Canucks 3 Flames 1
It's nice to finally see a Canucks team be able to put a game in cruise control against a weaker opponent and still win fairly easily. I know Calgary owned the shot totals but a ton of those shots were weak shots from the outside with really no chance of going past Luongo.
Unfortunate goal for Luongo late in the game last night but you can't really blame him for being upset. He worked hard last night and saw a lot of rubber. He deserved the shut out and his team, and his coach, let him down. Why the coach? Think about it from Luongo's point of view. There's less than a minute left and you know Calgary is trying to score (they pulled their goalie down 3 goals) because the only thing they have left is breaking up the shut out. Who does AV find on his bench to put on the ice? The fourth line. The fourth line gets stuck in their zone, ices the puck, and loses the faceoff. The puck ends up in the back on the net.
Ok I know not really a time to bring up little things like that when the team is winning but common, do something for your goalie who has been playing great for you all year. Like everyone has been repeating in the locker room this whole streak, "there's always something to clean up". This is the one beef I had with last nights game.
On the good side of things, the first goal for the Canucks seems like it's coming easy all the sudden, they've been jumping out of the gate and look great in the first. Speed really kills teams and Raymond used his speed to get outside of the dman on the first goal to set up a streaking Kesler driving hard to the net for an easy deflection. It's awesome to watch that line create using their speed.
I commented in the pre game that the faceoff percentages were down in the SJ game. Kesler brought his numbers back up with a solid 67%, Malhotra dominated going 15/19 for 79%. Meanwhile Henrik struggled again going a mere 6/16, against the big body of Jokinen he only went 2/7. Keep on eye on Henrik against big centers, he's been having trouble with them recently. Thornton and Jokinen did very good jobs against one of the better faceoff guys in the NHL. Bolduc went a horrid 0/8. If he wants to be the playoff 4th line center for the Canucks he better improve on that number.
The defense looks like they are really coming together. Ehrhoff and Hamhuis had a few really nice key plays in their own zone. Is it just me or does Alberts look a heck of a lot better than Rome paired with Ballard? When Ballard and Alberts are on the ice I am comfortable no matter what line they are lined up against. When Rome and Ballard are on the ice I get nervous when they are against the other teams top lines.
All in all a good team effort in a W they should be able to pick up all the time against a weaker team.
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Comment bellow.
I agree with your comments about AV not giving Luongo the support he needed to get the shutout. Any of the other lines could have provided that. AV could have been thinking of the hectic future games instead of stroking the ego of the top goalie for Dec. Luongo sounded pissed in his interview later and he even said that was the reason he didn't come out when he was named a star of the game.
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