games for The Nelson Daily.

The Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks renewed hostilities on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena, in the first game back after the All-Star break.  The Canucks were able to overcome Chicago with a 3-2 win by way of overtime.

Vancouver has developed a very predictable game pattern in the last 15 or 20 games.  They typically have a strong first period, an absolutely horrible second period, and then play middling to good in the third.  That pattern held true tonight.

Ryan Kesler opened the scoring for Vancouver at 7:58 of the first period, after a great shift by him and his linemates, David Booth and Chris Higgins.  This line was Vancouver’s best of the night.  Just over three minutes later, Jamal Mayers tied it up for Chicago after some horrible defensive zone coverage by the Canucks.

Chicago took the game to the Canucks in the second frame, outshooting the home team 15-6.  They were especially dominant in the first 11 minutes or so, generating a number of chances.  Canuck goaltender Cory Schneider was phenomenal tonight, as he kept turning the Blackhawks back.  The Canucks were able to climb back into the game in the latter part of the period, but still went to the dressing room tied at one.

Chicago took the lead for the first time at 1:17 of the third period, Viktor Stalberg getting his stick free from Canuck defenseman Kevin Bieksa in front of the net to chop the puck off Alex Edler’s pants behind Schneider.  Impressive rookie Cody Hodgson then got in behind the Blackhawks’ defensemen just less than three minutes later, snapping a sweet wrist shot past Blackhawk goaltender Corey Crawford’s left ear, just under the bar, to tie the game.  The teams were relatively even through the balance of the game.

The Canucks were clearly the better team in the overtime, as they spent a lot of time in Chicago’s zone.  The Blackhawks were, however, able to generate a couple of scoring chances as well, the best coming on a partial breakaway by Stalberg which ended with a Schneider save.  The Sedin twins, invisible most of the night, were impressive in the extra frame, and Daniel converted an unbelievable short saucer pass from brother Henrik to end the game.

It was good to see the NHL back on the ice tonight. Both teams appeared slightly rusty early in the game, not unexpected given the long layoff.  Schneider was the difference-maker for Vancouver tonight – without him, they could easily have lost this game in regulation. 

Vancouver continues to have trouble distancing themselves from their opponents – they could have been up by two or more goals in the first period, but other than the Kesler goal, were unable to convert any of their chances.  This pattern has played out consistently – they have been scoring first in most of their recent games, only to let the other team back into the game later in the first before completely laying an egg in the second period.  Once the Canucks start playing 60 minutes a night, they will be a formidable foe.

CORY SCHNEIDER – OPTION 1B IN GOAL

The media and all the talking heads were making a big deal out of Coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to start Schneider.  Various points brought up about this include: the fact that he’s now started Schneider against both Boston and Chicago this month – the “statement games”; the possibility that GM Mike Gillis is somehow “showcasing” Schneider in anticipation of a potential trade; and the explanation by Vigneault that this start was due to the fact that Roberto Luongo had “family commitments”, whereas Schneider did not, seems like a lame excuse.

I don’t believe too much should be read into this decision.  Gillis has stated on numerous occasions that Schneider is a “big part of the team”, and that he likes him in the lineup.  Luongo has a history of melting down in the playoffs.  If you have an insurance policy like Schneider in the lineup, the coach needs to feel comfortable putting that insurance policy in play. 

The only way the coach can gain that confidence is by putting Schneider into some of these intense regular season matchups, and for Schneider to seize the opportunity to show that he can play in those games.  And that is exactly how this situation is playing out.

Luongo has been very good since early December.  Since that time, Schneider has seen his starts diminish – but it’s imperative that they keep him sharp.  There’s no reason to have him in the lineup if you’re not willing to use him.  All Vigneault’s doing is making himself comfortable to use him.  So far, Schneider has proven more than capable in these games.

CANUCKS’ D HAS A ROUGH OUTING

It seemed, all night, the Canucks’ defense just didn’t have their timing and spacing down.  The number of odd-man rushes that Chicago received was astounding, and the Chicago defense (and in particular, Duncan Keith) kept throwing stretch passes up the ice, which caused the Canucks a lot of problems.  In addition, while the Blackhawk defensemen seemed able to clear pucks away from the front of their net, it seemed the puck was often in a dangerous spot in front of Schneider, the defense unable to eliminate the danger.

Kevin Bieksa had a rough game in particular, looking very bad on both Chicago goals.  Bieksa ended the night even (as he was on the ice for both Canuck goals for), but that’s a horribly misleading statistic.

The lone bright spot was Edler.  Tonight was one of those games where he’s got his timing down and this enabled him to eliminate Chicago forwards with ease.  Edler had a number of highlight-reel hits tonight.  When he brings this physical presence to the game, he’s really a treat to watch.

All of this said, the Canucks bent, but didn’t break.  They were able to find enough to gut out the win, and we’re getting to the point of the season where that’s more important than how you do it – especially against a top-end team like The Blackhawks.

PARTING SHOTS

Quick Comments:

• Dave Bolland had an interesting night.  After being caught on radio in December referring to the Sedins as “sisters” who “sleep in bunk beds” and who would “never be allowed to be Hawks”, he was rather contrite in a 2^nd intermission interview where he referred to the twins as talented players and complimented the fans in Vancouver.  It may have just been B.S., but I bought it – I felt that he was trying to end the controversy around that radio incident, as at the time, he was being egged on by the Chicago radio personalities (not unlike the recent Shawn Thornton/Tony Gallagher incident in Boston).  Bolland was quite effective (again) in helping shut down the Canucks’ first line most of the night, but in the overtime, they were dominant when they were on the ice.  In the end, Daniel had slipped Bolland’s coverage when he scored the winning goal, perhaps a fitting end to this story.
• I have to say, this game didn’t feature much of the historical vitriol that usually exists between these teams.  I’m sure that would change come playoff time should the teams meet for a fourth straight year, but for now, the Bruins have replaced Chicago as Vancouver’s number one rival, worthy of most of the fan base’s hatred.
• Symptomatic of this, there were only two minor penalties called in the game, both against Vancouver.  This is the second time in a row that Vancouver has failed to get a power play against Chicago.  Chicago coach Joel Quennevile was livid in overtime, as a minor slash on the Stalberg partial breakaway wasn’t called.  Alex Burrows had received a marginal penalty with less than five minutes left in regulation; a similar play wasn’t called in overtime when Kesler was checked from behind in to the boards (just after the Stalberg play).  Inconsistency continues to rear its ugly head with the league’s officiating.
• If Duncan Keith isn’t the best defenseman in the league, he’s very close.  The plays a ton, tonight, logging over 30 minutes of icetime.
• Jonathan Toews is also a treat to watch.  He turned Edler inside-out in the overtime, only to be stymied by Schneider.
• With his goal, Hodgson now trails leader Matt Read by only one in the rookie goal scoring race.  It’s not just how he scores his goals, it’s when, as well.  He’s turning into a clutch performer before our eyes.  He again did this tonight in just over 12 minutes of work.
• The Kesler-Booth-Higgins unit was the Canucks’ most dangerous line tonight.  Exclusive of Hodgson’s goal, the Hodgson-Hansen-Raymond line was mostly invisible.

Broadcast Observation of the Day:  It was great to see Darren Pang back on TSN, providing the colour analysis from ice level.  “Panger” seems like a very friendly, likeable guy and I like the analysis he can bring to the broadcast.  You can tell he really enjoys his job.  Also, it’s impressive that he’s able to shift from his regular gig as the St. Louis Blues’ colour analyst to a national broadcast with ease.

As is customary for TSN, he was situated at ice level between the benches, and on a couple occasions, he referenced little sidebar conversations he had had with Luongo during the game, one of which was when he informed the audience it was Luongo who told him the Blackhawks’ second goal went in off Edler’s pants.  It’s extremely rare, and for some reason for me, somewhat cool, that a player would have influence on the broadcast in the middle of the game in this fashion.

Looking ahead: The schedule doesn’t get any easier in the short-term, as the Canucks play host to the Western Conference leading Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.