Burning it to the Ground: Reliving the post-2011 Cup loss Canucks - Page 10

CanuckJohnny · 07-24-2022, 01:16 PM

December Recap

Results
W 4-0 vs. CAR - Eddie Lack starts and gets the thirty save shutout going head to head with Cam Ward, one of the best goalies in the league this year, P.K. with a goal and an assist, Grabner with his team leading eleventh goal
W 1-0 vs. NAS - we give Eddie another start after his shutout and he rewards us with another one, Henrik's unassisted PPG in the second (his eleventh of the year) was the only goal of the game
W 3-2 @ PHX - Lack gets a third straight start after his two consecutive shutouts, noted playmaker Henrik Sedin continues his reinvention of himself as he scores two more goals, both assisted by Patrick Thoresen (who is now up to 13 assists on the season)
W 3-0 @ COL - we get Rundblad and Marchessault back from injury, Rundblad comes in for Tommernes, who played well with three points and plus 4 in eleven games, and Marchessault will join the third line for now as Malhotra comes out and Brunner moves over to center, and a rested Markstrom takes back the crease with a shutout, while Henrik nets his 14th of the year
W 3-2 @ CAR - Damien Brunner is looking pretty comfortable at center, scoring the game winning goal in the third and adding an assist as well
SOL 2-1 @ EDM - in spite of outshooting them 46-26, we were stymied by rookie backup goalie Olivier Roy, and Henrik Sedin received a one game suspension for his first period boarding major
OTL 2-1 @ BOS - Lack gets the start and Malhotra fills in for Henrik, we really missed our captain and delivered a fairly uninspired effort, ultimately losing to a Nathan Horton individual effort in overtime
W 4-1 vs. MIN - we get back to winning, Hank and Kes both contribute two assists to the effort, three goals by defensemen tonight (Cumiskey, Bieksa, and Ellis)
SOW 2-1 vs. DAL- Ben Scrivens made 40 saves in the losing effort for them, as Burr's shorty in the second was the only goal to get past him until the shootout, where Daniel and Loui Eriksson exchanged goals but it stayed tied until round five when Patrick Thoresen won it
L 3-2 vs. CHI - even without their injured captain, our rivals continue to be our nemesis as they come into our building and steal two points in spite of being outshot 41-28, however the injury bug struck them hard once again as partway through the game superstar Patrick Kane sustained a serious looking back injury, post-game diagnosis was that he will be out for five months
SOL 2-1 @ WPG - we get Bozak back, Lisin comes out of the lineup to make room for him, Byfuglien got under our skin early, goading Marchessault into offsetting roughing penalties and then Burrows into a fight, all in the first period, once again we run into a hot goalie, and Pavelec made 42 saves in the win, in overtime Byfuglien and Burrows had round 2, man they really must dislike each other, and to cap it all off, big Buff scores the shootout winner, yuck
W 2-1 vs. CGY - Hammer is back, Neil and Tommernes are sent down to the minors to make roster space, Patrick Thoresen scored the game winner on the PP in the third, but it is again concerning to see such a close game in spite of outshooting the opponent 40-10
L 3-1 @ PHI - Lack with the start tonight, Henrik is playing in his 1000th game, Marchessault with the only goal, Couturier scored two on us, we lost despite outshooting them 36-27

The Canucks finish the calendar year still atop the NHL standings, but just barely. Strong goaltending and team defense, along with depth scoring and a next man up mentality in covering for injuries have been crucial to their success. Concerningly, their finishing rate has not matched their stellar play in other aspects, the perfect example being star sniper Daniel Sedin who has scored only one goal in his injury hampered season. His shooting percentage is an unsustainably low 1.8%, but the results need to start coming soon for him if the Canucks hope to stay on top of the mountain. Patrick Thoresen maintained a surprisingly high level of play on the first line for some time, but he has been dropping off as of late. He still has a good stat line of three goals and fifteen assists through twenty eight games, but it might be time for him to move back down the lineup. Markstrom and Lack have both provided excellent goaltending so far. While they continue to wait for Subban to break out, Ryan Ellis has carried a lot of offense from the back end as he continues to develop and to cement his place as a regular NHL top 4 blueliner. Bieksa has been no slouch either, proving to doubters that he can still contribute at both ends of the ice.

League Notes

Jonathan Toews went down with a fractured bone in his shoulder on a December 8th game against Florida, and doctors expect him to miss at least 5 months
Ryan Suter of Nashville will be out for about two months after fracturing his wrist December 10th, it's a big loss for the Preds
T.J. Oshie had a nine game goal streak going when he tore his thigh muscle in a game against Winnipeg, he will miss about four months (Oshie had 22 goals - 1st in the NHL - and 34 points in 29 games when he was hurt)
A year and a half into his coaching tenure with the Islanders, former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault is already being forced to fend off rumours that his time at Long Island is almost up, as he is taking a lot of heat for the basement position of his last place team, especially when expectations for the team and star player John Tavares were high this year
On December 20th Patrick Kane injured his back and will be joining his teammate Toews on the sidelines - he is expected to miss five months
John Tavares delivered a statement game amidst swirling rumours about his coach, scoring four goals in an 11-2 victory over the rival Rangers on Dec 20th
Shane Doan returned to the Coyotes' lineup Dec 17th after missing the entire regular season so far, and he's been making up for lost time, contributing six goals and two assists in his first four games back
The New York Islanders finally pulled the trigger on firing Vigneault just before Christmas, and have replaced him with Barry Trotz
It won't be a happy new year for at least two teams with a couple of key starters going down long term with major injuries - Jonas Hiller of the Ducks will miss at least nine months after suffering a fractured skull in a freak accident colliding with the boards, and Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk will miss about four months with a concussion
NHL players voted Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson the most underrated player in the league in the annual player poll, while his teammate Duncan Keith was voted best skater
Players also voted Canadiens netminder Carey Price as the toughest to beat
Dallas goalie Ben Scrivens has wrested the starting role away from incumbent Kari Lehtonen this year, and he was named the best goalie for the month of December

CanuckJohnny · 08-13-2022, 07:39 PM

January Recap

Results
W 2-1 @ TBL - they got the first goal, but PK ties it on a PP tally assisted by Daniel and Henrik, and Cory Conacher scores the winner in a dominant win, as we outshoot them 64-28 while taking no penalties
L 5-3 vs. LAK - after falling behind 5-1 in the third, there was a spirited comeback effort inspired by goals five seconds apart from Kesler and Shirokov that fell short, Ryan Ellis and Christ Tanev looked awful out there, a combined -7
SOL 2-1 vs. ANA - Lack starts, Thoresen ties the game assisted by Daniel and Henrik, but it goes to a shootout where Andrew Cogliano scored the only goal to win it
W 5-3 @ PIT - Markstrom stole this game, we got outshot 36-22, but he held the fort and the offense lit up perennial Vezina candidate Marc-Andre Fleury, Grabner scored two goals in the win and Thoresen looked dynamic offensively, contributing a goal and assist as well as three hits, however on a down note star defenseman Dan Hamhuis went down with an upper body injury that could keep him out for a month
W 3-1 @ STL - Cumiskey replaces Hammer and we call up Hank Tommernes as insurance, all four goals came in the third period of this game, which was the second consecutive game of us being outshot, this time 36-26, but Markstrom was stellar and Ryan Ellis scored the game winner and added an apple to earn the first star
W 5-1 vs. LAK - the first home win of the month was a good bounce back performance, outshooting the Kings 41-23 while Ryan Ellis earned his second straight first star with a goal and two assists
W 5-1 vs. ANA - in a closer match than the scoreboard showed Patrick Thoresen showed his quality, scoring a goal and adding an assist in the victory
W 3-1 vs. PHX
L 5-2 @ CGY - Daniel Sedin, who had only managed three goals all season, showed signs of returning to form with two goals, but he turned out to be the lone bright spot in an embarrassing loss to the basement dwelling flames, blossoming young star Johnny Gaudreau picked up three assists on the night, while some of the usual suspects in Tanguay and Backlund netted two each on Markstrom
L 1-0 vs. EDM - Lack starts in net, RNH managed the only goal of the game on the powerplay with less than a minute remaining after Kyle Cumiskey took an ill advised holding penalty late, rookie goalie Olivier Roy continues to have our number, posting a forty save shutout
SOL 4-3 @ NSH - former Canuck Jannik Hansen had two assists in his first star performance against us, while Markstrom struggled and backup goalie Anders Lindback made 39 saves for the win, while Roman Josi and Martin Erat both scored in the shootout
W 5-1 @ PHX - Henrik Tommernes comes into the lineup for Kyle Cumiskey, we get back into the win column on goals from Subban, Zackrisson, Bozak, Marchessault, and Henrik Sedin, while in more unfortunate news goalie Jacob Markstrom took a hard knock and will be out a few days
SOW 4-3 @ EDM - Andrew Hammond gets called up to back up Eddie Lack while Markstrom recovers from his upper body injury, PK tied it up in the third to send us to OT and when that resolved nothing we went to shootout which saw captain Henrik Sedin scoring the only goal to seal the win, Michael Grabner sustained a minor hand injury that could keep him out for a few days
W 3-2 @ CHI - shockingly our depleted squad pulled together to defeat the team that always gives us trouble, led by Henrik Tommernes' goal and assist first star performance, Chicago's Jeremy Morin was ejected for a hit to the head and later suspended for six games
L 5-3 vs. WIN - Markstrom, Grabner, and Conacher all return to the lineup, Hammond goes on waivers, but Evander Kane (1g, 2a) and Dustin Byfuglien (1g, 2a) spoil the party for us in spite of our 37 shots on Ondrej Pavelec

The Canucks looked a little streaky this month, but finish out January still one point ahead of rival Chicago for the President's trophy. Henrik Sedin is having a tremendous bounce back season that includes him finding a goal scoring flair that has him tied with Michael Grabner for the team lead in goals with 19. Speaking of Grabner, his +23 leads all Canucks while his 4 shorthanded goals leads the NHL. Jon Marchessault is establishing himself as a regular threat in the top six and on the powerplay. Patrick Thoresen has been a real story, and his consistent production has been a valuable contribution to a lineup that has missed key players at different times - the questions surrounding him right now center on his usage with the Sedins, and many doubt his effectiveness apart from them, but his 8 goals and 21 assists look good regardless. P.K. Subban has bounced back after a rough start, and is up to 25 points now while posting a respectable plus eleven and playing 22 minutes a night. Brunner and Conacher have proven to be solid depth additions so far, but is there more potential to be tapped into for either of them? Ryan Ellis has led the offense from the back end with 37 points so far, and is earning recognition around the league as his playing time continues to increase to beyond 22 minutes a night. Tyler Bozak has been as advertised, a solid middle six center, producing at a clip of about half a point per game while being responsible at both ends. Daniel Sedin is starting to come back into form after he really struggled to find his stride when returning from injury. Veteran Kevin Bieksa has been a calming stalwart presence on the blueline and is plus nineteen on the year. The Canucks will look to find more consistency as they consider possible roster tweaks coming into the trade deadline and looking toward the playoffs. Veterans Manny Malhotra and Chris Neil have fallen out of favour and seen very few games, perhaps they will be dangled as bait or maybe the Canucks are planning to depend on their experience come playoff time.

League News and Notes

TRADE - WAS acquires forwards Niclas Bergfors and Viktor Tikhonov from NYR in exchange for defenseman Josh Gorges and veteran forward Marco Sturm - Bergfors and Sturm are both minor leaguers this year, Washington must be hoping for Bergfors to find his game with them or for NHL regular Tikhonov to find another gear offensively, Josh Gorges is a steady top four option on defense, with ten points in forty games so far, Rangers win this trade
Evgeni Malkin had a 13 game point streak where he scored 10 goals and 15 assists
RE-SIGNING - EDM extends Jordan Eberle for 2 years at an AAV of $3.68M, Eberle has 18 goals and 38 points this year
INJURY - PHI winger Vladimir Tarasenko suffered an elbow injury on Jan 16th that kept him out until the end of the month, he's struggled offensively thus far with only seven goals and twelve points
INJURY - NYI defenseman Andrew MacDonald went down Jan 14th with a lower body injury that should keep him out for a month
INJURY - TOR captain Dion Phaneuf sustained a concussion and is out indefinitely
INJURY - FLA center Nick Bjugstad will be out for a month or two with an upper body injury, the 21 year old has split time between San Antonio and the big club, and has contributed nine points in his 21 NHL games this year
INJURY - PHI defenseman Chris Pronger is out for a couple weeks with an upper body injury, the veteran has nine points and a plus eight rating so far this year
COL forward Daniel Winnik leads the league in plus minus at +30, while linemate Ryan O'Reilly is second in faceoff percentage at 58.5% (EDM C Dave Steckel leads the league with 59%)
DAL goalie Ben Scrivens leads the league in shutouts with 8, Marc-Andre Fleury is second with seven, and Crawford and Markstrom both have six
Anaheim's Jonas Hiller leads the league in GSAA (23.79) and SvPct (.936) and has five shutouts in his 36 starts
Tyler Toffoli on Los Angeles leads all rookies in scoring with 31 points (Cory Conacher is tied for fourth with fifteen)
Keith Yandle (PHX) leads all defensemen in scoring (9-39-48), with Kris Letang (13-33-46), Erik Karlsson (10-33-43), and Toby Enstrom (10-33-43) right behind him
The 'Yotes are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff race, and rumours are head coach Dave Tippett may take the fall for their underperformance
Edmonton and Anaheim were hanging around the playoff conversation in the West, but they both dropped the last four games in a row to fall mostly out of the picture
The Blues have the second most goals in the league after Pittsburgh and are on a five game winning streak, now in the President's Trophy conversation
The Canadiens had been struggling but have won their last four to find themselves only two points out of eighth in the East

CanuckJohnny · 08-16-2022, 12:37 AM

February Recap

Results
W 3-0 vs. DET - Daniel continues his return to form with a goal and an assist, while Michael Grabner is the first Canuck to twenty goals this year, Markstrom made only twenty saves for the shutout in a dominant home win for Vancouver
L 4-1 vs. BOS - struggled to crack Rask, who made 37 saves for the victory, while usual suspects Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand both picked up a goal and an assist, David Rundblad also sustained an upper body injury that will keep him out for around two weeks
SOW 3-2 vs. MTL - Dan Hamhuis will return to the lineup, albeit with a facemask as he is still nursing a cheekbone injury, Bozak was creative with two assists, Brian Gionta scored both boals for Montreal, Grabner scored the shootout winner
SOL 3-2 vs. TOR - Phil Kessel scored his 26th goal of the year, and also got the shootout winner, we outshot them 42-24 in the loss, but Reimer made 40 saves and was perfect in the shootout
Olympics - Sweden won the gold medal against Canada in dominant fashion, 7-0, with Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom pitching the 31 save shutout, Daniel Sedin scoring a goal, and Hank picking up two assists, Patrick Thoresen's team Norway had a surprising Cinderella run all the way to the bronze medal game where they lost to Finland 3-0
L 4-0 @ STL - Lack starts, team looks very flat, maybe understandably after half the forwards spent the past two weeks competing in the Olympics and just got back
L 2-0 @ MIN

League News and Notes

RE-SIGNING - John Tavares signs a 4 year extension with the Islanders with an AAV of $7.08M
RE-SIGNING - Ryan O'Reilly re-ups with Colorado at an AAV of $6.49M for 4 years
INJURY - Keith Yandle of the Coyotes injured his ankle Feb 4th and will miss at least 3 weeks
RE-SIGNING - Alex Pietrangelo signed a 4 year extension with St. Louis for $5.02M per year
RE-SIGNING - Patrick Kane will make $7.03M per year for four more years with Chicago
RE-SIGNING - Tampa Bay extends superstar centre Steven Stamkos for three years at $6.59M/yr
TRADE - WSH acquires RW Raffi Torres (4g, 7a) from PHX in exchange for RW Jan Mursak (1g, 13a) and Viktor Tikhonov (3g, 4a), Phoenix wins this trade by moving out an aging Torres for two younger forwards
RE-SIGNING - goalie Braden Holtby signed a 4 year, $5.48M/yr extension with Washington
RE-SIGNING - Blues forward T.J. Oshie extended with them for three more years at an AAV of $4.17M
RE-SIGNING - Dallas re-signs Jamie Benn for two years at $6.95M/yr
RE-SIGNING - Drew Doughty will make $6.86M/yr for the next 3 years after signing an extension with the Kings
RE-SIGNING - Ottawa extended superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson for two more years at an AAV of $7.81M
RE-SIGNING - center Darren Helm signed a four year extension with Detroit for an AAV of $2.79M
Phoenix fired coach Dave Tippett and replaced him with Dallas Eakins

Trade Deadline Day

VAN acquires: RW Ryan Hartman (19yo prospect who can also play center), WSH 3rd 2014
WSH acquires: LW Enver Lisin (7 points in 40 games this season), RW Sergei Shirokov (7g, 11a this season)

VAN acquires: RW Todd Bertuzzi (39yo, 5 points in 32 games this year, planning to retire)
STL acquires: RW Chris Neil (34yo, in the minors, 4 NHL games this year)

VAN acquires: D Jake Muzzin (25yo, minors)
PHX acquires: RW Nicklas Jensen (20yo, minors), VAN 5th 2014

EDM acquires: G Andrei Vasilevskiy (19yo, minors)
TOR acquires: C Sam Gagner (10g, 13a in 30gp), D Jeff Petry (14 points, 20:53 ATOI)

LAK acquires: RW Michael Ryder (33yo, 9g, 7a)
PHX acquires: G Jean-Francois Berube (22yo, minors), RW Jordan Weal (21yo, minors)

CanuckJohnny · 08-20-2022, 05:02 PM

March Recap

Results
L 4-2 @ OTT - lost Bozak (upper body, 3 weeks) and Ellis (upper body, 10 days)
W 2-1 vs PHX - Malhotra steps into the lineup to replace Bozak and makes an immediate impact, scoring a goal from Brunner and Hamhuis in his first shift, Phoenix turned in a lemon of a performance under new coach Dallas Eakins, generating only 17 shots all game, it was another ugly day for injuries, losing heart and soul winger Alex Burrows for four months with a broken leg and also seeing Damien Brunner go out day to day with a groin injury
L 4-2 vs DAL - Dale Weise gets the call-up to replace Burr (he chipped in an assist in the losing cause) and Anton Rodin comes up from the minors to step in for Damien Brunner
W 5-2 @ CGY - after scoring an insurance marker in the third, Marchessault is now on a four game goal streak, and Grabner scored his team leading 21st goal of the season
W 3-0 @ NYI - Marky with the 23 save shutout, Jonathan Marchessault scores two goals (now up to 19 on the season), and David Rundblad picked up three assists and the first star, while P.K. scored his tenth of the year on a powerplay
W 4-2 vs WPG - Hank and Danny with a great game, Henrik with a goal and two assists, Daniel with a goal and an assist, Dale Weise scored his second of the year since joining the lineup in place of Alex Burrows, Blake Wheeler scored both goals against us
L 6-2 vs WSH - Shirokov burned us with the second goal of the game and Nick Backstrom potted two and added an assist
W 2-0 vs FLA - Eddie Lack gets the start against ex-Canuck Bobby Lu and comes out with the 21 save shutout, Bieksa had a spirited tilt with Erik Gudbranson in the first period, and Jon Marchessault scored both goals for us
L 2-0 vs TBL - Lack gets rewarded for the shutout with another start, but this time we are shutout by backup Lightning goalie Mike Mckenna, while Steven Stamkos potted his 40th of the year on us
SOL 5-4 @ NASH - former Canuck Jannik Hansen picked up a goal and an assist and even scored on his shootout attempt, Patrick Zackrisson opened the scoring for us and then also scored the game tying goal with two minutes left, but even after Marchessault tied the shootout with the pressure on, Alexander Radulov eventually scored the shootout winner
W 3-2 @ BUF - Marchessault scored the game winner and took over the team lead in goal scoring with his 22nd of the season assisted by Muzzin and Grabner, also, congratulations to Daniel Sedin who picked up his 500th career assist
SOL 3-2 vs MIN - Marchessault's strong play continues with a goal and an assist, but Mikko Koivu scored the lone goal of the shootout to put us away, poor showing from Markstrom who only faced eleven shots but allowed two goals
W 2-1 vs COL - Lack starts and makes 22 saves for the win, rookie defenseman Morgan Rielly scored on us and was answered by our Jake Muzzin with his first of the year, and Jon Marchessault scored the winner shorthanded
L 3-2 @ ANA - Marchessault with another goal, he's up to 25 now, but we surrendered two third period goals, one by Corey Perry and one by Jacob Trouba (his eighth of the season at only twenty years old), Subban will be day to day with a knee injury sustained this game

It was an up and down month for the Canucks, who finished 7-5-2 but couldn't really string together much success outside of a three game win streak early in the month. Markstrom was unusually inconsistent and a lot of injuries had to be dealt with. Jon Marchessault was the most consistent player, especially in the back half of the month, and was a real bright spot. Dale Weise has looked great filling in for Alex Burrows, with five points in twelve games. Daniel's resurgence has him and Henrik both looking capable of being at least close to their former selves offensively, but finding a quality winger to play with them has continued to be trouble. Patrick Thoresen, who had an amazing run earlier and sits at 31 points currently, has been in a massive slump in which he hasn't produced a point since February third. Cory Conacher has replaced him since his demotion, but Conacher hasn't proven to be a consistently productive option with Sedins either. Maybe veteran Todd Bertuzzi, acquired at the deadline for seemingly sentimental reasons to facilitate him retiring as a Canuck, can find some mojo with them. P.K. Subban has looked a little better offensively after his horrid start to the year. Ryan Kesler has quietly been productive as a two way force facilitating the second line between two skilled wingers in Grabner and Marchessault. Lack has shown improvement over the year and is a great option as the backup.

League Notes

Tampa Bay Re-Signs Martin St. Louis for a one year extension worth $3.38M
Islanders lose forward Blake Comeau for six months after an horrific knee injury in a collision in their Mar 2nd game against Florida
Senators forward Milan Michalek had a freak injury, crushing his foot while changing his tire, and will be out for five weeks!
Jason Pominville is out for 3 months with a neck injury
Victor Hedman signs an extension with Tampa Bay for 4 years at an AAV of $5.22M
Sharks defenceman Brent Burns is sidelined for five months with a fractured hip
Alex Steen of the Winnipeg Jets will miss about five months with a broken ankle
James Neal had a twelve game point streak where he scored 7 goals and 15 assists
Roman Josi was handed a seven game suspension March 27th for an illegal check to the head in a game against Buffalo
Leo Komarov fractured his skull and will be out for eight months, yikes
Alex Galchenyuk of the Capitals suffered an upper body injury against Boston and will miss at least six months, he has been having a tremendous sophomore season for them with twenty three goals and nineteen assists

Sidney Crosby is re-establishing his dominance and absolutely lighting up the league this year. He is leading the Penguins back towards another President's trophy after a slow (for them) start. Definitely unfinished business for that group, including Kris Letang (leads all defensemen with 65 points) and Marc-Andre Fleury (again in the Vezina conversation) after their Stanley Cup Final loss last year. The St. Louis Blues have been surging and are now in the lead for the President's trophy, without any standout individual performances, their top scorer is Andy McDonald with sixty one points. The Los Angeles Kings have made great strides and are tied for the lead in the Pacific with the Canucks now. The Preds and Jets are tied for 8th in the West with six games remaining. In the East, Columbus and Tampa Bay are three and four points, respectively, away from the Senators for eighth in the east with seven games remaining.

CanuckJohnny · 08-28-2022, 12:12 PM

April Recap

Results
L 5-0 @ NYR
L 4-2 @ LAK - Lack starts, Jack Johnson scored two goals (his 14th and 15th of the year!), we outshot them 43-26
W 3-1 @ ANA - Subban returns to the lineup, Thoresen is moved back up to the first line, Dale Weise has a solid game on the fourth line getting into a first period fight with Corey Perry and picking up an assist on Kesler's game winning goal with 32 seconds left as well as adding the empty net insurance marker
W 4-2 @ COL - a dominant win that saw two goals and an assist from Tyler Bozak, Patrick Thoresen's first point in two months, and a game winning goal from Dale Weise, Kesler went down with a lower body injury but should be back by playoffs
L 3-0 vs EDM - poor showing all around, only took 22 shotos on goal, Chris Tanev was a bright spot with eight blocked shots and no goals against his pairing with Ryan Ellis
L 3-0 @ CGY - couldn't crack Kipper, Tanev with another great game on defense though, with seven blocked shots and again no goals allowed, unfortunately his partner and the offensive engine from the blueline, Ryan Ellis, sustained an upper body injury that will keep him out for three weeks

Vancouver stumbles into the postseason, going 2-4 in their final six, dropping to fourth in the west, and being shut out in three of those games. They go into the playoffs hoping to have Ryan Kesler back at full health but missing Ryan Ellis for at least all of round one and Alex Burrows for probably the entire playoffs. Questions abound after a good start morphed into a lot of inconsistency post deadline. Who are this year's Canucks? Can they get back over the hump into the finals with some of the magic of last season's surprising run to the third round? Or will they fizzle out in the first round with their lack of premier pieces and an aging core? The lack of a consistent and productive linemate for Henrik and Daniel is a big concern, and the blueline looks especially thin without Ryan Ellis, whose emergence this year as a go to guy offensively was a big differencemaker for the Canucks season.

Canucks Notes

Chris Tanev finished the year with 191 blocks and a +30 turnover differential
Bieksa led the league in PIMs with 162
Cory Conacher finished 9th in rookie scoring with 20 points

Deadline Acquisition Jake Muzzin signed a five year contract extension worth $1.08M per year

League Notes

on April 10th the NHL's leader in goals, assists and points, Sidney Crosby, went down with a lower body injury that will keep him out for about six weeks
T.J. Oshie had a 13 game point streak in which he scored 13 goals and 11 assists as he led the Blues to the top of the Western Conference
in the East, the Senators squeaked into the playoffs by virtue of having one more win that the Columbus club that had tied them in points with 81
in the West, the Predators held onto the final playoff spot in spite of losing their final two games, finishing tied with Winnipeg at 89 points but holding the tiebreaker with one more win

Notable Seasons from:

F Tomas Tatar, DET (39-32-71)
C David Desharnais, MTL (18-61-79)
D Alex Goligoski, DAL (24-41-65, +40 to lead the league)
RW Tyler Toffoli, LAK (29-20-49 to lead all rookies in scoring)
D Dougie Hamilton, BOS (16-19-35 to lead all rookie defensemen in scoring)
G Ben Scrivens, DAL (led the league with 13 shutouts)
LW Johnny Gaudreau, CGY (28-38-66 in his sophomore season)
C Sean Couturier, PHI (66gp, 16-31-47, +20)
RW T.J. Oshie, STL (34gp, 23-17-40)
D Kris Letang, PIT (70gp, 19-53-72 to lead all defensemen in scoring)
LW Alexander Ovechkin, WSH (42-47-89, bit of a drop off from his last season goal wise, but still led the league with 13 game winning goals)
D Drew Doughty, LAK (16-41-57, 8gwg)

CanuckJohnny · 08-28-2022, 05:58 PM

Playoff Preview:

WEST
#1 STL vs #8 NSH
The Blues are surging and have star scorer T.J. Oshie back and on a hot streak. Nashville barely sneaked into the postseason and is in tough, but will look to their defense corps led by Weber, Suter, and Josi as well as their goaltending with all star Pekka Rinne to keep them in this. St. Louis has a deep forward group led by bruising captain David Backes, the aforementioned Oshie, powerforward Chris Stewart coming off a strong 29 goal campaign, and a host of other skilled players like McDonald, Berglund, Perron, and Schwartz. Blues in 5.

#2 LAK vs #7 DAL
The Kings come in atop the Pacific after a strong second half, led by Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, and Dustin Brown. They hope to have their star point-per-game center Anze Kopitar back soon, are counting on Justin Williams and deadline acquisition Michael Ryder to chip in offensively, and had an amazing season (17 goals) from blueliner Jack Johnson which they hope will continue into the offseason. Rookie scoring leader Tyler Toffoli will look to make an impression on the big stage. Dallas will be leaning heavily on Ben Scrivens in net, a revelation this year when he stole the starter's job and ran with it all year, finishing with a league leading 13 shutouts and carrying the Stars into the playoffs. Their top line of Benn, Ribeiro, and Eriksson is always dangerous, and their top pairing of Goligoski and Daley has been one of the most dominant duos in the NHL, but they lack depth after that. Kings in 6.

#3 CHI vs #6 SJS
Chicago looks to have star defenseman Duncan Keith back from injury to start the series, and they are also hopeful for the soon return of captain Jonathan Toews. That they have still fought their way to third in the conference in spite of missing Toews and Kane for such a huge chunk of the season speaks to their depth and championship calibre. It's also been an opportunity for Corey Crawford to shine and really carry his team and earn himself some recognition amongst the stars of the Chicago core. The Sharks have done well this year with their tandem of Niemi and Talbot in goal, and it will be interesting to see if they pick one and ride him or continue to share the load. Veteran Dan Boyle will be heavily leaned on for offense and leadership from the back end. Up front, they are led offensively by Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Logan Couture. Chicago is getting healthy at just the right time and they are still the powerhouse of the west when they have their big guns back. Blackhawks in 6.

#4 VAN vs #5 COL
Colorado has some good young offensive blueliners coming up in Morgan Rielly and Tyson Barrie, and they look deep up front with Duchene, Landeskog, Selke candidate Ryan O'Reilly, and captain Paul Stastny. Last year's starter Semyon Varlamov has found himself splitting starts with youngster Mike Condon, it'll be interesting to see who they decide to go with. Vancouver has really stumbled into the playoffs, on a rough ride the past three months, and haven't been able to find the dominance they had early in the season. Rising star Ryan Ellis looks like he will miss this series, putting more pressure than ever on P.K. Subban to perform. If the Sedins can find their usual magic this postseason and Markstrom plays like he did last playoffs the Canucks should be fine though. Vancouver in 5.

EAST
#1 PIT vs #8 OTT
Crosby is a huge loss, but if any team in the league can absorb losing a superstar like him, it's Pittsburgh. They are on a mission for redemption, finished strong to claim another President's Trophy, have Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes and superstar Kris Letang on the blueline. Can the likes of Malkin, Staal, Kunitz, and Neal carry them without Sid? Yeah, probably. Ottawa snuck into the playoffs and is looking to prove they really belong there. They have been going with the tandem of Ben Bishop and Craig Anderson, and nobody knows who will be starting game one. Erik Karlsson is the obvious star of the show and one of the best offensive blueliners in the game. Captain Jason Spezza will be expected to provide offense and leadership, while some young stars will need to step up as well. Sniper Filip Forsberg is coming off a strong sophomore season, and twenty year old Mika Zibanejad also showed improvement and offensive flair this season. They'll be no match for the Pens though, even without Crosby. Penguins in 4.

#2 DET vs #7 WSH
Led by elite two way forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, the Wings are flying high this year. Rookie goalie Petr Mrazek took over the net and his seven shutouts should have him in the Calder conversation for sure. Their defense continues to be built around the sturdy Niklas Kronwall, but they are thin after him, and will be missing veterans Andrej Meszaros and Brendan Smith. Washington is a very top heavy team, especially after the injury to second line center Alex Galchenyuk. Stars Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin form a formidable top line, but who will be contributing depth scoring? Sergei Shirokov has nine points in twenty one games since being acquired from Vancouver, maybe he will step up and chip in that secondary offense they're looking for. The trio of Fowler, Carlson, and Wideman should at least provide some offensive punch from the back end, and Braden Holtby can be depended on for consistent play in net. Ovi may make or break the series, with his incredible ability to score clutch goals when most needed, as his 13 gamewinners in the regular season demonstrate. Capitals in 7.

#3 BOS vs #6 MTL
The Bruins begin the series without some key offensive contributors, and although Krejci and Horton should be back in a game or two, star forward Tyler Seguin is out indefinitely. Marchand and Bergeron will have to carry the offense for them. They are fortunate to have one of the best puck stoppers in the business in Tuukka Rask, and backing him up is veteran Tim Thomas. Aging captain Zdeno Chara has some support on the blueline from rookie Dougie Hamilton and emerging young defenseman Torey Krug. Montreal comes in with a clean bill of health and a wealth of forward depth. Desharnais and Pacioretty were dynamic all year, while captain Brian Gionta contributed 20 goals and Erik Cole potted 24. Free agent acquisition P.A. Parenteau has provided good middle six scoring depth, sophomore Brendan Gallagher has continued to be energetic and productive, and veterans Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec have been steady contributors. The blueline is led offensively by Campbell and Edler, both acquired from Vancouver in the Subban trade, and emotionally they are led by longtime Habs veteran Andrei Markov. And of course they have possibly the best goalie in the world in Carey Price. Montreal in six.

#4 PHI vs #5 NYR
Goalie Bob with his eight shutouts and Claude Giroux with his 83 points stand out in this group, but the forwards have a lot of depth with the likes of Hartnell, Schenn, JVR, Voracek, Simmonds, and emerging two way force Sean Couturier. The veteran defence corps is led by a pair of 39 year olds, captain Kimmo Timonen and assistant captain Chris Pronger. How much gas do they have left in the tank? The Rangers have franchise goalie Hanrik Lundqvist between the pipes, and a steady but not flashy defense including Alzner, Staal, Girardi, and McDonagh. They are loving their acquisition of Mark Scheifele who has stepped into the first line center role in his sophomore year and done nothing but impress with 57 points. Marian Gaborik will be a factor as long as he can stay healthy, and with plenty of versatile, playoff style forwards the Blueshirts should stand a good chance. Rangers in 7.

CanuckJohnny · 08-30-2022, 01:30 AM

Game 1

Avalanche 3 @ Canucks 2 (2OT)
(Avalanche lead series 1-0)

We had a slow start in this one, Muzzin took an early penalty and O'Reilly made us pay, then only a minute after that a goal from Ryan Wilson put us down 2-0. After being badly outplayed in the first, a fiery speech from coach Trevor Linden must've pushed some of the right buttons becuase the tide turned in the second, and even though we didn't score the play was in our favour. By the third we were pressing hard when captain Henrik capitalized on a powerplay to bring us within one. Michael Grabner tied it up later in the third and we were going to overtime! After a spirited first overtime where we again carried the play but couldn't beat Varlamov, O'Reilly scored his second of the game six minutes into the second extra frame. Sad loss but a good effort. Jake Muzzin played great after his early game penalty, attempting four shots, blocking one, throwing four hits and being credited with a takeaway to go with his assist and plus one in thirty minutes of icetime. Marchessault looked great on the first line next to Hank and Danny, and Bozak fit in well on Kesler's wing, but that third line centered by Thoresen looked rough.

Around the league
Predators 3 @ Blues 2
The Preds surprise by coming away with the road win in game one, on the strength of two Colin Wilson goals and the eventual game winning goal from Shea Weber. Oshie and Pietrangelo scored for the Blues. Nashville outshot the heavy favourites 44-23.

Stars 4 @ Kings 2
Trevor Lewis scored the only two goals for Los Angeles as the Stars upset them in the first game, scoring by committee with goals from Vern Fiddler, Scott Glennie, Jamie Benn and Trevor Daley.

Sharks 1 @ Blackhawks 3
Corey Crawford looked sharp making 25 saves and the Hawks win this one without Keith, Toews, or Kane. The Chicago goals came from Kevin Hayes, Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik, while Dan Boyle was the only one to beat Crawford for the Sharks.

Senators 0 @ Penguins 2
Ben Bishop stood on his head, making 48 saves, but it wasn't enough as Dustin Jeffrey slipped one by him and Beau Bennett added the empty netter. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the shutout.

Capitals 3 @ Red Wings 5
In spite of an Ovi hat trick, two Tatar goals in the third would propel Detroit to victory. Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Riley Sheahan also scored for Detroit.

Canadiens 6 @ Bruins 7 (OT)
In a wild game that saw two elite goalies shellacked, Boston pulled it out in overtime when Lucic scored his second of the game shorthanded. For the Habs, Lars Eller scored two, Campoli, Gionta, Monahan and Yannick Weber also all scored. For the Bruins, Krug, Ference, Peverley, Bergeron and Jordan Caron were the other goal scorers. Brad Marchand picked up three assists on the night.

Rangers 4 @ Flyers 1
Wayne Simmonds opened the scoring with what would be the lone Flyers goal. It was followed by goals from Girardi, Zuccarello, McDonagh and Gaborik for the Rangers. Lundqvist made 27 saves for the win. Ryan Callahan contributed two assists.

CanuckJohnny · 09-01-2022, 09:30 PM

Game 2

Avalanche 2 @ Canucks 1
(Colorado leads series 2-0)

Cory Conacher was healthy enough to play and he slots in for Todd Bertuzzi who is currently day to day with a minor injury. We had a rough start, being outshot 13-4 in the 1st, but Markstrom held strong. In the second, Marchessault opened the scoring for us, but successive goals from O'Reilly and Landeskog put the Avs ahead by the end of the period, and we couldn't crack them in the third. Surrendering the first two games at home is not a good way to start the series. Erik Johnson had a crazy good game against us, besides his assist and plus two he attempted three shots, blocked seven shots, had a hit and a 98 Defensive Game Rating in 24:32 of icetime. Dan Hamhuis had a solid game for us defensively, blocking two shots, throwing four hits, and being credited with two takeaways in twenty five minutes.

Predators 2 @ Blues 1 (OT)
(Nashville leads series 2-0)
After Sergei Kostitsyn and Kevin Shattenkirk traded first period goals the goalies shut it down until the end of regulation. Midway through the first overtime, Alex Pietrangelo took a hooking penalty (his second of the game) and Shea Weber scored the OT winner on the ensuing powerplay. Nashville outshot St. Louis 34-13.

Stars 3 @ Kings 4 (OT)
(Series tied 1-1)
Dallas opened with three goals in the first period from Nystrom, Benn, and Reilly Smith. In the second Dwight King got LA on the board, and in the third rookie Tyler Toffoli scored followed by Dustin Brown getting the equalizer (assisted by Toffoli and Kopitar) to send it to overtime. Just 42 seconds in the extra frame deadline acquisition Michael Ryder scored the winner for the Kings. LA outshot Dallas 42-25.

Sharks 0 @ Blackhawks 2
(Chicago leads series 2-0)
Duncan Keith gets back into the lineup for the Hawks. Cam Talbot saved 34 of the 35 shots he faced to keep it close, but his Sharks only managed 16 shots all game, so Kevin Hayes' second period tally stood as the winner and Marian Hossa added an empty netter with twenty seconds left. Crawford with the sixteen save shutout.

Senators 4 @ Penguins 3 (OT)
(Series tied 1-1)
After Zach Sill was ejected for an illegal check to the head (two game suspension), Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring for Ottawa on the powerplay in the first. Pascal Dupuis evened things up the second. Tyler Kennedy gave Pittsburgh the lead early in the third, but Colin Greening tied it back up and then Cody Hodgson put the Sens in front with four minutes to play. The lead was short lived as Geno scored only nineteen seconds later, from Letang (his second assist of the night) and Neal. Into overtime we go, and Matt Cooke takes an ill advised roughing penalty followed twenty seconds later by a Mark Letestu slashing minor, giving Ottawa a five on three. Jason Spezza netted the powerplay winner fourteen seconds later on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Zibanejad and Karlsson (his third assist of the game).

Capitals 3 @ Red Wings 2
(Series tied 1-1)
Cam Fowler scored twice in the first for Washington, and Gus Nyquist brought it to a one goal game before the period ended. Dan Cleary was ejected for an illegal hit to the head (three game suspension). In the third, Carlson extended the lead, and though Jonathan Ericsson got one back for Detroit, the Red Wings couldn't find the tying goal before the final buzzer. Braden Holtby made an impressive 48 saves in the win, while his counterpart, youngster Petr Mrazek, allowed three goals on only sixteen shots.

Canadiens 1 @ Bruins 5
(Boston leads series 2-0)
It was a busy first period, with seven minors and three misconducts handed out. Pacioretty and Krejci exchanged goals and we went into the intermission even at 1. In the second, Krejci would score his second of the game to give Boston the lead and they never looked back, adding three more in the third from Kelly, Marchand, and Hamilton. After dominating the first (shots 12-4), the Canadiens were outshot a combined 33-14 in the remaining two periods and looked totally overwhelmed.

Rangers 6 @ Flyers 5 (OT)
(New York leads series 2-0)
Derek Stepan scored in the first, and Brad Richards added to the New York lead in the second, but James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek evened things out. Brian Boyle and Marian Gaborik would add goals before the end of the second frame to re-establish the two goal lead for the Blueshirts. In the third, Parayko drew Philly to within one, then Wayne Simmonds had a spirited tilt with Michael Sauer that seemed to add even more energy to the Flyers bench. Giroux scored the tying goal a minute later and JVR put them ahead with only a minute to play. The Ranger pressed hard in the final minute and with thirty seconds left Mats Zuccarello sent it to overtime. Four minutes into the first overtimem, it was Zuccarello again who scored the winner. He finished the game with three points and the first star.

CanuckJohnny · 09-04-2022, 12:01 PM

Game 3

Canucks 4 @ Avalanche 3
(Colorado leads series 2-1)

Ryan O'Reilly scored his fourth of the series to open the scoring in the first. In the second captain Henrik evened it up on an individual effort. On the first line's next shift it was Chris Tanev scoring the go ahead goal, assisted by Marchessault and Daniel. In the third Jon Marchessault increased the lead just twenty four seconds in, with both twins earning assists. There had been no penalties all game until Colorado's Ryan Wilson took a holding penalty, and Tyler Bozak capitalized on the powerplay to make it four to one. The Avs really started pressing, and Duchene scored midway through the third to give them some hope. Then with just under four minutes to go, Stefan Elliott brought them to within one. The Canucks locked it down though and came out with the victory. The top line looked dominant for Vancouver, and Jon Marchessault especially looks like he's enjoying playing with the Sedins, besides his goal and assist he had four shots and three hits and an offensive game rating of 100. P.K. Subban also looked strong with a plus two rating, an assist, four shots, a block and three takeaways in twenty five minutes.

Blues 6 @ Predators 5 (3OT)
(Nashville leads series 2-1)
Chris Stewart, Ryan Reaves, and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in succession to open up a 3-0 lead for St. Louis in the first. Radulov answered before the intermission to make it 3-1 after one. In the second, two goals by Craig Smith evened the game up at three, but Ryan Reaves notched his second of the game to put the Blues ahead going into the third. Radulov tied it up with his second of the game (Craig Smith's assist was his third point of the game). A couple minutes later Jaden Schwartz put St. Louis back in the driver's seat. Sergei Kostitsyn tied it with five minutes to play, 5-5, and that would still be the score heading into overtime. The Preds were outshooting the Blues 34-21 heading into overtime. The first overtime period was punctuated by an early fight between Kevin Klein and Chris Neil. Nobody scored and we went to double OT, which was active but again nobody could crack the goaltenders (the same goalies who surrendered ten goals in the first sixty minutes). Heading into triple OT, Nashville was now outshooting St. Louis 55-34. In spite of allowing five goals, Jaro Halak's game is starting to look pretty good. It was five minutes into the third extra frame when Jaden Schwartz set up Ryan Reaves, whose shot was stopped by Rinne, then Patrik Berglund pounced on the rebound to score the game winner. Reaves finished with 2 goals and an assist, and Halak made 55 saves in the win. Instant classic.

Kings 5 @ Stars 3
(Los Angeles leads series 2-1)
In a back and forth match, the first goal went to John Klingberg on the powerplay in the second. Dustin Brown answered for the Kings, then Alex Chiasson and Kyle Clifford traded goals and we went to the third period all knotted up at two. In the third, LA blew the doors of regular season shutout leader Ben Scrivens, with goals from Will O'Neill, Dmitry Orlov and Derek Forbort. Toby Peterson would get one back for the Stars but it was too little too late.

Blackhawks 2 @ Sharks 4
(Chicago leads series 2-1)
Joe Thornton scored first for San Jose, and in the second Vlasic and Marleau added to the lead. A valiant effort at a third period comeback was led by goals from Brandon Pirri and Duncan Keith, but Torrey Mitchell added an insurance marker to put it away and the Sharks held on. Cam Talbot made 29 saves for San Jose.

Penguins 2 @ Senators 1
(Pittsburgh leads series 2-1)
James Neal and Dustin Jeffrey scored for the Penguins. The lone Ottawa goal came on the powerplay from Nikita Filatov. Karlsson picked up his fourth assist of the series. Ben Bishop made 33 saves in the losing cause.

Red Wings 5 @ Capitals 1
(Detroit leads series 2-1)
The lone goal for Washington was from deadline pickup Sergei Shirokov. Otherwise it was a total shellacking. The Capitals mustered only 11 shots. Detroit peppered Holtby with 36 shots and got goals from Zetterberg (2), Datsyuk, Nyquist and Ouellet.

Bruins 1 @ Canadiens 2 (OT)
(Boston leads series 2-1)
In a fiercely contested match, Milan Lucic scored in the first (his third of the series) and then the goalies shut it down until with six minutes to go in regulation Brendan Gallagher scored on the powerplay to send it to overtime. Thirty seconds into the extra frame Gregory Campbell took an egregious tripping minor, and ninety seconds into that powerplay Max Pacioretty scored the OT winner assisted by Gallagher and Cammalleri. Carey Price made 32 saves in bounce back win.

Flyers 2 @ Rangers 4
(New York leads series 3-0)
The Rangers had a strong first period, cranking out three goals from Anisimov, Alzner, and Abdelkader (SH). Mark Scheifele added a powerplay marker midway through the second and afterward they mostly sat back and weathered the storm in front of Lundqvist. Philly managed two second period goals (they took 16 shots in the middle frame) by Kimmo Timonen and Tarasenko, but in the third they couldn't crack Lundqvist, who made 29 saves in the victory.

CanuckJohnny · 09-06-2022, 03:59 AM

Game 3

Canucks 2 @ Avalanche 3 (OT)
(Colorado leads series 3-1)

After falling behind early, Damien Brunner got us on the board and tied it up with a shorty, and in the second Michael Grabner gave us the lead and it was looking pretty good for us. We were outshooting them 22-15, Markstrom looked good, we were heading into the third with the lead. Then Damien Brunner took a tripping penalty and almost right away Morgan Rielly buried the point shot to tie the game. We went to overtime, continued to carry the play and outshoot them, but with under two minutes left Brad Malone banged in the winner and we were headed home facing elimination. Mike Condon made 36 saves on us in the victory. Jake Muzzin looked really solid despite his minus one, with six shot attempts, 2 blocks, 4 hits and a takeaway. Patrick Zackrisson had a good showing as well, with an assist, four shots on goal, two hits and a takeaway. Dale Weise looked sloppy out there with two giveaways and a minus one.

Blues 1 @ Predators 0
(Series tied 2-2)
The only goal of the game came shorthanded in the second period from Patrik Berglund. Halak made 23 saves in the shutout. Shattenkirk had 4 shots, 3 blocks, 2 hits and a takeaway in a very solid performance on the blueline.

Kings 3 @ Stars 4 (OT)
(Series tied 2-2)
Benn opened the scoring on the powerplay, and in the second Eriksson extended the lead but Brown answered back midway through the period. Coming into the third down one, Los Angeles applied pressure and got the equalizer from Dwight King six minutes in. A couple minutes later they took the lead on a Colin Fraser goal, but Scott Glennie stepped up and tied it for Dallas to bring the game to overtime. In the extra frame it was Eric Nystrom who played hero for the Stars, scoring a nice goal assisted by Kuznetsov and Reilly Smith to even up the series.

Blackhawks 0 @ Sharks 1 (OT)
(Series tied 2-2)
The goalies were excellent, perfect even, through the first sixty minutes. Chicago is still missing Toews and Kane, and they look to be without their usual bite right now. In the extra period it was the unlikely Tom Wandell (from Joel Ward and Brad Winchester) who ended it just four minutes in. Talbot picked up the shutout with only twenty saves, while his counterpart Corey Crawford made 35 stops in the losing effort. Defenseman Matt Irwin had a markedly good game for San Jose, besides being out there for the OT winner, he mustered 5 shot attempts, blocked two, threw a hit and was credited with two takeaways.

Penguins 3 @ Senators 4
(Series tied 2-2)
It was a back and forth affair through two periods, Malkin scoring first near the end of the first, Zibanejad evening it up early in the second, Neal giving Pittsburgh another lead and then Filip Forsberg with the equalizer near the end of the period. Midway through the third Nick Foligno scored to give Ottawa their first lead of the game (assisted by Karlsson - his third helper of the game and seventh of the series) and with five to go Filip Forsberg's second of the game (shorthanded) gave them an extra cushion. They turned out to need it, as Slava Voynov netted a powerplay marked to bring Pittsburgh within one, but Bishop held the fort and the Sens emerged with the victory and an even series heading back to Pittsburgh.

Red Wings 4 @ Capitals 3 (3OT)
(Detroit leads series 3-1)
Detroit absolutely dominated play the first two periods, outshooting Washington 29-11, but heading into the third the score was 1-1 (Chris Porter for Detroit and Mathieu Perreault for Washington). The Caps brought their A-game for the third period, and though the Red Wings onslaught resulted in two more goals, from Emmerton and Tatar, the Capitals mustered more shots (12) than they had in the first two periods combined and sent the game to OT on goals from Backstrom and Mike Green. Through two periods they clung desperately (Or Holtby did anyways, facing another 24 shots in those first two overtimes) to the tie but couldn't really generate much the other way. At last, four minutes into triple overtime it was Tomas Tatar's second of the game that ended it and gave Detroit the 3-1 series lead. Braden Holtby made 69 saves in the losing cause. Marcus Johansson of Washington had 5 shots, blocked four shots, threw seven hits and had three takeaways in a very solid game for him. The ever dangerous Pavel Datsyuk had two assists, six shot attempts, three hits and two takeaways. Tatar scored his two goals on TWELVE shots on goal!

Bruins 3 @ Canadiens 0
(Boston leads series 3-1)
Boychuk, Lucic, and Dougie Hamilton all scored for Boston, but the real story of the game was Tuukka Rask again winning the goalie duel with Price, making 39 saves in the shutout. Carey stopped only twenty of the Bruins 23 shots on goal, and Montreal is on the ropes now. Torey Krug blocked seven shots in a great effort from him that also saw him get an assist and fire two shots on net.

Flyers 0 @ Rangers 6
(New York wins series 4-0)
Philly just didn't show up. You'd think with their backs against the wall there would be some desperation, but it was a total dud from them. They were outshot 38-15. The Rangers went 3-4 on the man advantage. Bobrovsky never had a chance, while Lundqvist cruised to an easy shutout. The Ranger goals came from Callahan (who also had two assists), Abdelkader, Stepan, Gaborik and Scheifele (2) (he also added an assist and fired seven shots on goal).

CanuckJohnny · 09-10-2022, 06:03 PM

Game 5

Avalanche 1 @ Canucks 4
(Colorado leads series 3-2)

Trevor Linden mixed up the lines for this one, shuffling Bozak back to center the third line between Conacher and Brunner, promoting Dale Weise to right wing on the second line and bringing banged up vet Todd Bertuzzi in on the fourth line for Anton Rodin. Vancouver came out firing at home with their backs against the wall. Conacher scored early from Brunner and Bozak, and Hank added to the lead on a goal assisted by Danny and Muzzin. O'Reilly got the Avs back into it with a shorthanded marker, his fifth tally in as many games this series. The shots were 18-5 Vancouver after one. Damien Brunner managed a shorty of his own, from Bozak and Hamhuis, in the second to extend the lead. Another goal on the PK in second came from Ryan Kesler, from Thoresen and Weise. In the third the Avalanche managed a strong push to balance the play out but Markstrom stood strong and Vancouver lives to play another day. Bozak looked amazing back in his 3C role, picking up two assists, five shots, a hit and winning 6 of 11 draws. Dan Hamhuis threw four hits (including two massive ones) and blocked two shots to go along with his assist and a +17 shot differential when he was on the ice in 23:30 of icetime.

Predators 2 @ Blues 7
(St. Louis leads series 3-2)
Radulov opened the scoring thirty seconds in for Nashville, but by the end of the first goals from Shattenkirk and Oshie had put St. Louis ahead. After Chris Mueller tied it for the Preds in the second, another goal from Oshie and one from Gardiner gave the Blues the two goal advantage going into the third frame. In the third, St. Louis ran away with the game, with goals from Schwartz, Chris Stewart and David Perron, chasing Rinne after he allowed his sixth goal in twenty one shots.

Stars 1 @ Kings 0
(Dallas leads series 3-2)
The Stars came out strong but tailed off in a defensively gridlocked match. With things still scoreless midway through the third, Ryan Garbutt managed the only goal of the game to pull off the road win. Alex Goligoski had a very solid game for Dallas. He finished plus one, with six shot attempts (three on goal), four blocked shots and a hit in 24:36 of icetime.

Sharks 2 @ Blackhawks 4
(Chicago leads series 3-2)
Chicago pulled together and with a very strong blueline performance they controlled most of the game, getting goals from Kevin Hayes, Viktor Stalberg and Marcus Kruger before San Jose rallied with a strong third period push and goals from Joel Ward and Torrey Mitchell. Shaw added an insurance marker to give the 'Hawks a home win and the series lead.

Senators 2 @ Penguins 1 (OT)
(Ottawa leads series 3-2)
Zach Sill, back from his suspension, scored a goal in the first assisted by Letang to give the Pens a lead, but Ottawa was determined in this road match up against the President's Trophy winners and young star Filip Forsberg scored a minute later to even things up. A goaltending clinic from both sides saw the 1-1 score hold up to overtime and then through the entire first overtime period, in spite of 13 shots and tremendous pressure from the Sens. Midway through the second OT it was Stephane Da Costa that played the unlikely hero with the double overtime winner (assisted by Chris Phillips) to steal the road win and go ahead in the series with a chance to clinch at home in game six. Fleury made 47 saves in spite of losing, and Bishop made 35 saves for Ottawa in the win.

Capitals 6 @ Red Wings 3
(Detroit leads series 3-2)
Gus Nyquist sent Detroit into the second with a one goal lead and a chance to clinch at home, but Washington came storming back in the second with three goals, two from Shirokov and one from Ovi. Zetterberg and Cory Emmerton scored in the third to try and make a game of it, but Washington got three more tallies, from Johansson, Shirokov (hat-trick goal) and Cody Eakin. John Carlson had three assists for the Caps, with a plus two rating, three shots on goal and four blocks.

Canadiens 1 @ Bruins 2
(Boston wins series 4-1)
Eller scored a powerplay marker in the first, and it looked like Montreal was on track to stay alive, but in the second Bergeron tied it up then Dougie Hamilton scored on the powerplay (his third of the series) from Marchand and Krug for the eventual game winner. In spite of 25 shots in the final two periods, Montreal couldn't crack Rask again and they will be going home sooner than planned.

CanuckJohnny · 09-14-2022, 01:59 AM

Game 6

P.K. Subban is out with a sore knee after being banged up last game. We were hoping he could be ready for tonight but the doctor says no. Taking his place will be David Rundblad. Rundblad will move onto the third pairing with Cumiskey, while Tanev moves up to play with Hamhuis on the first pair and Bieksa will take second pairing minutes alongside Jake Muzzin. Colorado's Ryan Wilson will miss his second straight game, and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who was injured in game one, continues to nurse an upper body injury. Backup Mike Condon has played admirably so far and the team is confident with him in net.

Canucks 5 @ Avalanche 3
(Series tied 3-3)

Unlikely contributors led the way for Vancouver early in the first, with Jake Muzzin opening the scoring on the powerplay from Henrik and Rundblad. Todd Bertuzzi chipped in a goal from the fourth line, also assisted by Rundblad. Colorado got one back on a goal from Morgan Rielly, but the Canucks took a one goal lead into the first intermission. The Avalanche upped their pressure in the second, picking up the tying goal early on from David Jones. Paul Stastny tried to fire up the hometown crowd in a fight with Dale Weise, and overall the Canucks were outplayed and outshot 13-7 in the middle frame. Vancouver came out motivated in the third, and facing elimination if they lost this game. Damien Brunner notched a shorthanded goal to give them the lead back and Grabner added some insurance on a great individual effort. T.J. Galiardi brought Colorado back to within a goal with just a minute to play, but Marchessault sealed it with an empty netter for Vancouver. Tyler Bozak had a solid game, in his typical under the radar fashion, getting an assist, two shot attempts, a block, four hits and going 5 of 8 in the circle.

Blues 4 @ Predators 1
(St. Louis wins series 4-2)
Chris Stewart scored twice in the first to give the Blues control and they never really relinquished it. In the third Sergei Kostitsyn lit the lamp for the Preds but twenty seconds later T.J. Oshie regained the two goal cushion for St. Louis with his fourth of the series. Polak added an empty netter. Nashville acquitted themselves well in this game and in the series, considering how massively they were underdogs, but St. Louis ultimately showed their quality and will move on.

Kings 4 @ Stars 2
(Series tied 3-3)
Facing elimination, the Kings came out strong and ready. They notched the first two goals of the game (Kopitar, Will O'Neill), but Dallas came storming back to even it up going into the second off of goals by Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson. In the second Dustin Brown re-established the Los Angeles lead with his fourth of the series and Kopitar added his second of the game for insurance in the third. LA outshot Dallas 45-33.

Blackhawks 4 @ Sharks 1
(Chicago wins series 4-2)
San Jose put up a valiant effort this series, but with Jonathan Toews returning the Hawks turned in a defensive masterpiece, allowing only twenty shots on goal. Pirri scored at the end of the first for Chicago, then Hayes and Morin extended the lead in the second. After Hayes netted his second of the game on the powerplay, Patric Hornqvist broke the shutout but it was too little too late for the Sharks. Toews had two assists, a hit, two takeaways and won 12 of 16 faceoffs in his return to the lineup.

Penguins 3 @ Senators 4
(Ottawa wins series 4-2)
Wow! What an upset. The President's Trophy winners finished the regular season with 113 points. Ottawa squeaked into the postseason with 81. Neal scored first for Pittsburgh and played like a man possessed all night. In the second period Zibanejad scored two goals and Zack Smith got one as well, giving Ottawa a 3-1 lead before Pittsburgh fought back on goals from Kunitz (assisted by Neal and Brewer) and Neal. Heading into the third it was all knotted up and the shots were 29-18 in favour of the Penguins. Ottawa came out hungry and controlled the play for the first time since early in the second, and it was eventually Patrick Wiercioch who scored the go ahead goal midway through the period. Ottawa hung on, with Ben Bishop making 33 saves in the victory. Nikita Filatov had two assists for the Sens, and Jason Spezza had a very strong game, with one assist, five shot attempts, two hits, a takeaway and 13 faceoff wins (out of 20).

Red Wings 4 @ Capitals 1
(Detroit wins series 4-2)
Datsyuk is day to day with a lower body injury. Not much of a fight put up by the Capitals in this game. After Wideman's goal to open the scoring they looked pretty unengaged and lackadaisical. Detroit outshot them 35-18 and got goals from Cleary, Nedomiel, Porter (SH) and Nyquist in the series clinching win. Cory Emmerton had two assists for Detroit. The 25 year old center, who had 3 goals and 11 assists all season, has 2 goals and 6 assists so far this postseason.

CanuckJohnny · 09-17-2022, 12:35 PM

Game 7

P.K. Subban draws back into the lineup. Kyle Cumiskey comes out and Rundblad takes Cumiskey's spot after earning two assists last game. Matt Duchene is nursing a lower body injury and will miss the game. Gabe Landeskog moves up to take his spot on the first line. Ryan Kesler comes into the game on a cold streak.

Avalanche 2 @ Canucks 4
(Vancouver wins series 4-3)

Kesler opens the scoring in a very defensive first period. David Rundblad fired a shot from the point and Kes banged in the rebound. P.K. Subban, probably still a bit banged up but in the lineup for game 7, rewards Linden for putting him in with a powerplay goal early in the second from Bozak and Henrik. Markstrom was having a very quiet game, facing only two shots in the first and none so far in the second when Avs captain Paul Stastny sniped one past him to make it a one goal game. The Canucks continued to dominate the play, however, and didn't even allow another shot all period. Colorado had a real parade to the penaly box in the final few minutes of the second, and Jon Marchessault notched his fourth of the series on a powerplay, assisted by Daniel and PK. The Avs killed off a five on three succesfully to keep the game within reach and came out desperate in the third, piling on shots and bringing much more pressure than they had all game but Markstrom settled in and held the fort up until Erik Johnson scored to draw Colorado within one with 3:29 left to play. The Canucks defense and Jacob Markstrom held firm through some tense moments and with four seconds left Muzzin iced the game into the empty net. Canucks are going to round two baby! What a series. Subban had five shots on goal, three hits and three takeaways in 22 minutes. Jake Muzzin threw five hits and had five shots on goal in twenty five minutes. Hank won 10 of 13 faceoffs. Rundblad had another solid game, two shots, two blocks, two hits and two takeaways to go with his assist in 15:42 TOI. Hamhuis sustained a minor hand injury and will be day to day.

Stars 1 @ Kings 4
(Los Angeles wins series 4-3)
Trevor Lewis opens the scoring shorthanded in the first, assisted by Drew Doughty. Just twelve seconds into the second Colin Fraser extends the Kings' lead to two, assisted by former Canuck Stephen Weiss and Drew Doughty (his second helper of the game). In the third period, deadline acquisition Michael Ryder netted a powerplay marker (assisted by Justin Williams and Drew Doughty - his third assist on the night) to make it 3-0. Reilly Smith banged in a goal with three minutes left to make it interesting but that was all Bernier allowed and Jack Johnson added an empty netter with ten seconds left as LA moves to the second round. Goligoski had a rough game for Dallas, with two giveaways and a minus two rating despite contributing four shots on goal in 25 minutes. Drew Doughty had an excellent game, plus two with three assists, eight shot attempts, two blocks and a hit in almost twenty eight minutes. Anze Kopitar won 12 of 17 faceoffs (70.6%), threw three hits, had three shots on goal and a takeaway in twenty five minutes.

CanuckJohnny · 09-18-2022, 02:22 PM

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Round 2 Preview

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(4) Vancouver Canucks @ (1) St. Louis Blues
Blues:Led the Western Conference after an especially strong second half. Chris Stewart led them in goals with 29, Andy McDonald led them in points with 66. T.J. Oshie missed a large portion of the season from injury, but in 34 regular season games he scored 23 goals and 40 points. They are led on the blueline by Alex Pietrangelo, and Jaroslav Halak holds the fort in net. A deep and balanced team, led by captain David Backes, they run three capable scoring lines, with Perron-Backes Oshie, Schwartz-Sobotka-Stewart and Berglund-McDonald-Reaves. Shattenkirk has 3 goals and 3 assists in six playoff games from the back end, he's tied with Oshie and Berglund for the team lead in points through one series. They faced a bit of a scare from a stronger than expected Nashville squad but in the end they asserted their dominance and made it to the second round in six games. Halak has a .939 save percentage and one shutout through one round. Depth forward Evan Brophey is the only injury currently, day to day with an upper body injury.
Canucks: After a great start, they stumbled down the stretch into the playoffs, finishing fourth in the conference. Jon Marchessault led the team in goals with 25, while captain Henrik Sedin led them in points with 60. Jacob Markstrom had 8 shutouts and a .920 save percentage in 58 games, winning 36. Henrik leads them in playoff points, with 8 in 7 games. Young defenseman Jake Muzzin leads the defense in scoring with five points. Jon Marchessault leads them with four goals. Markstrom has struggled compared to his usual form, with a save percentage of .906 and a GAA of 2.19. They are missing heart and soul forward Alex Burrows for another month or two and the blueline is banged up, with Ryan Ellis still out but progressing in his recovery from an upper body injury that kept him out of round one, star defenseman P.K. Subban is still day to day in spite of playing and performing well in game 7 of the first round, and Dan Hamhuis is also currently day to day. They struggled to start their series with the Avalanche, going down 3-1 before stringing together 3 straight wins to move on.
Prediction: Blues in five. A Vancouver squad that barely squeaked past a Colorado team running with its backup goalie just doesn't have the depth to compete.

(3) Chicago Blackhawks @ (2) Los Angeles Kings
Kings: The Pacific Division champs after a strong push at the end of the year, the Kings had the fourth best penalty kill in the league this year. Rookie Tyler Toffoli led them in goals with 29. Anze Kopitar's 79 points led the team by a wide margin. Jonathan Bernier stole the crease from incumbent Jonathan Quick over the course of the year, finishing with seven shutouts and 35 wins. Star defenseman Drew Doughty had 57 points from the blueline and is one of the top young defenders in the league. Captain Dustin Brown has raised his game in the postseason, producing four goals and eight points to tie for the team lead in points with Kopitar through seven games. Bernier has struggled a bit compared to his regular season numbers, posting only a .910 save percentage, but so far they have stuck with him in spite of Quick waiting on the sidelines. After Dallas put them on the ropes, they came through with a couple big wins to get into the second round. Their only injury currently is veteran Vinny Prospal being day to day after sustaining an upper body injury in their series with Dallas.
Blackhawks: In spite of a difficult, injury plagued season that saw Patrick Kane go down in December for the season (39 points in 38 games up to then) as well as captain Jonathan Toews missing a significant chunk of time. In their absence sophomore Kevin Hayes had a monster season, leading the team in goals (29) and points (63), while Duncan Keith contributed 53 points on defense. The Hawks finished top ten in the league in goals, goals against, powerplay and penalty kill. Corey Crawford had eight shutouts and 44 wins. Jonathan Toews has finally returned to the lineup and they hope to see Patrick Kane return at some point this series. Pirri leads them in playoff points with six in six games, while Kevin Hayes has five goals already this postseason. Crawford has continued his strong play, with two shutouts and a .937 save percentage, as well as a remarkable 16.99 GSAA through six games. Bryan Bickell will miss another one or two months with an upper body injury sustained just before the playoffs.
Prediction: Chicago in six. With Kane potentially returning they will be fielding perhaps the most dangerous lineup in the West as long as they are all healthy and Corey Crawford has been in incredible form.

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(8) Ottawa Senators @ (2) Detroit Red Wings
Red Wings: The second best team in the East is the top seed remaining. They had the best powerplay in the NHL this year. Thomas Tatar led them in goals with 39, and Henrik Zetterberg led them with 84 points. Rookie Petr Mrazek took the starting role from veteran Jimmy Howard and finished the year with seven shutouts and 37 wins. They have been led by Gus Nyquist in scoring this postseason, he has four goals and five assists in six games. Third line center Cory Emmerton has eight points and a plus eight rating through one round. Captain Henrik Zetterberg has four goals and six points. Mrazek has struggled on this stage so far, with an abysmal .884 save percentage and a -1.32 GSAA. They face a lot of injuries to start the series, Brendan Smith is out for a couple of months yet, and Frans Nielsen, Pavel Datsyuk, Valtteri Filppula and Andrej Meszaros are all day to day.
Senators: After squeaking into the playoffs with 81 points on a tie-break with Columbus, Ottawa shocked the hockey world by eliminating the President's Trophy winning Penguins in six games. In the regular season it was sophomore forward Filip Forsberg who led them in goals with 28. Superstar Erik Karlsson led them in points (65) as a defenseman. Bishop and Anderson split the crease very evenly, with Anderson getting 42 starts (5 shutouts, 22 wins, .918sv%) and Bishop (4 shutouts, 14 wins, .903sv%) getting 40 starts. However, they've gone with Bishop so far this playoffs and he hasn't disappointed, facing down Pittsburgh's dominant offense in round one and coming out with a .940 save percentage. Erik Karlsson has stepped up his play to another level, and leads the Sens with eight points in six games. Mika Zibanejad has four goals and six points. Captain Jason Spezza has struggled with only two points and a minus two rating in six games. Depth forward Jesse Winchester is out indefinitely with an upper body injury.
Prediction: Red Wings in 4. Ottawa's luck will run out, and Mrazek's play should correct toward his regular season numbers. Apart from Karlsson there is very little firepower and not much depth in Ottawa. Bishop's play should regress this series and without him stealing games the Senators don't have the quality to be competitive against a very strong Detroit squad.

(5) New York Rangers @ (3) Boston Bruins
Bruins: The third place Bruins led the league in goals against while also having the second best power play and fifth best penalty kill. Tyler Seguin lead them in goals with 36 and points with 74, but sustained a serious arm injury just before the playoffs and is out indefinitely. Tuukka Rask (six shutouts) and Tim Thomas (four shutouts) are arguably the best goalie tandem in the league, and this playoffs it has been Tuukka's crease. He hasn't disappointed, posting a .940 save percentage and a shutout in a five game first round series against Montreal. Their blueline is deep, with captain Zdeno Chara and rookie sensation Dougie Hamilton headlining a group that also has the productive Torey Krug and defensive stalwarts Johnny Boychuk and Adam McQuaid, along with veteran Dennis Seidenberg. Marchand has seven points in five games to lead them in scoring. Lucic has four goals and rookie star Dougie Hamilton has three goals and three assists as a defeneseman.
Rangers: With 100 points the Rangers finished fifth in the East. They had the second best penalty kill in the league with 87% efficiency. Gaborik led them in goals with 27 and sophomore centre Mark Scheifele exploded onto the scene with a team leading 57 points. Acquiring him for Del Zotto and Sheppard last season is looking like a real coup. Their top four are among the best in the league, and although none of them will have an offensive stat line that jumps off the page, you would be hard pressed to find a more defensively stalwart group in the league than Staal-McDonagh and Alzner-Girardi. King Henrik had 40 wins and 6 shutouts this season. They made quick work of the Flyers in round one, with three players (Zuccarello, Scheifele, McDonagh) all producing six points in the four game sweep. Lundqvist posted a shutout and a .930 save percentage. They have the luxury of a clean bill of health heading into round 2.
Prediction: Rangers in seven. This should be an amazing series of playoff hockey with two elite netminders and two of the best bluelines in the league facing off. The Bruins are still missing their top offensive forward in Seguin, and goals should be hard to come by this series, so the Rangers forward depth and health gives them the slight edge.

CanuckJohnny · 09-24-2022, 05:31 PM

Round 2 Game 1

Canucks 3 @ Blues 2
(Vancouver leads series 1-0)

The Canucks came out firing in the first period on the road against the top team in the West. Midway through the opening frame it was Michael Grabner who got them on the board and out ahead. They really backed off in the second, playing defense as St. Louis pressed hard. Sami Lepisto tied it up partway through the second and the Blues carried their momentum into the third. With the Canucks on their heels and Dale Weise in the box T.J. Oshie scored a go ahead goal for the Blues (his fifth of the playoffs). Vancouver looked lost and without an answer, but they turned the tide with about five minutes to go as the desperation sunk in. It was Jon Marchessault who scored his fifth of the playoffs to tie it up. With under a minute to play, Jake Muzzin stepped into a one timer set up by Henrik Sedin to put Vancouver ahead and they would hang on for the win. Tyler Bozak picked up two assists and won 5 of 7 faceoffs. For the Blues, David Perron had two assists in a solid offensive performance.

Blackhawks 1 @ Kings 0 (OT)
(Chicago leads series 1-0)
A defensive clinic from both sides that saw the final shots on goal tally 28-20 for Chicago. Midway through the first overtime Dave Bolland netted the winner, assisted by Hossa and Leddy. Leddy had four shots on goal, three blocked shots and two hits in twenty eight minutes.

Senators 2 @ Red Wings 3 (4OT)
(Detroit leads series 1-0)
Cory Emmerton scores first for Detroit (Nyquist, Filppula), but in the second Ottawa responds with goals from Erik Condra (Wiercioch, Karlsson) and Nick Foligno (Phillips, Da Costa). In the third Riley Sheahan (Franzen, Nyquist) ties it back up and and sends us to overtime. In the first extra period Ottawa outshoots Detroit 10-6 but fails to solve Mrazek. Second overtime, the Sens again outshoot the Wings, 14-4, but again Mrazek stands tall in net. Come triple overtime, the play evens out and the tide starts to turn, shots are Senators 12, Red Wings 11, but still no goals. It's been over sixty minutes of shutout playoff hockey now. Quadruple overtime. Detroit begins to take control of play. Ottawa takes a penalty with seven and a half minutes in the period. Detroit presses but Bishop holds the fort and the Senators kill it off. Just a minute after the penalty expires, Nyquist chips a piss to Filppula who sends Zetterberg in and he finishes it with a goal past Ben Bishop to end the marathon with four minutes and thirty eight seconds to go in the fourth extra period. The final shots were 63-63. What a game. The goalies really outdid themselves. Erik Karlsson had an absolute monster of a game, with nine shots on goal, four hits and three takeaways in fifty three minutes of icetime. Almost a full hour on the ice! He led all skaters in that category. Niklas Kronwall for Detroit was plus one with four shots, seven blocks, four hits and a takeaway in fifty two minutes. Gus Nyquist earned the first star with his three assists. He also directed seven shots on net and had two blocks, two hits and a takeaway.

Rangers 1 @ Bruins 2
(Boston leads series 1-0)
Marchand scored in the fist from Rich Peverley, and in spite of a physically and offensively dominant showing from Boston, King Henrik held off the attacks until Zuccarello managed the equalizer on the man advantage in the third. Boston would be awarded a powerplay later in the third however, and David Krejci capitalized with the game winner (from Marchand and Christensen). New York will need a better effort at home in game 2, being outshot 45-26 and outhit 24-12 in their own barn in this first game.

CanuckJohnny · 09-28-2022, 01:47 AM

Round 2 Game 2

Canucks 3 @ Blues 0
(Vancouver leads series 2-0)

Vancouver came out all guns blazing on the road, throwing sixteen shots at Halak in the first and being rewarded with goals from Daniel and Marchessault. St. Louis, as in game 1, gradually fought back into the game and after a scoreless mid frame they carried the play a lot of the third. Markstrom played lights out in the third (and all game) to maintain his shutout (defense allowed 13 shots) and Kesler added a third Canucks goal with a minute and a half left to ice it. Michael Grabner turned in an excellent two-way performance with two assists, two shots, a block and two takeaways. Daniel Sedin had two points, seven shots, two hits and a takeaway. Roman Polak blocked five shots on the night for the Blues.

Blackhawks 5 @ Kings 4 (OT)
(Chicago leads series 2-0)
The Kings started strong with two first period goals from Prospal (Pouliot, Forbort) and Toffoli (Clifford, Johnson). Clifford extended the lead early in the second (Kopitar, Toffoli) but Kevin Hayes scored a powerplay goal for Chicago from Frolik and Toews to get the Hawks into the game. After Dustin Brown (O'Neill, Weiss) restored the three goal lead for LA, Kevin Hayes (Seabrook, Hjalmarsson) got his second of the period to take his team into the third only down by two. In the third, Pirri brought the Blackhawks within one on a goal assisted by Keith and Sharp, then with a minute to go Kevin Hayes completed the hatty to tie it up (assists to Leddy and Pirri) and send it to OT. After LA killed off an early Clifford penalty, Jeremy Morin scored a scrappy goal off the cycle from Stalberg and Shaw to win it for Chicago three minutes in. Besides his game winning goal Morin threw five hits in the game. Jack Johnson struggled with the puck, giving it away four times on the night.

Senators 2 @ Red Wings 1
(Series tied 1-1)
After Ouellet (Ericsson) and Forsberg (Spezza) traded goals in the first it was scoreless until midway through the third when Erik Condra netted the winner for Ottawa from Benoit and Filatov. Mrazek faced 39 shots in the loss and made 37 saves for the second star. Spezza recorded seven shots in the game.

Rangers 3 @ Bruins 1
(Series tied 1-1)
Paille opened the scoring for Boston with a shorthanded marker from Marchand and McQuaid. In the second the Rangers finished with six shots but potted three goals on those six shots while Lundqvist stopped all 16 Boston shots in the frame. Gaborik (Girardi, Zuccarello), Stralman (Scheifele, Gaborik) and Brian Boyle (Anisimov) scored for the Blueshirts. In the third Boston continued to outplay New York but King Henrik continued to hold the fort in net and made 11 more saves. He finished with the win and 36 saves. Bergeron had two blocks, two hits and two takeaways and a 99 DGR. Lucic had seven hits. For the Rangers, Karl Alzner was plus two and blocked four shots. Justin Abdelkader had four shot attempts (two on goal), two hits and two takeaways.

CanuckJohnny · 10-10-2022, 12:08 PM

Round 2 Game 3

Blues 2 @ Canucks 1 (OT)
(Vancouver leads series 2-1)

St. Louis played a physical game (38 hits) without ever being penalized. They also controlled the faceoff circle. Kesler scored in the first from Daniel and Marchessault, but in the second Patrik Berglund evened it up on the powerplay while P.K. Subban was in the box. After almost an entire extra frame, Andy McDonald snuck one past Markstrom with five seconds to go. McDonald had a goal and an assist, five shots and three hits in a dominant performance that earned him the first star. Jaden Schwartz assisted on the winner and by all accounts played an excellent game at both ends, throwing five hits and two blocks. Marchessault had a good game for the Canucks with four shots on goal and four hits.

Kings 0 @ Blackhawks 3
(Chicago leads series 3-0)
In the first, Keith scored his second of the playoffs, shorthanded, assisted by Leddy (his seventh assist of the postseason) and Sharp. Leddy later notched a powerplay marker, assisted by Jonathan Toews. Dave Bolland increased the lead at the end of the second (Hossa, Danault). Crawford made 26 saves in the shutout. Doughty played an excellend defensive game in the loss. He took three shots on goal, blocked four shots, threw two hits and was credited with a takeaway. Duncan Keith blocked seven shots.

Red Wings 1 @ Senators 2
(Ottawa leads series 2-1)
Filip Forsberg got the home crowd on their feet early with his fifth of the playoffs only forty five seconds in, with Foligno and Spezza getting assists. Niklas Hagman evened it up on a powerplay with four minutes to go in the third. Cal O'Reilly and Tomas Tatar with the helpers. With the game on its way to overtime, Jason Spezza notched the game winner with just over two minutes to play, from Foligno and Greening. Petr Mrazek stopped 36 of 38 shots in the loss. Ben Bishop made 20 saves in the victory. Bottom pairing defenseman Andre Benoit fired a whopping ten shots, eight of which were on goal. Erik Karlsson was plus two with six shot attempts (three on goal), three blocks, a hit and two takeaways.

Bruins 1 @ Rangers 3
(New York leads series 2-1)
The teams traded first period goals, with Marchand striking first for Boston, assisted by Boychuk and Bergeron, and Scheifele responding for New York, from Callahan. The Rangers had a dominant second period, outshooting the Bruins 14-7 and getting goals from Stepan (Zuccarello, Stralman) and Scheifele (Callahan, Gaborik). A scoreless third period sealed the win for the Rangers. Lundqvist made 24 saves in the win, while his counterpart Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 31 shots in the loss. On top of his two goals and plus two rating, Mark Scheifele also had three hits and a takeaway. Zuccarello had an assist, four shots, two hits and one takeaway. New York's third pairing of Stralman and Sauer were plus three on the night. Stralman had an assist, three shots on goal and a hit, while Sauer blocked five shots, had a fight and two hits and a takeaway.

CanuckJohnny · 10-15-2022, 11:14 AM

Round 2 Game 4

Blues 0 @ Canucks 6
(Vancouver leads series 3-1)

Vancouver came out strong, feeling the sting of game 3's loss in front of the home fans, and saw three goals in the first seven minutes of play, from Henrik, Grabner and Kesler. Although they didn't add any more goals in the second frame, St. Louis really wilted and the game looked like no competition. The Canucks cruised to three more goals in the third, with Hamhuis scoring on the powerplay, Henrik's second of the game and Damien Brunner with his fourth goal of the playoffs, and walked off with the easy win. Markstrom made 21 saves in the shutout. David Rundblad had two assists and was plus four on the night. Subban had two assists, four shots on goal, a block, a hit and two takeaways. Juice also had two assists to go with a block, two hits and a takeaway. Bozak had his fourth assist of the postseason, as well as a takeaway and three shots and went 62.5% in the faceoff circle. Vancouver travels to Missouri to try and finish the series and move on to the conference finals. They look to be on a collision course with Chicago for a repeat of last year's conference finals, though if that's the case they certainly hope for a different result. Rumours are that emerging star defenseman Ryan Ellis may be ready to return to the lineup soon.

Kings 0 @ Blackhawks 3
(Chicago wins series 4-0)
Get out the brooms! This was no contest from the start. Brandon Pirri opened the scoring in the first (from Hayes and Frolik) and Chicago never looked back, dominating with 39 shots to 19. Patrick Sharp (Pirri, Seabrook) and Michael Frolik (Toews) added to the score in the second, and though Bernier fought to keep his Kings in the game, there was no pushback from LA as Crawford cruised to a series-clinching 19 save shutout. Nick Leddy was a plus one with nine shots and three blocks in twenty one minutes. The scary thing for the league is that Patrick Kane isn't even back from injury yet and already the Blackhawks are looking like their dominant selves from last year's run.

Red Wings 4 @ Senators 3 (2OT)
(Series tied 2-2)
A balanced and competitive game. Nick Foligno (Forsberg, Phillips) and Niklas Kronwall (Zetterberg, Helm) exchanged goals in the first. In the second, Riley Sheahan scored a one timer from Gus Nyquist to put Detroit in the driver's seat headed into the third. Early in the third period Tomas Tatar (Ouellet, Zetterberg) extended that lead, but Ottawa wasn't done and Erik Karlsson drew them back to within one (from Regin and Wiercioch). With five to play it was Jason Spezza who got the equalizer (Phillips, Greening) to send it to overtime. The first overtime period solved nothing, though it did see a rare overtime fight between Brian Lee and Matt Greene. Midway through the second OT it was again Gus Nyquist (his 10th assist of this postseason) setting up Riley Sheahan to win the game. Nik Kronwall had four shots, seven blocks, a hit and a takeaway to go with his goal in thirty five minutes of icetime. Jason Spezza was dialed in for the Sens, with six shot attempts (three on goal), four hits and a takeaway, along with his goal and a 58.1% win ratio in the faceoff circle.

Bruins 2 @ Rangers 3 (OT)
(New York leads series 3-1)
An evenly matched and tight defensive game. In the first, Zach Hamill scored with the man advantage (from Bergeron and Horton) to give the Bruins the lead, but New York answered back when Karl Alzner blasted a heavy point shot past Rask (from Girardi and Richards). There was no more scoring until the third period when Justin Abdelkader put the Rangers up by one (Richardson, McDonagh). With three minutes to go Gregory Campbell tied it back up (Dwyer, Paille), sending us to overtime. In the extra frame it was Karl Alzner who played hero with his second of the night, from Stepan and Abdelkader, to thrill the home crowd and push Boston to the brink of elimination. Chara had two hits and four takeaways but still ended up a minus two on the night. Ryan McDonagh was a two way force, with seven shot attempts and an assist to go with his two blocked shots, one hit and one takeaway in twenty eight minutes played. Marc Staal blocked EIGHT shots as well.

CanuckJohnny · 10-16-2022, 02:16 AM

Round 2 Game 5

Canucks 0 @ Blues 2
(Vancouver leads series 3-2)

With a stranglehold on the series the Canucks came out flat on the road, giving up two first period goals to Backes and Perron and generating no offense for a comeback. Halak had 23 saves in the shutout. Ryan Ellis looked good, with two shots, two hits and a takeaway. Perron had a monster game for the Blues, a goal and assist, plus 2, 3 shots and three hits.

Senators 0 @ Red Wings 2
(Detroit leads series 3-2)
Another hotly contested match between these two teams, with lots of offense and tremendous goaltending. Mrazek made 36 saves for the shutout, and Bishop stopped 39 in the loss. Riley Sheahan continued his hot streak with a second period goal from Brad Stuart to open the scoring. Seconds into the third Xavier Ouellet added an insurance marker assisted by Zetterberg and Datsyuk and Detroit will go into Ottawa with a chance to clinch the series.

Rangers 0 @ Bruins 3
(New York leads series 3-2)
Krejci opened the scoring on the powerplay, assisted by Hamilton. In the second he added his second of the game from Lucic and Seidenberg. In the third Krejci completed the hat trick, assisted by Lucic and Peverley. Rask made 33 saves for the shutout. Patrice Bergeron won 74 percent of his faceoffs and threw four hits, finishing with a 98 DGR.

CanuckJohnny · 10-16-2022, 11:28 AM

Round 2 Game 6

INTERVIEW - with Henrik Sedin

Sportsnet Reporter: Henrik, how are you feeling as you head home with a chance to clinch this series?
Henrik Sedin: Well, we're confident, we need to execute and we know we can do that, we know the Blues are a good team and we'll have to play our best game.

SN: Are there any takeaways for you as a group from the shutout loss last game?
Henrik: Well we weren't happy with our effort that game. Embarrassing. We let Markky down there, he played good and we need to be better on offense to support him.

SN: Are you looking ahead at all to a potential rematch of last year's conference finals against the Blackhawks?
Henrik: No, one game at a time for us. We aren't there until we win against St. Louis and they have a good team and that's all we're focused on.

SN: Anything else to say about game 6?
Henrik: We're prepared, we're going to have a better effort than last game. That's for sure.

SN: Thanks for your time, Henrik.
Henrik: Thank you.

Blues 0 @ Canucks 3
(Vancouver wins series 4-2)

After team captain Henrik Sedin spoke about being embarrassed in the game 5 shutout loss Vancouver came out firing at home in this one. They dominated the Blues all game, outshooting them 41-17. They controlled the game physically as well, with 27 hits to 18 for St. Louis. Damien Brunner assisted on both first period goals, by Danny and Bozak. Juice scored an insurance marker in the third and had a solid game with a goal and an assist, plus two, four shots on goal, a block, two hits and a takeaway. On the second pairing, Jake Muzzin had a very good performance, with an assist, plus two, three shots, three hits and a takeaway. With the game out of reach, Ryan Reaves fought Jon Marchessault, infuriating the Canucks bench.

Red Wings 3 @ Senators 2
(Detroit wins series 4-2)
Zetterberg scored in the first assisted by Matt Greene. In the second, Frans Nielsen chipped in with his first goal of the playoffs, from Helm and Meszaros. Filip Forsberg answered back for Ottawa with his sixth goal of the playoffs, assisted by Da Costa and Karlsson (his tenth assist). Heading into the third the Senators were on the ropes, down one in an elimination game, and it got worse quickly when Cory Emmerton notched his fourth of the playoffs (from OUellet) to increase the lead to two. Patrick Wiercioch drew Ottawa to within one (Condra, Da Costa) with eleven minutes to play, but from there the veteran Red Wings bore down on defense and young netminder Petr Mrazek shut the down to seal the ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals and end Ottawa's storybook run.

Bruins 0 @ Rangers 2
(New York wins series 4-2)
It was a tight defensive matchup through two periods, with the shots tied at fifteen apiece going into the third and Mark Scheifele's first period tally (McDonagh, Gaborik) standing up as the lone goal. Both teams opened up the offense in the third, almost matching their shot output from the first two periods (Boston had 15, New York had 12) but the goaltending was up the the task. With Boston killing a penalty with two and a half minutes to go, Milan Lucic took a hooking penalty and earned himself another ten after beaking off to the ref about it. While they killed the two man advantage, Boston couldn't hold the fort for the remainder of the Lucic penalty and Derek Stepan scored an insurance goal (from Zuccarello and Callahan) with a minute to play. Lundqvist made 30 saves for the series clinching shutout.

07-24-2022, 01:16 PM	#181
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	December Recap Results W 4-0 vs. CAR - Eddie Lack starts and gets the thirty save shutout going head to head with Cam Ward, one of the best goalies in the league this year, P.K. with a goal and an assist, Grabner with his team leading eleventh goal W 1-0 vs. NAS - we give Eddie another start after his shutout and he rewards us with another one, Henrik's unassisted PPG in the second (his eleventh of the year) was the only goal of the game W 3-2 @ PHX - Lack gets a third straight start after his two consecutive shutouts, noted playmaker Henrik Sedin continues his reinvention of himself as he scores two more goals, both assisted by Patrick Thoresen (who is now up to 13 assists on the season) W 3-0 @ COL - we get Rundblad and Marchessault back from injury, Rundblad comes in for Tommernes, who played well with three points and plus 4 in eleven games, and Marchessault will join the third line for now as Malhotra comes out and Brunner moves over to center, and a rested Markstrom takes back the crease with a shutout, while Henrik nets his 14th of the year W 3-2 @ CAR - Damien Brunner is looking pretty comfortable at center, scoring the game winning goal in the third and adding an assist as well SOL 2-1 @ EDM - in spite of outshooting them 46-26, we were stymied by rookie backup goalie Olivier Roy, and Henrik Sedin received a one game suspension for his first period boarding major OTL 2-1 @ BOS - Lack gets the start and Malhotra fills in for Henrik, we really missed our captain and delivered a fairly uninspired effort, ultimately losing to a Nathan Horton individual effort in overtime W 4-1 vs. MIN - we get back to winning, Hank and Kes both contribute two assists to the effort, three goals by defensemen tonight (Cumiskey, Bieksa, and Ellis) SOW 2-1 vs. DAL- Ben Scrivens made 40 saves in the losing effort for them, as Burr's shorty in the second was the only goal to get past him until the shootout, where Daniel and Loui Eriksson exchanged goals but it stayed tied until round five when Patrick Thoresen won it L 3-2 vs. CHI - even without their injured captain, our rivals continue to be our nemesis as they come into our building and steal two points in spite of being outshot 41-28, however the injury bug struck them hard once again as partway through the game superstar Patrick Kane sustained a serious looking back injury, post-game diagnosis was that he will be out for five months SOL 2-1 @ WPG - we get Bozak back, Lisin comes out of the lineup to make room for him, Byfuglien got under our skin early, goading Marchessault into offsetting roughing penalties and then Burrows into a fight, all in the first period, once again we run into a hot goalie, and Pavelec made 42 saves in the win, in overtime Byfuglien and Burrows had round 2, man they really must dislike each other, and to cap it all off, big Buff scores the shootout winner, yuck W 2-1 vs. CGY - Hammer is back, Neil and Tommernes are sent down to the minors to make roster space, Patrick Thoresen scored the game winner on the PP in the third, but it is again concerning to see such a close game in spite of outshooting the opponent 40-10 L 3-1 @ PHI - Lack with the start tonight, Henrik is playing in his 1000th game, Marchessault with the only goal, Couturier scored two on us, we lost despite outshooting them 36-27 The Canucks finish the calendar year still atop the NHL standings, but just barely. Strong goaltending and team defense, along with depth scoring and a next man up mentality in covering for injuries have been crucial to their success. Concerningly, their finishing rate has not matched their stellar play in other aspects, the perfect example being star sniper Daniel Sedin who has scored only one goal in his injury hampered season. His shooting percentage is an unsustainably low 1.8%, but the results need to start coming soon for him if the Canucks hope to stay on top of the mountain. Patrick Thoresen maintained a surprisingly high level of play on the first line for some time, but he has been dropping off as of late. He still has a good stat line of three goals and fifteen assists through twenty eight games, but it might be time for him to move back down the lineup. Markstrom and Lack have both provided excellent goaltending so far. While they continue to wait for Subban to break out, Ryan Ellis has carried a lot of offense from the back end as he continues to develop and to cement his place as a regular NHL top 4 blueliner. Bieksa has been no slouch either, proving to doubters that he can still contribute at both ends of the ice. League Notes Jonathan Toews went down with a fractured bone in his shoulder on a December 8th game against Florida, and doctors expect him to miss at least 5 months Ryan Suter of Nashville will be out for about two months after fracturing his wrist December 10th, it's a big loss for the Preds T.J. Oshie had a nine game goal streak going when he tore his thigh muscle in a game against Winnipeg, he will miss about four months (Oshie had 22 goals - 1st in the NHL - and 34 points in 29 games when he was hurt) A year and a half into his coaching tenure with the Islanders, former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault is already being forced to fend off rumours that his time at Long Island is almost up, as he is taking a lot of heat for the basement position of his last place team, especially when expectations for the team and star player John Tavares were high this year On December 20th Patrick Kane injured his back and will be joining his teammate Toews on the sidelines - he is expected to miss five months John Tavares delivered a statement game amidst swirling rumours about his coach, scoring four goals in an 11-2 victory over the rival Rangers on Dec 20th Shane Doan returned to the Coyotes' lineup Dec 17th after missing the entire regular season so far, and he's been making up for lost time, contributing six goals and two assists in his first four games back The New York Islanders finally pulled the trigger on firing Vigneault just before Christmas, and have replaced him with Barry Trotz It won't be a happy new year for at least two teams with a couple of key starters going down long term with major injuries - Jonas Hiller of the Ducks will miss at least nine months after suffering a fractured skull in a freak accident colliding with the boards, and Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk will miss about four months with a concussion NHL players voted Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson the most underrated player in the league in the annual player poll, while his teammate Duncan Keith was voted best skater Players also voted Canadiens netminder Carey Price as the toughest to beat Dallas goalie Ben Scrivens has wrested the starting role away from incumbent Kari Lehtonen this year, and he was named the best goalie for the month of December Attached Images

08-13-2022, 07:39 PM	#182
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	January Recap Results W 2-1 @ TBL - they got the first goal, but PK ties it on a PP tally assisted by Daniel and Henrik, and Cory Conacher scores the winner in a dominant win, as we outshoot them 64-28 while taking no penalties L 5-3 vs. LAK - after falling behind 5-1 in the third, there was a spirited comeback effort inspired by goals five seconds apart from Kesler and Shirokov that fell short, Ryan Ellis and Christ Tanev looked awful out there, a combined -7 SOL 2-1 vs. ANA - Lack starts, Thoresen ties the game assisted by Daniel and Henrik, but it goes to a shootout where Andrew Cogliano scored the only goal to win it W 5-3 @ PIT - Markstrom stole this game, we got outshot 36-22, but he held the fort and the offense lit up perennial Vezina candidate Marc-Andre Fleury, Grabner scored two goals in the win and Thoresen looked dynamic offensively, contributing a goal and assist as well as three hits, however on a down note star defenseman Dan Hamhuis went down with an upper body injury that could keep him out for a month W 3-1 @ STL - Cumiskey replaces Hammer and we call up Hank Tommernes as insurance, all four goals came in the third period of this game, which was the second consecutive game of us being outshot, this time 36-26, but Markstrom was stellar and Ryan Ellis scored the game winner and added an apple to earn the first star W 5-1 vs. LAK - the first home win of the month was a good bounce back performance, outshooting the Kings 41-23 while Ryan Ellis earned his second straight first star with a goal and two assists W 5-1 vs. ANA - in a closer match than the scoreboard showed Patrick Thoresen showed his quality, scoring a goal and adding an assist in the victory W 3-1 vs. PHX L 5-2 @ CGY - Daniel Sedin, who had only managed three goals all season, showed signs of returning to form with two goals, but he turned out to be the lone bright spot in an embarrassing loss to the basement dwelling flames, blossoming young star Johnny Gaudreau picked up three assists on the night, while some of the usual suspects in Tanguay and Backlund netted two each on Markstrom L 1-0 vs. EDM - Lack starts in net, RNH managed the only goal of the game on the powerplay with less than a minute remaining after Kyle Cumiskey took an ill advised holding penalty late, rookie goalie Olivier Roy continues to have our number, posting a forty save shutout SOL 4-3 @ NSH - former Canuck Jannik Hansen had two assists in his first star performance against us, while Markstrom struggled and backup goalie Anders Lindback made 39 saves for the win, while Roman Josi and Martin Erat both scored in the shootout W 5-1 @ PHX - Henrik Tommernes comes into the lineup for Kyle Cumiskey, we get back into the win column on goals from Subban, Zackrisson, Bozak, Marchessault, and Henrik Sedin, while in more unfortunate news goalie Jacob Markstrom took a hard knock and will be out a few days SOW 4-3 @ EDM - Andrew Hammond gets called up to back up Eddie Lack while Markstrom recovers from his upper body injury, PK tied it up in the third to send us to OT and when that resolved nothing we went to shootout which saw captain Henrik Sedin scoring the only goal to seal the win, Michael Grabner sustained a minor hand injury that could keep him out for a few days W 3-2 @ CHI - shockingly our depleted squad pulled together to defeat the team that always gives us trouble, led by Henrik Tommernes' goal and assist first star performance, Chicago's Jeremy Morin was ejected for a hit to the head and later suspended for six games L 5-3 vs. WIN - Markstrom, Grabner, and Conacher all return to the lineup, Hammond goes on waivers, but Evander Kane (1g, 2a) and Dustin Byfuglien (1g, 2a) spoil the party for us in spite of our 37 shots on Ondrej Pavelec The Canucks looked a little streaky this month, but finish out January still one point ahead of rival Chicago for the President's trophy. Henrik Sedin is having a tremendous bounce back season that includes him finding a goal scoring flair that has him tied with Michael Grabner for the team lead in goals with 19. Speaking of Grabner, his +23 leads all Canucks while his 4 shorthanded goals leads the NHL. Jon Marchessault is establishing himself as a regular threat in the top six and on the powerplay. Patrick Thoresen has been a real story, and his consistent production has been a valuable contribution to a lineup that has missed key players at different times - the questions surrounding him right now center on his usage with the Sedins, and many doubt his effectiveness apart from them, but his 8 goals and 21 assists look good regardless. P.K. Subban has bounced back after a rough start, and is up to 25 points now while posting a respectable plus eleven and playing 22 minutes a night. Brunner and Conacher have proven to be solid depth additions so far, but is there more potential to be tapped into for either of them? Ryan Ellis has led the offense from the back end with 37 points so far, and is earning recognition around the league as his playing time continues to increase to beyond 22 minutes a night. Tyler Bozak has been as advertised, a solid middle six center, producing at a clip of about half a point per game while being responsible at both ends. Daniel Sedin is starting to come back into form after he really struggled to find his stride when returning from injury. Veteran Kevin Bieksa has been a calming stalwart presence on the blueline and is plus nineteen on the year. The Canucks will look to find more consistency as they consider possible roster tweaks coming into the trade deadline and looking toward the playoffs. Veterans Manny Malhotra and Chris Neil have fallen out of favour and seen very few games, perhaps they will be dangled as bait or maybe the Canucks are planning to depend on their experience come playoff time. League News and Notes TRADE - WAS acquires forwards Niclas Bergfors and Viktor Tikhonov from NYR in exchange for defenseman Josh Gorges and veteran forward Marco Sturm - Bergfors and Sturm are both minor leaguers this year, Washington must be hoping for Bergfors to find his game with them or for NHL regular Tikhonov to find another gear offensively, Josh Gorges is a steady top four option on defense, with ten points in forty games so far, Rangers win this trade Evgeni Malkin had a 13 game point streak where he scored 10 goals and 15 assists RE-SIGNING - EDM extends Jordan Eberle for 2 years at an AAV of $3.68M, Eberle has 18 goals and 38 points this year INJURY - PHI winger Vladimir Tarasenko suffered an elbow injury on Jan 16th that kept him out until the end of the month, he's struggled offensively thus far with only seven goals and twelve points INJURY - NYI defenseman Andrew MacDonald went down Jan 14th with a lower body injury that should keep him out for a month INJURY - TOR captain Dion Phaneuf sustained a concussion and is out indefinitely INJURY - FLA center Nick Bjugstad will be out for a month or two with an upper body injury, the 21 year old has split time between San Antonio and the big club, and has contributed nine points in his 21 NHL games this year INJURY - PHI defenseman Chris Pronger is out for a couple weeks with an upper body injury, the veteran has nine points and a plus eight rating so far this year COL forward Daniel Winnik leads the league in plus minus at +30, while linemate Ryan O'Reilly is second in faceoff percentage at 58.5% (EDM C Dave Steckel leads the league with 59%) DAL goalie Ben Scrivens leads the league in shutouts with 8, Marc-Andre Fleury is second with seven, and Crawford and Markstrom both have six Anaheim's Jonas Hiller leads the league in GSAA (23.79) and SvPct (.936) and has five shutouts in his 36 starts Tyler Toffoli on Los Angeles leads all rookies in scoring with 31 points (Cory Conacher is tied for fourth with fifteen) Keith Yandle (PHX) leads all defensemen in scoring (9-39-48), with Kris Letang (13-33-46), Erik Karlsson (10-33-43), and Toby Enstrom (10-33-43) right behind him The 'Yotes are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff race, and rumours are head coach Dave Tippett may take the fall for their underperformance Edmonton and Anaheim were hanging around the playoff conversation in the West, but they both dropped the last four games in a row to fall mostly out of the picture The Blues have the second most goals in the league after Pittsburgh and are on a five game winning streak, now in the President's Trophy conversation The Canadiens had been struggling but have won their last four to find themselves only two points out of eighth in the East Attached Images

08-16-2022, 12:37 AM	#183
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	February Recap Results W 3-0 vs. DET - Daniel continues his return to form with a goal and an assist, while Michael Grabner is the first Canuck to twenty goals this year, Markstrom made only twenty saves for the shutout in a dominant home win for Vancouver L 4-1 vs. BOS - struggled to crack Rask, who made 37 saves for the victory, while usual suspects Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand both picked up a goal and an assist, David Rundblad also sustained an upper body injury that will keep him out for around two weeks SOW 3-2 vs. MTL - Dan Hamhuis will return to the lineup, albeit with a facemask as he is still nursing a cheekbone injury, Bozak was creative with two assists, Brian Gionta scored both boals for Montreal, Grabner scored the shootout winner SOL 3-2 vs. TOR - Phil Kessel scored his 26th goal of the year, and also got the shootout winner, we outshot them 42-24 in the loss, but Reimer made 40 saves and was perfect in the shootout Olympics - Sweden won the gold medal against Canada in dominant fashion, 7-0, with Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom pitching the 31 save shutout, Daniel Sedin scoring a goal, and Hank picking up two assists, Patrick Thoresen's team Norway had a surprising Cinderella run all the way to the bronze medal game where they lost to Finland 3-0 L 4-0 @ STL - Lack starts, team looks very flat, maybe understandably after half the forwards spent the past two weeks competing in the Olympics and just got back L 2-0 @ MIN League News and Notes RE-SIGNING - John Tavares signs a 4 year extension with the Islanders with an AAV of $7.08M RE-SIGNING - Ryan O'Reilly re-ups with Colorado at an AAV of $6.49M for 4 years INJURY - Keith Yandle of the Coyotes injured his ankle Feb 4th and will miss at least 3 weeks RE-SIGNING - Alex Pietrangelo signed a 4 year extension with St. Louis for $5.02M per year RE-SIGNING - Patrick Kane will make $7.03M per year for four more years with Chicago RE-SIGNING - Tampa Bay extends superstar centre Steven Stamkos for three years at $6.59M/yr TRADE - WSH acquires RW Raffi Torres (4g, 7a) from PHX in exchange for RW Jan Mursak (1g, 13a) and Viktor Tikhonov (3g, 4a), Phoenix wins this trade by moving out an aging Torres for two younger forwards RE-SIGNING - goalie Braden Holtby signed a 4 year, $5.48M/yr extension with Washington RE-SIGNING - Blues forward T.J. Oshie extended with them for three more years at an AAV of $4.17M RE-SIGNING - Dallas re-signs Jamie Benn for two years at $6.95M/yr RE-SIGNING - Drew Doughty will make $6.86M/yr for the next 3 years after signing an extension with the Kings RE-SIGNING - Ottawa extended superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson for two more years at an AAV of $7.81M RE-SIGNING - center Darren Helm signed a four year extension with Detroit for an AAV of $2.79M Phoenix fired coach Dave Tippett and replaced him with Dallas Eakins Trade Deadline Day VAN acquires: RW Ryan Hartman (19yo prospect who can also play center), WSH 3rd 2014 WSH acquires: LW Enver Lisin (7 points in 40 games this season), RW Sergei Shirokov (7g, 11a this season) VAN acquires: RW Todd Bertuzzi (39yo, 5 points in 32 games this year, planning to retire) STL acquires: RW Chris Neil (34yo, in the minors, 4 NHL games this year) VAN acquires: D Jake Muzzin (25yo, minors) PHX acquires: RW Nicklas Jensen (20yo, minors), VAN 5th 2014 EDM acquires: G Andrei Vasilevskiy (19yo, minors) TOR acquires: C Sam Gagner (10g, 13a in 30gp), D Jeff Petry (14 points, 20:53 ATOI) LAK acquires: RW Michael Ryder (33yo, 9g, 7a) PHX acquires: G Jean-Francois Berube (22yo, minors), RW Jordan Weal (21yo, minors) Attached Images

08-20-2022, 05:02 PM	#184
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	March Recap Results L 4-2 @ OTT - lost Bozak (upper body, 3 weeks) and Ellis (upper body, 10 days) W 2-1 vs PHX - Malhotra steps into the lineup to replace Bozak and makes an immediate impact, scoring a goal from Brunner and Hamhuis in his first shift, Phoenix turned in a lemon of a performance under new coach Dallas Eakins, generating only 17 shots all game, it was another ugly day for injuries, losing heart and soul winger Alex Burrows for four months with a broken leg and also seeing Damien Brunner go out day to day with a groin injury L 4-2 vs DAL - Dale Weise gets the call-up to replace Burr (he chipped in an assist in the losing cause) and Anton Rodin comes up from the minors to step in for Damien Brunner W 5-2 @ CGY - after scoring an insurance marker in the third, Marchessault is now on a four game goal streak, and Grabner scored his team leading 21st goal of the season W 3-0 @ NYI - Marky with the 23 save shutout, Jonathan Marchessault scores two goals (now up to 19 on the season), and David Rundblad picked up three assists and the first star, while P.K. scored his tenth of the year on a powerplay W 4-2 vs WPG - Hank and Danny with a great game, Henrik with a goal and two assists, Daniel with a goal and an assist, Dale Weise scored his second of the year since joining the lineup in place of Alex Burrows, Blake Wheeler scored both goals against us L 6-2 vs WSH - Shirokov burned us with the second goal of the game and Nick Backstrom potted two and added an assist W 2-0 vs FLA - Eddie Lack gets the start against ex-Canuck Bobby Lu and comes out with the 21 save shutout, Bieksa had a spirited tilt with Erik Gudbranson in the first period, and Jon Marchessault scored both goals for us L 2-0 vs TBL - Lack gets rewarded for the shutout with another start, but this time we are shutout by backup Lightning goalie Mike Mckenna, while Steven Stamkos potted his 40th of the year on us SOL 5-4 @ NASH - former Canuck Jannik Hansen picked up a goal and an assist and even scored on his shootout attempt, Patrick Zackrisson opened the scoring for us and then also scored the game tying goal with two minutes left, but even after Marchessault tied the shootout with the pressure on, Alexander Radulov eventually scored the shootout winner W 3-2 @ BUF - Marchessault scored the game winner and took over the team lead in goal scoring with his 22nd of the season assisted by Muzzin and Grabner, also, congratulations to Daniel Sedin who picked up his 500th career assist SOL 3-2 vs MIN - Marchessault's strong play continues with a goal and an assist, but Mikko Koivu scored the lone goal of the shootout to put us away, poor showing from Markstrom who only faced eleven shots but allowed two goals W 2-1 vs COL - Lack starts and makes 22 saves for the win, rookie defenseman Morgan Rielly scored on us and was answered by our Jake Muzzin with his first of the year, and Jon Marchessault scored the winner shorthanded L 3-2 @ ANA - Marchessault with another goal, he's up to 25 now, but we surrendered two third period goals, one by Corey Perry and one by Jacob Trouba (his eighth of the season at only twenty years old), Subban will be day to day with a knee injury sustained this game It was an up and down month for the Canucks, who finished 7-5-2 but couldn't really string together much success outside of a three game win streak early in the month. Markstrom was unusually inconsistent and a lot of injuries had to be dealt with. Jon Marchessault was the most consistent player, especially in the back half of the month, and was a real bright spot. Dale Weise has looked great filling in for Alex Burrows, with five points in twelve games. Daniel's resurgence has him and Henrik both looking capable of being at least close to their former selves offensively, but finding a quality winger to play with them has continued to be trouble. Patrick Thoresen, who had an amazing run earlier and sits at 31 points currently, has been in a massive slump in which he hasn't produced a point since February third. Cory Conacher has replaced him since his demotion, but Conacher hasn't proven to be a consistently productive option with Sedins either. Maybe veteran Todd Bertuzzi, acquired at the deadline for seemingly sentimental reasons to facilitate him retiring as a Canuck, can find some mojo with them. P.K. Subban has looked a little better offensively after his horrid start to the year. Ryan Kesler has quietly been productive as a two way force facilitating the second line between two skilled wingers in Grabner and Marchessault. Lack has shown improvement over the year and is a great option as the backup. League Notes Tampa Bay Re-Signs Martin St. Louis for a one year extension worth $3.38M Islanders lose forward Blake Comeau for six months after an horrific knee injury in a collision in their Mar 2nd game against Florida Senators forward Milan Michalek had a freak injury, crushing his foot while changing his tire, and will be out for five weeks! Jason Pominville is out for 3 months with a neck injury Victor Hedman signs an extension with Tampa Bay for 4 years at an AAV of $5.22M Sharks defenceman Brent Burns is sidelined for five months with a fractured hip Alex Steen of the Winnipeg Jets will miss about five months with a broken ankle James Neal had a twelve game point streak where he scored 7 goals and 15 assists Roman Josi was handed a seven game suspension March 27th for an illegal check to the head in a game against Buffalo Leo Komarov fractured his skull and will be out for eight months, yikes Alex Galchenyuk of the Capitals suffered an upper body injury against Boston and will miss at least six months, he has been having a tremendous sophomore season for them with twenty three goals and nineteen assists Sidney Crosby is re-establishing his dominance and absolutely lighting up the league this year. He is leading the Penguins back towards another President's trophy after a slow (for them) start. Definitely unfinished business for that group, including Kris Letang (leads all defensemen with 65 points) and Marc-Andre Fleury (again in the Vezina conversation) after their Stanley Cup Final loss last year. The St. Louis Blues have been surging and are now in the lead for the President's trophy, without any standout individual performances, their top scorer is Andy McDonald with sixty one points. The Los Angeles Kings have made great strides and are tied for the lead in the Pacific with the Canucks now. The Preds and Jets are tied for 8th in the West with six games remaining. In the East, Columbus and Tampa Bay are three and four points, respectively, away from the Senators for eighth in the east with seven games remaining. Attached Images

08-28-2022, 12:12 PM	#185
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	April Recap Results L 5-0 @ NYR L 4-2 @ LAK - Lack starts, Jack Johnson scored two goals (his 14th and 15th of the year!), we outshot them 43-26 W 3-1 @ ANA - Subban returns to the lineup, Thoresen is moved back up to the first line, Dale Weise has a solid game on the fourth line getting into a first period fight with Corey Perry and picking up an assist on Kesler's game winning goal with 32 seconds left as well as adding the empty net insurance marker W 4-2 @ COL - a dominant win that saw two goals and an assist from Tyler Bozak, Patrick Thoresen's first point in two months, and a game winning goal from Dale Weise, Kesler went down with a lower body injury but should be back by playoffs L 3-0 vs EDM - poor showing all around, only took 22 shotos on goal, Chris Tanev was a bright spot with eight blocked shots and no goals against his pairing with Ryan Ellis L 3-0 @ CGY - couldn't crack Kipper, Tanev with another great game on defense though, with seven blocked shots and again no goals allowed, unfortunately his partner and the offensive engine from the blueline, Ryan Ellis, sustained an upper body injury that will keep him out for three weeks Vancouver stumbles into the postseason, going 2-4 in their final six, dropping to fourth in the west, and being shut out in three of those games. They go into the playoffs hoping to have Ryan Kesler back at full health but missing Ryan Ellis for at least all of round one and Alex Burrows for probably the entire playoffs. Questions abound after a good start morphed into a lot of inconsistency post deadline. Who are this year's Canucks? Can they get back over the hump into the finals with some of the magic of last season's surprising run to the third round? Or will they fizzle out in the first round with their lack of premier pieces and an aging core? The lack of a consistent and productive linemate for Henrik and Daniel is a big concern, and the blueline looks especially thin without Ryan Ellis, whose emergence this year as a go to guy offensively was a big differencemaker for the Canucks season. Canucks Notes Chris Tanev finished the year with 191 blocks and a +30 turnover differential Bieksa led the league in PIMs with 162 Cory Conacher finished 9th in rookie scoring with 20 points Deadline Acquisition Jake Muzzin signed a five year contract extension worth $1.08M per year League Notes on April 10th the NHL's leader in goals, assists and points, Sidney Crosby, went down with a lower body injury that will keep him out for about six weeks T.J. Oshie had a 13 game point streak in which he scored 13 goals and 11 assists as he led the Blues to the top of the Western Conference in the East, the Senators squeaked into the playoffs by virtue of having one more win that the Columbus club that had tied them in points with 81 in the West, the Predators held onto the final playoff spot in spite of losing their final two games, finishing tied with Winnipeg at 89 points but holding the tiebreaker with one more win Notable Seasons from: F Tomas Tatar, DET (39-32-71) C David Desharnais, MTL (18-61-79) D Alex Goligoski, DAL (24-41-65, +40 to lead the league) RW Tyler Toffoli, LAK (29-20-49 to lead all rookies in scoring) D Dougie Hamilton, BOS (16-19-35 to lead all rookie defensemen in scoring) G Ben Scrivens, DAL (led the league with 13 shutouts) LW Johnny Gaudreau, CGY (28-38-66 in his sophomore season) C Sean Couturier, PHI (66gp, 16-31-47, +20) RW T.J. Oshie, STL (34gp, 23-17-40) D Kris Letang, PIT (70gp, 19-53-72 to lead all defensemen in scoring) LW Alexander Ovechkin, WSH (42-47-89, bit of a drop off from his last season goal wise, but still led the league with 13 game winning goals) D Drew Doughty, LAK (16-41-57, 8gwg) Attached Images Last edited by CanuckJohnny; 08-28-2022 at 04:04 PM.

08-28-2022, 05:58 PM	#186
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Playoff Preview: WEST #1 STL vs #8 NSH The Blues are surging and have star scorer T.J. Oshie back and on a hot streak. Nashville barely sneaked into the postseason and is in tough, but will look to their defense corps led by Weber, Suter, and Josi as well as their goaltending with all star Pekka Rinne to keep them in this. St. Louis has a deep forward group led by bruising captain David Backes, the aforementioned Oshie, powerforward Chris Stewart coming off a strong 29 goal campaign, and a host of other skilled players like McDonald, Berglund, Perron, and Schwartz. Blues in 5. #2 LAK vs #7 DAL The Kings come in atop the Pacific after a strong second half, led by Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, and Dustin Brown. They hope to have their star point-per-game center Anze Kopitar back soon, are counting on Justin Williams and deadline acquisition Michael Ryder to chip in offensively, and had an amazing season (17 goals) from blueliner Jack Johnson which they hope will continue into the offseason. Rookie scoring leader Tyler Toffoli will look to make an impression on the big stage. Dallas will be leaning heavily on Ben Scrivens in net, a revelation this year when he stole the starter's job and ran with it all year, finishing with a league leading 13 shutouts and carrying the Stars into the playoffs. Their top line of Benn, Ribeiro, and Eriksson is always dangerous, and their top pairing of Goligoski and Daley has been one of the most dominant duos in the NHL, but they lack depth after that. Kings in 6. #3 CHI vs #6 SJS Chicago looks to have star defenseman Duncan Keith back from injury to start the series, and they are also hopeful for the soon return of captain Jonathan Toews. That they have still fought their way to third in the conference in spite of missing Toews and Kane for such a huge chunk of the season speaks to their depth and championship calibre. It's also been an opportunity for Corey Crawford to shine and really carry his team and earn himself some recognition amongst the stars of the Chicago core. The Sharks have done well this year with their tandem of Niemi and Talbot in goal, and it will be interesting to see if they pick one and ride him or continue to share the load. Veteran Dan Boyle will be heavily leaned on for offense and leadership from the back end. Up front, they are led offensively by Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Logan Couture. Chicago is getting healthy at just the right time and they are still the powerhouse of the west when they have their big guns back. Blackhawks in 6. #4 VAN vs #5 COL Colorado has some good young offensive blueliners coming up in Morgan Rielly and Tyson Barrie, and they look deep up front with Duchene, Landeskog, Selke candidate Ryan O'Reilly, and captain Paul Stastny. Last year's starter Semyon Varlamov has found himself splitting starts with youngster Mike Condon, it'll be interesting to see who they decide to go with. Vancouver has really stumbled into the playoffs, on a rough ride the past three months, and haven't been able to find the dominance they had early in the season. Rising star Ryan Ellis looks like he will miss this series, putting more pressure than ever on P.K. Subban to perform. If the Sedins can find their usual magic this postseason and Markstrom plays like he did last playoffs the Canucks should be fine though. Vancouver in 5. EAST #1 PIT vs #8 OTT Crosby is a huge loss, but if any team in the league can absorb losing a superstar like him, it's Pittsburgh. They are on a mission for redemption, finished strong to claim another President's Trophy, have Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes and superstar Kris Letang on the blueline. Can the likes of Malkin, Staal, Kunitz, and Neal carry them without Sid? Yeah, probably. Ottawa snuck into the playoffs and is looking to prove they really belong there. They have been going with the tandem of Ben Bishop and Craig Anderson, and nobody knows who will be starting game one. Erik Karlsson is the obvious star of the show and one of the best offensive blueliners in the game. Captain Jason Spezza will be expected to provide offense and leadership, while some young stars will need to step up as well. Sniper Filip Forsberg is coming off a strong sophomore season, and twenty year old Mika Zibanejad also showed improvement and offensive flair this season. They'll be no match for the Pens though, even without Crosby. Penguins in 4. #2 DET vs #7 WSH Led by elite two way forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, the Wings are flying high this year. Rookie goalie Petr Mrazek took over the net and his seven shutouts should have him in the Calder conversation for sure. Their defense continues to be built around the sturdy Niklas Kronwall, but they are thin after him, and will be missing veterans Andrej Meszaros and Brendan Smith. Washington is a very top heavy team, especially after the injury to second line center Alex Galchenyuk. Stars Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Semin form a formidable top line, but who will be contributing depth scoring? Sergei Shirokov has nine points in twenty one games since being acquired from Vancouver, maybe he will step up and chip in that secondary offense they're looking for. The trio of Fowler, Carlson, and Wideman should at least provide some offensive punch from the back end, and Braden Holtby can be depended on for consistent play in net. Ovi may make or break the series, with his incredible ability to score clutch goals when most needed, as his 13 gamewinners in the regular season demonstrate. Capitals in 7. #3 BOS vs #6 MTL The Bruins begin the series without some key offensive contributors, and although Krejci and Horton should be back in a game or two, star forward Tyler Seguin is out indefinitely. Marchand and Bergeron will have to carry the offense for them. They are fortunate to have one of the best puck stoppers in the business in Tuukka Rask, and backing him up is veteran Tim Thomas. Aging captain Zdeno Chara has some support on the blueline from rookie Dougie Hamilton and emerging young defenseman Torey Krug. Montreal comes in with a clean bill of health and a wealth of forward depth. Desharnais and Pacioretty were dynamic all year, while captain Brian Gionta contributed 20 goals and Erik Cole potted 24. Free agent acquisition P.A. Parenteau has provided good middle six scoring depth, sophomore Brendan Gallagher has continued to be energetic and productive, and veterans Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec have been steady contributors. The blueline is led offensively by Campbell and Edler, both acquired from Vancouver in the Subban trade, and emotionally they are led by longtime Habs veteran Andrei Markov. And of course they have possibly the best goalie in the world in Carey Price. Montreal in six. #4 PHI vs #5 NYR Goalie Bob with his eight shutouts and Claude Giroux with his 83 points stand out in this group, but the forwards have a lot of depth with the likes of Hartnell, Schenn, JVR, Voracek, Simmonds, and emerging two way force Sean Couturier. The veteran defence corps is led by a pair of 39 year olds, captain Kimmo Timonen and assistant captain Chris Pronger. How much gas do they have left in the tank? The Rangers have franchise goalie Hanrik Lundqvist between the pipes, and a steady but not flashy defense including Alzner, Staal, Girardi, and McDonagh. They are loving their acquisition of Mark Scheifele who has stepped into the first line center role in his sophomore year and done nothing but impress with 57 points. Marian Gaborik will be a factor as long as he can stay healthy, and with plenty of versatile, playoff style forwards the Blueshirts should stand a good chance. Rangers in 7.

08-30-2022, 01:30 AM	#187
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 1 Avalanche 3 @ Canucks 2 (2OT) (Avalanche lead series 1-0) We had a slow start in this one, Muzzin took an early penalty and O'Reilly made us pay, then only a minute after that a goal from Ryan Wilson put us down 2-0. After being badly outplayed in the first, a fiery speech from coach Trevor Linden must've pushed some of the right buttons becuase the tide turned in the second, and even though we didn't score the play was in our favour. By the third we were pressing hard when captain Henrik capitalized on a powerplay to bring us within one. Michael Grabner tied it up later in the third and we were going to overtime! After a spirited first overtime where we again carried the play but couldn't beat Varlamov, O'Reilly scored his second of the game six minutes into the second extra frame. Sad loss but a good effort. Jake Muzzin played great after his early game penalty, attempting four shots, blocking one, throwing four hits and being credited with a takeaway to go with his assist and plus one in thirty minutes of icetime. Marchessault looked great on the first line next to Hank and Danny, and Bozak fit in well on Kesler's wing, but that third line centered by Thoresen looked rough. Around the league Predators 3 @ Blues 2 The Preds surprise by coming away with the road win in game one, on the strength of two Colin Wilson goals and the eventual game winning goal from Shea Weber. Oshie and Pietrangelo scored for the Blues. Nashville outshot the heavy favourites 44-23. Stars 4 @ Kings 2 Trevor Lewis scored the only two goals for Los Angeles as the Stars upset them in the first game, scoring by committee with goals from Vern Fiddler, Scott Glennie, Jamie Benn and Trevor Daley. Sharks 1 @ Blackhawks 3 Corey Crawford looked sharp making 25 saves and the Hawks win this one without Keith, Toews, or Kane. The Chicago goals came from Kevin Hayes, Patrick Sharp and Michael Frolik, while Dan Boyle was the only one to beat Crawford for the Sharks. Senators 0 @ Penguins 2 Ben Bishop stood on his head, making 48 saves, but it wasn't enough as Dustin Jeffrey slipped one by him and Beau Bennett added the empty netter. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the shutout. Capitals 3 @ Red Wings 5 In spite of an Ovi hat trick, two Tatar goals in the third would propel Detroit to victory. Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Riley Sheahan also scored for Detroit. Canadiens 6 @ Bruins 7 (OT) In a wild game that saw two elite goalies shellacked, Boston pulled it out in overtime when Lucic scored his second of the game shorthanded. For the Habs, Lars Eller scored two, Campoli, Gionta, Monahan and Yannick Weber also all scored. For the Bruins, Krug, Ference, Peverley, Bergeron and Jordan Caron were the other goal scorers. Brad Marchand picked up three assists on the night. Rangers 4 @ Flyers 1 Wayne Simmonds opened the scoring with what would be the lone Flyers goal. It was followed by goals from Girardi, Zuccarello, McDonagh and Gaborik for the Rangers. Lundqvist made 27 saves for the win. Ryan Callahan contributed two assists. Attached Images

09-01-2022, 09:30 PM	#188
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 2 Avalanche 2 @ Canucks 1 (Colorado leads series 2-0) Cory Conacher was healthy enough to play and he slots in for Todd Bertuzzi who is currently day to day with a minor injury. We had a rough start, being outshot 13-4 in the 1st, but Markstrom held strong. In the second, Marchessault opened the scoring for us, but successive goals from O'Reilly and Landeskog put the Avs ahead by the end of the period, and we couldn't crack them in the third. Surrendering the first two games at home is not a good way to start the series. Erik Johnson had a crazy good game against us, besides his assist and plus two he attempted three shots, blocked seven shots, had a hit and a 98 Defensive Game Rating in 24:32 of icetime. Dan Hamhuis had a solid game for us defensively, blocking two shots, throwing four hits, and being credited with two takeaways in twenty five minutes. Predators 2 @ Blues 1 (OT) (Nashville leads series 2-0) After Sergei Kostitsyn and Kevin Shattenkirk traded first period goals the goalies shut it down until the end of regulation. Midway through the first overtime, Alex Pietrangelo took a hooking penalty (his second of the game) and Shea Weber scored the OT winner on the ensuing powerplay. Nashville outshot St. Louis 34-13. Stars 3 @ Kings 4 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) Dallas opened with three goals in the first period from Nystrom, Benn, and Reilly Smith. In the second Dwight King got LA on the board, and in the third rookie Tyler Toffoli scored followed by Dustin Brown getting the equalizer (assisted by Toffoli and Kopitar) to send it to overtime. Just 42 seconds in the extra frame deadline acquisition Michael Ryder scored the winner for the Kings. LA outshot Dallas 42-25. Sharks 0 @ Blackhawks 2 (Chicago leads series 2-0) Duncan Keith gets back into the lineup for the Hawks. Cam Talbot saved 34 of the 35 shots he faced to keep it close, but his Sharks only managed 16 shots all game, so Kevin Hayes' second period tally stood as the winner and Marian Hossa added an empty netter with twenty seconds left. Crawford with the sixteen save shutout. Senators 4 @ Penguins 3 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) After Zach Sill was ejected for an illegal check to the head (two game suspension), Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring for Ottawa on the powerplay in the first. Pascal Dupuis evened things up the second. Tyler Kennedy gave Pittsburgh the lead early in the third, but Colin Greening tied it back up and then Cody Hodgson put the Sens in front with four minutes to play. The lead was short lived as Geno scored only nineteen seconds later, from Letang (his second assist of the night) and Neal. Into overtime we go, and Matt Cooke takes an ill advised roughing penalty followed twenty seconds later by a Mark Letestu slashing minor, giving Ottawa a five on three. Jason Spezza netted the powerplay winner fourteen seconds later on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Zibanejad and Karlsson (his third assist of the game). Capitals 3 @ Red Wings 2 (Series tied 1-1) Cam Fowler scored twice in the first for Washington, and Gus Nyquist brought it to a one goal game before the period ended. Dan Cleary was ejected for an illegal hit to the head (three game suspension). In the third, Carlson extended the lead, and though Jonathan Ericsson got one back for Detroit, the Red Wings couldn't find the tying goal before the final buzzer. Braden Holtby made an impressive 48 saves in the win, while his counterpart, youngster Petr Mrazek, allowed three goals on only sixteen shots. Canadiens 1 @ Bruins 5 (Boston leads series 2-0) It was a busy first period, with seven minors and three misconducts handed out. Pacioretty and Krejci exchanged goals and we went into the intermission even at 1. In the second, Krejci would score his second of the game to give Boston the lead and they never looked back, adding three more in the third from Kelly, Marchand, and Hamilton. After dominating the first (shots 12-4), the Canadiens were outshot a combined 33-14 in the remaining two periods and looked totally overwhelmed. Rangers 6 @ Flyers 5 (OT) (New York leads series 2-0) Derek Stepan scored in the first, and Brad Richards added to the New York lead in the second, but James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek evened things out. Brian Boyle and Marian Gaborik would add goals before the end of the second frame to re-establish the two goal lead for the Blueshirts. In the third, Parayko drew Philly to within one, then Wayne Simmonds had a spirited tilt with Michael Sauer that seemed to add even more energy to the Flyers bench. Giroux scored the tying goal a minute later and JVR put them ahead with only a minute to play. The Ranger pressed hard in the final minute and with thirty seconds left Mats Zuccarello sent it to overtime. Four minutes into the first overtimem, it was Zuccarello again who scored the winner. He finished the game with three points and the first star. Attached Images

09-04-2022, 12:01 PM	#189
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 3 Canucks 4 @ Avalanche 3 (Colorado leads series 2-1) Ryan O'Reilly scored his fourth of the series to open the scoring in the first. In the second captain Henrik evened it up on an individual effort. On the first line's next shift it was Chris Tanev scoring the go ahead goal, assisted by Marchessault and Daniel. In the third Jon Marchessault increased the lead just twenty four seconds in, with both twins earning assists. There had been no penalties all game until Colorado's Ryan Wilson took a holding penalty, and Tyler Bozak capitalized on the powerplay to make it four to one. The Avs really started pressing, and Duchene scored midway through the third to give them some hope. Then with just under four minutes to go, Stefan Elliott brought them to within one. The Canucks locked it down though and came out with the victory. The top line looked dominant for Vancouver, and Jon Marchessault especially looks like he's enjoying playing with the Sedins, besides his goal and assist he had four shots and three hits and an offensive game rating of 100. P.K. Subban also looked strong with a plus two rating, an assist, four shots, a block and three takeaways in twenty five minutes. Blues 6 @ Predators 5 (3OT) (Nashville leads series 2-1) Chris Stewart, Ryan Reaves, and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in succession to open up a 3-0 lead for St. Louis in the first. Radulov answered before the intermission to make it 3-1 after one. In the second, two goals by Craig Smith evened the game up at three, but Ryan Reaves notched his second of the game to put the Blues ahead going into the third. Radulov tied it up with his second of the game (Craig Smith's assist was his third point of the game). A couple minutes later Jaden Schwartz put St. Louis back in the driver's seat. Sergei Kostitsyn tied it with five minutes to play, 5-5, and that would still be the score heading into overtime. The Preds were outshooting the Blues 34-21 heading into overtime. The first overtime period was punctuated by an early fight between Kevin Klein and Chris Neil. Nobody scored and we went to double OT, which was active but again nobody could crack the goaltenders (the same goalies who surrendered ten goals in the first sixty minutes). Heading into triple OT, Nashville was now outshooting St. Louis 55-34. In spite of allowing five goals, Jaro Halak's game is starting to look pretty good. It was five minutes into the third extra frame when Jaden Schwartz set up Ryan Reaves, whose shot was stopped by Rinne, then Patrik Berglund pounced on the rebound to score the game winner. Reaves finished with 2 goals and an assist, and Halak made 55 saves in the win. Instant classic. Kings 5 @ Stars 3 (Los Angeles leads series 2-1) In a back and forth match, the first goal went to John Klingberg on the powerplay in the second. Dustin Brown answered for the Kings, then Alex Chiasson and Kyle Clifford traded goals and we went to the third period all knotted up at two. In the third, LA blew the doors of regular season shutout leader Ben Scrivens, with goals from Will O'Neill, Dmitry Orlov and Derek Forbort. Toby Peterson would get one back for the Stars but it was too little too late. Blackhawks 2 @ Sharks 4 (Chicago leads series 2-1) Joe Thornton scored first for San Jose, and in the second Vlasic and Marleau added to the lead. A valiant effort at a third period comeback was led by goals from Brandon Pirri and Duncan Keith, but Torrey Mitchell added an insurance marker to put it away and the Sharks held on. Cam Talbot made 29 saves for San Jose. Penguins 2 @ Senators 1 (Pittsburgh leads series 2-1) James Neal and Dustin Jeffrey scored for the Penguins. The lone Ottawa goal came on the powerplay from Nikita Filatov. Karlsson picked up his fourth assist of the series. Ben Bishop made 33 saves in the losing cause. Red Wings 5 @ Capitals 1 (Detroit leads series 2-1) The lone goal for Washington was from deadline pickup Sergei Shirokov. Otherwise it was a total shellacking. The Capitals mustered only 11 shots. Detroit peppered Holtby with 36 shots and got goals from Zetterberg (2), Datsyuk, Nyquist and Ouellet. Bruins 1 @ Canadiens 2 (OT) (Boston leads series 2-1) In a fiercely contested match, Milan Lucic scored in the first (his third of the series) and then the goalies shut it down until with six minutes to go in regulation Brendan Gallagher scored on the powerplay to send it to overtime. Thirty seconds into the extra frame Gregory Campbell took an egregious tripping minor, and ninety seconds into that powerplay Max Pacioretty scored the OT winner assisted by Gallagher and Cammalleri. Carey Price made 32 saves in bounce back win. Flyers 2 @ Rangers 4 (New York leads series 3-0) The Rangers had a strong first period, cranking out three goals from Anisimov, Alzner, and Abdelkader (SH). Mark Scheifele added a powerplay marker midway through the second and afterward they mostly sat back and weathered the storm in front of Lundqvist. Philly managed two second period goals (they took 16 shots in the middle frame) by Kimmo Timonen and Tarasenko, but in the third they couldn't crack Lundqvist, who made 29 saves in the victory. Attached Images

09-06-2022, 03:59 AM	#190
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 3 Canucks 2 @ Avalanche 3 (OT) (Colorado leads series 3-1) After falling behind early, Damien Brunner got us on the board and tied it up with a shorty, and in the second Michael Grabner gave us the lead and it was looking pretty good for us. We were outshooting them 22-15, Markstrom looked good, we were heading into the third with the lead. Then Damien Brunner took a tripping penalty and almost right away Morgan Rielly buried the point shot to tie the game. We went to overtime, continued to carry the play and outshoot them, but with under two minutes left Brad Malone banged in the winner and we were headed home facing elimination. Mike Condon made 36 saves on us in the victory. Jake Muzzin looked really solid despite his minus one, with six shot attempts, 2 blocks, 4 hits and a takeaway. Patrick Zackrisson had a good showing as well, with an assist, four shots on goal, two hits and a takeaway. Dale Weise looked sloppy out there with two giveaways and a minus one. Blues 1 @ Predators 0 (Series tied 2-2) The only goal of the game came shorthanded in the second period from Patrik Berglund. Halak made 23 saves in the shutout. Shattenkirk had 4 shots, 3 blocks, 2 hits and a takeaway in a very solid performance on the blueline. Kings 3 @ Stars 4 (OT) (Series tied 2-2) Benn opened the scoring on the powerplay, and in the second Eriksson extended the lead but Brown answered back midway through the period. Coming into the third down one, Los Angeles applied pressure and got the equalizer from Dwight King six minutes in. A couple minutes later they took the lead on a Colin Fraser goal, but Scott Glennie stepped up and tied it for Dallas to bring the game to overtime. In the extra frame it was Eric Nystrom who played hero for the Stars, scoring a nice goal assisted by Kuznetsov and Reilly Smith to even up the series. Blackhawks 0 @ Sharks 1 (OT) (Series tied 2-2) The goalies were excellent, perfect even, through the first sixty minutes. Chicago is still missing Toews and Kane, and they look to be without their usual bite right now. In the extra period it was the unlikely Tom Wandell (from Joel Ward and Brad Winchester) who ended it just four minutes in. Talbot picked up the shutout with only twenty saves, while his counterpart Corey Crawford made 35 stops in the losing effort. Defenseman Matt Irwin had a markedly good game for San Jose, besides being out there for the OT winner, he mustered 5 shot attempts, blocked two, threw a hit and was credited with two takeaways. Penguins 3 @ Senators 4 (Series tied 2-2) It was a back and forth affair through two periods, Malkin scoring first near the end of the first, Zibanejad evening it up early in the second, Neal giving Pittsburgh another lead and then Filip Forsberg with the equalizer near the end of the period. Midway through the third Nick Foligno scored to give Ottawa their first lead of the game (assisted by Karlsson - his third helper of the game and seventh of the series) and with five to go Filip Forsberg's second of the game (shorthanded) gave them an extra cushion. They turned out to need it, as Slava Voynov netted a powerplay marked to bring Pittsburgh within one, but Bishop held the fort and the Sens emerged with the victory and an even series heading back to Pittsburgh. Red Wings 4 @ Capitals 3 (3OT) (Detroit leads series 3-1) Detroit absolutely dominated play the first two periods, outshooting Washington 29-11, but heading into the third the score was 1-1 (Chris Porter for Detroit and Mathieu Perreault for Washington). The Caps brought their A-game for the third period, and though the Red Wings onslaught resulted in two more goals, from Emmerton and Tatar, the Capitals mustered more shots (12) than they had in the first two periods combined and sent the game to OT on goals from Backstrom and Mike Green. Through two periods they clung desperately (Or Holtby did anyways, facing another 24 shots in those first two overtimes) to the tie but couldn't really generate much the other way. At last, four minutes into triple overtime it was Tomas Tatar's second of the game that ended it and gave Detroit the 3-1 series lead. Braden Holtby made 69 saves in the losing cause. Marcus Johansson of Washington had 5 shots, blocked four shots, threw seven hits and had three takeaways in a very solid game for him. The ever dangerous Pavel Datsyuk had two assists, six shot attempts, three hits and two takeaways. Tatar scored his two goals on TWELVE shots on goal! Bruins 3 @ Canadiens 0 (Boston leads series 3-1) Boychuk, Lucic, and Dougie Hamilton all scored for Boston, but the real story of the game was Tuukka Rask again winning the goalie duel with Price, making 39 saves in the shutout. Carey stopped only twenty of the Bruins 23 shots on goal, and Montreal is on the ropes now. Torey Krug blocked seven shots in a great effort from him that also saw him get an assist and fire two shots on net. Flyers 0 @ Rangers 6 (New York wins series 4-0) Philly just didn't show up. You'd think with their backs against the wall there would be some desperation, but it was a total dud from them. They were outshot 38-15. The Rangers went 3-4 on the man advantage. Bobrovsky never had a chance, while Lundqvist cruised to an easy shutout. The Ranger goals came from Callahan (who also had two assists), Abdelkader, Stepan, Gaborik and Scheifele (2) (he also added an assist and fired seven shots on goal). Attached Images Last edited by CanuckJohnny; 09-06-2022 at 04:00 AM.

09-10-2022, 06:03 PM	#191
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 5 Avalanche 1 @ Canucks 4 (Colorado leads series 3-2) Trevor Linden mixed up the lines for this one, shuffling Bozak back to center the third line between Conacher and Brunner, promoting Dale Weise to right wing on the second line and bringing banged up vet Todd Bertuzzi in on the fourth line for Anton Rodin. Vancouver came out firing at home with their backs against the wall. Conacher scored early from Brunner and Bozak, and Hank added to the lead on a goal assisted by Danny and Muzzin. O'Reilly got the Avs back into it with a shorthanded marker, his fifth tally in as many games this series. The shots were 18-5 Vancouver after one. Damien Brunner managed a shorty of his own, from Bozak and Hamhuis, in the second to extend the lead. Another goal on the PK in second came from Ryan Kesler, from Thoresen and Weise. In the third the Avalanche managed a strong push to balance the play out but Markstrom stood strong and Vancouver lives to play another day. Bozak looked amazing back in his 3C role, picking up two assists, five shots, a hit and winning 6 of 11 draws. Dan Hamhuis threw four hits (including two massive ones) and blocked two shots to go along with his assist and a +17 shot differential when he was on the ice in 23:30 of icetime. Predators 2 @ Blues 7 (St. Louis leads series 3-2) Radulov opened the scoring thirty seconds in for Nashville, but by the end of the first goals from Shattenkirk and Oshie had put St. Louis ahead. After Chris Mueller tied it for the Preds in the second, another goal from Oshie and one from Gardiner gave the Blues the two goal advantage going into the third frame. In the third, St. Louis ran away with the game, with goals from Schwartz, Chris Stewart and David Perron, chasing Rinne after he allowed his sixth goal in twenty one shots. Stars 1 @ Kings 0 (Dallas leads series 3-2) The Stars came out strong but tailed off in a defensively gridlocked match. With things still scoreless midway through the third, Ryan Garbutt managed the only goal of the game to pull off the road win. Alex Goligoski had a very solid game for Dallas. He finished plus one, with six shot attempts (three on goal), four blocked shots and a hit in 24:36 of icetime. Sharks 2 @ Blackhawks 4 (Chicago leads series 3-2) Chicago pulled together and with a very strong blueline performance they controlled most of the game, getting goals from Kevin Hayes, Viktor Stalberg and Marcus Kruger before San Jose rallied with a strong third period push and goals from Joel Ward and Torrey Mitchell. Shaw added an insurance marker to give the 'Hawks a home win and the series lead. Senators 2 @ Penguins 1 (OT) (Ottawa leads series 3-2) Zach Sill, back from his suspension, scored a goal in the first assisted by Letang to give the Pens a lead, but Ottawa was determined in this road match up against the President's Trophy winners and young star Filip Forsberg scored a minute later to even things up. A goaltending clinic from both sides saw the 1-1 score hold up to overtime and then through the entire first overtime period, in spite of 13 shots and tremendous pressure from the Sens. Midway through the second OT it was Stephane Da Costa that played the unlikely hero with the double overtime winner (assisted by Chris Phillips) to steal the road win and go ahead in the series with a chance to clinch at home in game six. Fleury made 47 saves in spite of losing, and Bishop made 35 saves for Ottawa in the win. Capitals 6 @ Red Wings 3 (Detroit leads series 3-2) Gus Nyquist sent Detroit into the second with a one goal lead and a chance to clinch at home, but Washington came storming back in the second with three goals, two from Shirokov and one from Ovi. Zetterberg and Cory Emmerton scored in the third to try and make a game of it, but Washington got three more tallies, from Johansson, Shirokov (hat-trick goal) and Cody Eakin. John Carlson had three assists for the Caps, with a plus two rating, three shots on goal and four blocks. Canadiens 1 @ Bruins 2 (Boston wins series 4-1) Eller scored a powerplay marker in the first, and it looked like Montreal was on track to stay alive, but in the second Bergeron tied it up then Dougie Hamilton scored on the powerplay (his third of the series) from Marchand and Krug for the eventual game winner. In spite of 25 shots in the final two periods, Montreal couldn't crack Rask again and they will be going home sooner than planned. Attached Images

09-14-2022, 01:59 AM	#192
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 6 P.K. Subban is out with a sore knee after being banged up last game. We were hoping he could be ready for tonight but the doctor says no. Taking his place will be David Rundblad. Rundblad will move onto the third pairing with Cumiskey, while Tanev moves up to play with Hamhuis on the first pair and Bieksa will take second pairing minutes alongside Jake Muzzin. Colorado's Ryan Wilson will miss his second straight game, and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who was injured in game one, continues to nurse an upper body injury. Backup Mike Condon has played admirably so far and the team is confident with him in net. Canucks 5 @ Avalanche 3 (Series tied 3-3) Unlikely contributors led the way for Vancouver early in the first, with Jake Muzzin opening the scoring on the powerplay from Henrik and Rundblad. Todd Bertuzzi chipped in a goal from the fourth line, also assisted by Rundblad. Colorado got one back on a goal from Morgan Rielly, but the Canucks took a one goal lead into the first intermission. The Avalanche upped their pressure in the second, picking up the tying goal early on from David Jones. Paul Stastny tried to fire up the hometown crowd in a fight with Dale Weise, and overall the Canucks were outplayed and outshot 13-7 in the middle frame. Vancouver came out motivated in the third, and facing elimination if they lost this game. Damien Brunner notched a shorthanded goal to give them the lead back and Grabner added some insurance on a great individual effort. T.J. Galiardi brought Colorado back to within a goal with just a minute to play, but Marchessault sealed it with an empty netter for Vancouver. Tyler Bozak had a solid game, in his typical under the radar fashion, getting an assist, two shot attempts, a block, four hits and going 5 of 8 in the circle. Blues 4 @ Predators 1 (St. Louis wins series 4-2) Chris Stewart scored twice in the first to give the Blues control and they never really relinquished it. In the third Sergei Kostitsyn lit the lamp for the Preds but twenty seconds later T.J. Oshie regained the two goal cushion for St. Louis with his fourth of the series. Polak added an empty netter. Nashville acquitted themselves well in this game and in the series, considering how massively they were underdogs, but St. Louis ultimately showed their quality and will move on. Kings 4 @ Stars 2 (Series tied 3-3) Facing elimination, the Kings came out strong and ready. They notched the first two goals of the game (Kopitar, Will O'Neill), but Dallas came storming back to even it up going into the second off of goals by Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson. In the second Dustin Brown re-established the Los Angeles lead with his fourth of the series and Kopitar added his second of the game for insurance in the third. LA outshot Dallas 45-33. Blackhawks 4 @ Sharks 1 (Chicago wins series 4-2) San Jose put up a valiant effort this series, but with Jonathan Toews returning the Hawks turned in a defensive masterpiece, allowing only twenty shots on goal. Pirri scored at the end of the first for Chicago, then Hayes and Morin extended the lead in the second. After Hayes netted his second of the game on the powerplay, Patric Hornqvist broke the shutout but it was too little too late for the Sharks. Toews had two assists, a hit, two takeaways and won 12 of 16 faceoffs in his return to the lineup. Penguins 3 @ Senators 4 (Ottawa wins series 4-2) Wow! What an upset. The President's Trophy winners finished the regular season with 113 points. Ottawa squeaked into the postseason with 81. Neal scored first for Pittsburgh and played like a man possessed all night. In the second period Zibanejad scored two goals and Zack Smith got one as well, giving Ottawa a 3-1 lead before Pittsburgh fought back on goals from Kunitz (assisted by Neal and Brewer) and Neal. Heading into the third it was all knotted up and the shots were 29-18 in favour of the Penguins. Ottawa came out hungry and controlled the play for the first time since early in the second, and it was eventually Patrick Wiercioch who scored the go ahead goal midway through the period. Ottawa hung on, with Ben Bishop making 33 saves in the victory. Nikita Filatov had two assists for the Sens, and Jason Spezza had a very strong game, with one assist, five shot attempts, two hits, a takeaway and 13 faceoff wins (out of 20). Red Wings 4 @ Capitals 1 (Detroit wins series 4-2) Datsyuk is day to day with a lower body injury. Not much of a fight put up by the Capitals in this game. After Wideman's goal to open the scoring they looked pretty unengaged and lackadaisical. Detroit outshot them 35-18 and got goals from Cleary, Nedomiel, Porter (SH) and Nyquist in the series clinching win. Cory Emmerton had two assists for Detroit. The 25 year old center, who had 3 goals and 11 assists all season, has 2 goals and 6 assists so far this postseason. Attached Images

09-17-2022, 12:35 PM	#193
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Game 7 P.K. Subban draws back into the lineup. Kyle Cumiskey comes out and Rundblad takes Cumiskey's spot after earning two assists last game. Matt Duchene is nursing a lower body injury and will miss the game. Gabe Landeskog moves up to take his spot on the first line. Ryan Kesler comes into the game on a cold streak. Avalanche 2 @ Canucks 4 (Vancouver wins series 4-3) Kesler opens the scoring in a very defensive first period. David Rundblad fired a shot from the point and Kes banged in the rebound. P.K. Subban, probably still a bit banged up but in the lineup for game 7, rewards Linden for putting him in with a powerplay goal early in the second from Bozak and Henrik. Markstrom was having a very quiet game, facing only two shots in the first and none so far in the second when Avs captain Paul Stastny sniped one past him to make it a one goal game. The Canucks continued to dominate the play, however, and didn't even allow another shot all period. Colorado had a real parade to the penaly box in the final few minutes of the second, and Jon Marchessault notched his fourth of the series on a powerplay, assisted by Daniel and PK. The Avs killed off a five on three succesfully to keep the game within reach and came out desperate in the third, piling on shots and bringing much more pressure than they had all game but Markstrom settled in and held the fort up until Erik Johnson scored to draw Colorado within one with 3:29 left to play. The Canucks defense and Jacob Markstrom held firm through some tense moments and with four seconds left Muzzin iced the game into the empty net. Canucks are going to round two baby! What a series. Subban had five shots on goal, three hits and three takeaways in 22 minutes. Jake Muzzin threw five hits and had five shots on goal in twenty five minutes. Hank won 10 of 13 faceoffs. Rundblad had another solid game, two shots, two blocks, two hits and two takeaways to go with his assist in 15:42 TOI. Hamhuis sustained a minor hand injury and will be day to day. Stars 1 @ Kings 4 (Los Angeles wins series 4-3) Trevor Lewis opens the scoring shorthanded in the first, assisted by Drew Doughty. Just twelve seconds into the second Colin Fraser extends the Kings' lead to two, assisted by former Canuck Stephen Weiss and Drew Doughty (his second helper of the game). In the third period, deadline acquisition Michael Ryder netted a powerplay marker (assisted by Justin Williams and Drew Doughty - his third assist on the night) to make it 3-0. Reilly Smith banged in a goal with three minutes left to make it interesting but that was all Bernier allowed and Jack Johnson added an empty netter with ten seconds left as LA moves to the second round. Goligoski had a rough game for Dallas, with two giveaways and a minus two rating despite contributing four shots on goal in 25 minutes. Drew Doughty had an excellent game, plus two with three assists, eight shot attempts, two blocks and a hit in almost twenty eight minutes. Anze Kopitar won 12 of 17 faceoffs (70.6%), threw three hits, had three shots on goal and a takeaway in twenty five minutes. Attached Images

09-18-2022, 02:22 PM	#194
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round 2 Preview WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (4) Vancouver Canucks @ (1) St. Louis Blues Blues:Led the Western Conference after an especially strong second half. Chris Stewart led them in goals with 29, Andy McDonald led them in points with 66. T.J. Oshie missed a large portion of the season from injury, but in 34 regular season games he scored 23 goals and 40 points. They are led on the blueline by Alex Pietrangelo, and Jaroslav Halak holds the fort in net. A deep and balanced team, led by captain David Backes, they run three capable scoring lines, with Perron-Backes Oshie, Schwartz-Sobotka-Stewart and Berglund-McDonald-Reaves. Shattenkirk has 3 goals and 3 assists in six playoff games from the back end, he's tied with Oshie and Berglund for the team lead in points through one series. They faced a bit of a scare from a stronger than expected Nashville squad but in the end they asserted their dominance and made it to the second round in six games. Halak has a .939 save percentage and one shutout through one round. Depth forward Evan Brophey is the only injury currently, day to day with an upper body injury. Canucks: After a great start, they stumbled down the stretch into the playoffs, finishing fourth in the conference. Jon Marchessault led the team in goals with 25, while captain Henrik Sedin led them in points with 60. Jacob Markstrom had 8 shutouts and a .920 save percentage in 58 games, winning 36. Henrik leads them in playoff points, with 8 in 7 games. Young defenseman Jake Muzzin leads the defense in scoring with five points. Jon Marchessault leads them with four goals. Markstrom has struggled compared to his usual form, with a save percentage of .906 and a GAA of 2.19. They are missing heart and soul forward Alex Burrows for another month or two and the blueline is banged up, with Ryan Ellis still out but progressing in his recovery from an upper body injury that kept him out of round one, star defenseman P.K. Subban is still day to day in spite of playing and performing well in game 7 of the first round, and Dan Hamhuis is also currently day to day. They struggled to start their series with the Avalanche, going down 3-1 before stringing together 3 straight wins to move on. Prediction: Blues in five. A Vancouver squad that barely squeaked past a Colorado team running with its backup goalie just doesn't have the depth to compete. (3) Chicago Blackhawks @ (2) Los Angeles Kings Kings: The Pacific Division champs after a strong push at the end of the year, the Kings had the fourth best penalty kill in the league this year. Rookie Tyler Toffoli led them in goals with 29. Anze Kopitar's 79 points led the team by a wide margin. Jonathan Bernier stole the crease from incumbent Jonathan Quick over the course of the year, finishing with seven shutouts and 35 wins. Star defenseman Drew Doughty had 57 points from the blueline and is one of the top young defenders in the league. Captain Dustin Brown has raised his game in the postseason, producing four goals and eight points to tie for the team lead in points with Kopitar through seven games. Bernier has struggled a bit compared to his regular season numbers, posting only a .910 save percentage, but so far they have stuck with him in spite of Quick waiting on the sidelines. After Dallas put them on the ropes, they came through with a couple big wins to get into the second round. Their only injury currently is veteran Vinny Prospal being day to day after sustaining an upper body injury in their series with Dallas. Blackhawks: In spite of a difficult, injury plagued season that saw Patrick Kane go down in December for the season (39 points in 38 games up to then) as well as captain Jonathan Toews missing a significant chunk of time. In their absence sophomore Kevin Hayes had a monster season, leading the team in goals (29) and points (63), while Duncan Keith contributed 53 points on defense. The Hawks finished top ten in the league in goals, goals against, powerplay and penalty kill. Corey Crawford had eight shutouts and 44 wins. Jonathan Toews has finally returned to the lineup and they hope to see Patrick Kane return at some point this series. Pirri leads them in playoff points with six in six games, while Kevin Hayes has five goals already this postseason. Crawford has continued his strong play, with two shutouts and a .937 save percentage, as well as a remarkable 16.99 GSAA through six games. Bryan Bickell will miss another one or two months with an upper body injury sustained just before the playoffs. Prediction: Chicago in six. With Kane potentially returning they will be fielding perhaps the most dangerous lineup in the West as long as they are all healthy and Corey Crawford has been in incredible form. EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS (8) Ottawa Senators @ (2) Detroit Red Wings Red Wings: The second best team in the East is the top seed remaining. They had the best powerplay in the NHL this year. Thomas Tatar led them in goals with 39, and Henrik Zetterberg led them with 84 points. Rookie Petr Mrazek took the starting role from veteran Jimmy Howard and finished the year with seven shutouts and 37 wins. They have been led by Gus Nyquist in scoring this postseason, he has four goals and five assists in six games. Third line center Cory Emmerton has eight points and a plus eight rating through one round. Captain Henrik Zetterberg has four goals and six points. Mrazek has struggled on this stage so far, with an abysmal .884 save percentage and a -1.32 GSAA. They face a lot of injuries to start the series, Brendan Smith is out for a couple of months yet, and Frans Nielsen, Pavel Datsyuk, Valtteri Filppula and Andrej Meszaros are all day to day. Senators: After squeaking into the playoffs with 81 points on a tie-break with Columbus, Ottawa shocked the hockey world by eliminating the President's Trophy winning Penguins in six games. In the regular season it was sophomore forward Filip Forsberg who led them in goals with 28. Superstar Erik Karlsson led them in points (65) as a defenseman. Bishop and Anderson split the crease very evenly, with Anderson getting 42 starts (5 shutouts, 22 wins, .918sv%) and Bishop (4 shutouts, 14 wins, .903sv%) getting 40 starts. However, they've gone with Bishop so far this playoffs and he hasn't disappointed, facing down Pittsburgh's dominant offense in round one and coming out with a .940 save percentage. Erik Karlsson has stepped up his play to another level, and leads the Sens with eight points in six games. Mika Zibanejad has four goals and six points. Captain Jason Spezza has struggled with only two points and a minus two rating in six games. Depth forward Jesse Winchester is out indefinitely with an upper body injury. Prediction: Red Wings in 4. Ottawa's luck will run out, and Mrazek's play should correct toward his regular season numbers. Apart from Karlsson there is very little firepower and not much depth in Ottawa. Bishop's play should regress this series and without him stealing games the Senators don't have the quality to be competitive against a very strong Detroit squad. (5) New York Rangers @ (3) Boston Bruins Bruins: The third place Bruins led the league in goals against while also having the second best power play and fifth best penalty kill. Tyler Seguin lead them in goals with 36 and points with 74, but sustained a serious arm injury just before the playoffs and is out indefinitely. Tuukka Rask (six shutouts) and Tim Thomas (four shutouts) are arguably the best goalie tandem in the league, and this playoffs it has been Tuukka's crease. He hasn't disappointed, posting a .940 save percentage and a shutout in a five game first round series against Montreal. Their blueline is deep, with captain Zdeno Chara and rookie sensation Dougie Hamilton headlining a group that also has the productive Torey Krug and defensive stalwarts Johnny Boychuk and Adam McQuaid, along with veteran Dennis Seidenberg. Marchand has seven points in five games to lead them in scoring. Lucic has four goals and rookie star Dougie Hamilton has three goals and three assists as a defeneseman. Rangers: With 100 points the Rangers finished fifth in the East. They had the second best penalty kill in the league with 87% efficiency. Gaborik led them in goals with 27 and sophomore centre Mark Scheifele exploded onto the scene with a team leading 57 points. Acquiring him for Del Zotto and Sheppard last season is looking like a real coup. Their top four are among the best in the league, and although none of them will have an offensive stat line that jumps off the page, you would be hard pressed to find a more defensively stalwart group in the league than Staal-McDonagh and Alzner-Girardi. King Henrik had 40 wins and 6 shutouts this season. They made quick work of the Flyers in round one, with three players (Zuccarello, Scheifele, McDonagh) all producing six points in the four game sweep. Lundqvist posted a shutout and a .930 save percentage. They have the luxury of a clean bill of health heading into round 2. Prediction: Rangers in seven. This should be an amazing series of playoff hockey with two elite netminders and two of the best bluelines in the league facing off. The Bruins are still missing their top offensive forward in Seguin, and goals should be hard to come by this series, so the Rangers forward depth and health gives them the slight edge. Attached Images

09-24-2022, 05:31 PM	#195
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 1 Canucks 3 @ Blues 2 (Vancouver leads series 1-0) The Canucks came out firing in the first period on the road against the top team in the West. Midway through the opening frame it was Michael Grabner who got them on the board and out ahead. They really backed off in the second, playing defense as St. Louis pressed hard. Sami Lepisto tied it up partway through the second and the Blues carried their momentum into the third. With the Canucks on their heels and Dale Weise in the box T.J. Oshie scored a go ahead goal for the Blues (his fifth of the playoffs). Vancouver looked lost and without an answer, but they turned the tide with about five minutes to go as the desperation sunk in. It was Jon Marchessault who scored his fifth of the playoffs to tie it up. With under a minute to play, Jake Muzzin stepped into a one timer set up by Henrik Sedin to put Vancouver ahead and they would hang on for the win. Tyler Bozak picked up two assists and won 5 of 7 faceoffs. For the Blues, David Perron had two assists in a solid offensive performance. Blackhawks 1 @ Kings 0 (OT) (Chicago leads series 1-0) A defensive clinic from both sides that saw the final shots on goal tally 28-20 for Chicago. Midway through the first overtime Dave Bolland netted the winner, assisted by Hossa and Leddy. Leddy had four shots on goal, three blocked shots and two hits in twenty eight minutes. Senators 2 @ Red Wings 3 (4OT) (Detroit leads series 1-0) Cory Emmerton scores first for Detroit (Nyquist, Filppula), but in the second Ottawa responds with goals from Erik Condra (Wiercioch, Karlsson) and Nick Foligno (Phillips, Da Costa). In the third Riley Sheahan (Franzen, Nyquist) ties it back up and and sends us to overtime. In the first extra period Ottawa outshoots Detroit 10-6 but fails to solve Mrazek. Second overtime, the Sens again outshoot the Wings, 14-4, but again Mrazek stands tall in net. Come triple overtime, the play evens out and the tide starts to turn, shots are Senators 12, Red Wings 11, but still no goals. It's been over sixty minutes of shutout playoff hockey now. Quadruple overtime. Detroit begins to take control of play. Ottawa takes a penalty with seven and a half minutes in the period. Detroit presses but Bishop holds the fort and the Senators kill it off. Just a minute after the penalty expires, Nyquist chips a piss to Filppula who sends Zetterberg in and he finishes it with a goal past Ben Bishop to end the marathon with four minutes and thirty eight seconds to go in the fourth extra period. The final shots were 63-63. What a game. The goalies really outdid themselves. Erik Karlsson had an absolute monster of a game, with nine shots on goal, four hits and three takeaways in fifty three minutes of icetime. Almost a full hour on the ice! He led all skaters in that category. Niklas Kronwall for Detroit was plus one with four shots, seven blocks, four hits and a takeaway in fifty two minutes. Gus Nyquist earned the first star with his three assists. He also directed seven shots on net and had two blocks, two hits and a takeaway. Rangers 1 @ Bruins 2 (Boston leads series 1-0) Marchand scored in the fist from Rich Peverley, and in spite of a physically and offensively dominant showing from Boston, King Henrik held off the attacks until Zuccarello managed the equalizer on the man advantage in the third. Boston would be awarded a powerplay later in the third however, and David Krejci capitalized with the game winner (from Marchand and Christensen). New York will need a better effort at home in game 2, being outshot 45-26 and outhit 24-12 in their own barn in this first game. Attached Images

09-28-2022, 01:47 AM	#196
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 2 Canucks 3 @ Blues 0 (Vancouver leads series 2-0) Vancouver came out all guns blazing on the road, throwing sixteen shots at Halak in the first and being rewarded with goals from Daniel and Marchessault. St. Louis, as in game 1, gradually fought back into the game and after a scoreless mid frame they carried the play a lot of the third. Markstrom played lights out in the third (and all game) to maintain his shutout (defense allowed 13 shots) and Kesler added a third Canucks goal with a minute and a half left to ice it. Michael Grabner turned in an excellent two-way performance with two assists, two shots, a block and two takeaways. Daniel Sedin had two points, seven shots, two hits and a takeaway. Roman Polak blocked five shots on the night for the Blues. Blackhawks 5 @ Kings 4 (OT) (Chicago leads series 2-0) The Kings started strong with two first period goals from Prospal (Pouliot, Forbort) and Toffoli (Clifford, Johnson). Clifford extended the lead early in the second (Kopitar, Toffoli) but Kevin Hayes scored a powerplay goal for Chicago from Frolik and Toews to get the Hawks into the game. After Dustin Brown (O'Neill, Weiss) restored the three goal lead for LA, Kevin Hayes (Seabrook, Hjalmarsson) got his second of the period to take his team into the third only down by two. In the third, Pirri brought the Blackhawks within one on a goal assisted by Keith and Sharp, then with a minute to go Kevin Hayes completed the hatty to tie it up (assists to Leddy and Pirri) and send it to OT. After LA killed off an early Clifford penalty, Jeremy Morin scored a scrappy goal off the cycle from Stalberg and Shaw to win it for Chicago three minutes in. Besides his game winning goal Morin threw five hits in the game. Jack Johnson struggled with the puck, giving it away four times on the night. Senators 2 @ Red Wings 1 (Series tied 1-1) After Ouellet (Ericsson) and Forsberg (Spezza) traded goals in the first it was scoreless until midway through the third when Erik Condra netted the winner for Ottawa from Benoit and Filatov. Mrazek faced 39 shots in the loss and made 37 saves for the second star. Spezza recorded seven shots in the game. Rangers 3 @ Bruins 1 (Series tied 1-1) Paille opened the scoring for Boston with a shorthanded marker from Marchand and McQuaid. In the second the Rangers finished with six shots but potted three goals on those six shots while Lundqvist stopped all 16 Boston shots in the frame. Gaborik (Girardi, Zuccarello), Stralman (Scheifele, Gaborik) and Brian Boyle (Anisimov) scored for the Blueshirts. In the third Boston continued to outplay New York but King Henrik continued to hold the fort in net and made 11 more saves. He finished with the win and 36 saves. Bergeron had two blocks, two hits and two takeaways and a 99 DGR. Lucic had seven hits. For the Rangers, Karl Alzner was plus two and blocked four shots. Justin Abdelkader had four shot attempts (two on goal), two hits and two takeaways. Attached Images

10-10-2022, 12:08 PM	#197
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 3 Blues 2 @ Canucks 1 (OT) (Vancouver leads series 2-1) St. Louis played a physical game (38 hits) without ever being penalized. They also controlled the faceoff circle. Kesler scored in the first from Daniel and Marchessault, but in the second Patrik Berglund evened it up on the powerplay while P.K. Subban was in the box. After almost an entire extra frame, Andy McDonald snuck one past Markstrom with five seconds to go. McDonald had a goal and an assist, five shots and three hits in a dominant performance that earned him the first star. Jaden Schwartz assisted on the winner and by all accounts played an excellent game at both ends, throwing five hits and two blocks. Marchessault had a good game for the Canucks with four shots on goal and four hits. Kings 0 @ Blackhawks 3 (Chicago leads series 3-0) In the first, Keith scored his second of the playoffs, shorthanded, assisted by Leddy (his seventh assist of the postseason) and Sharp. Leddy later notched a powerplay marker, assisted by Jonathan Toews. Dave Bolland increased the lead at the end of the second (Hossa, Danault). Crawford made 26 saves in the shutout. Doughty played an excellend defensive game in the loss. He took three shots on goal, blocked four shots, threw two hits and was credited with a takeaway. Duncan Keith blocked seven shots. Red Wings 1 @ Senators 2 (Ottawa leads series 2-1) Filip Forsberg got the home crowd on their feet early with his fifth of the playoffs only forty five seconds in, with Foligno and Spezza getting assists. Niklas Hagman evened it up on a powerplay with four minutes to go in the third. Cal O'Reilly and Tomas Tatar with the helpers. With the game on its way to overtime, Jason Spezza notched the game winner with just over two minutes to play, from Foligno and Greening. Petr Mrazek stopped 36 of 38 shots in the loss. Ben Bishop made 20 saves in the victory. Bottom pairing defenseman Andre Benoit fired a whopping ten shots, eight of which were on goal. Erik Karlsson was plus two with six shot attempts (three on goal), three blocks, a hit and two takeaways. Bruins 1 @ Rangers 3 (New York leads series 2-1) The teams traded first period goals, with Marchand striking first for Boston, assisted by Boychuk and Bergeron, and Scheifele responding for New York, from Callahan. The Rangers had a dominant second period, outshooting the Bruins 14-7 and getting goals from Stepan (Zuccarello, Stralman) and Scheifele (Callahan, Gaborik). A scoreless third period sealed the win for the Rangers. Lundqvist made 24 saves in the win, while his counterpart Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 31 shots in the loss. On top of his two goals and plus two rating, Mark Scheifele also had three hits and a takeaway. Zuccarello had an assist, four shots, two hits and one takeaway. New York's third pairing of Stralman and Sauer were plus three on the night. Stralman had an assist, three shots on goal and a hit, while Sauer blocked five shots, had a fight and two hits and a takeaway. Attached Images

10-15-2022, 11:14 AM	#198
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 4 Blues 0 @ Canucks 6 (Vancouver leads series 3-1) Vancouver came out strong, feeling the sting of game 3's loss in front of the home fans, and saw three goals in the first seven minutes of play, from Henrik, Grabner and Kesler. Although they didn't add any more goals in the second frame, St. Louis really wilted and the game looked like no competition. The Canucks cruised to three more goals in the third, with Hamhuis scoring on the powerplay, Henrik's second of the game and Damien Brunner with his fourth goal of the playoffs, and walked off with the easy win. Markstrom made 21 saves in the shutout. David Rundblad had two assists and was plus four on the night. Subban had two assists, four shots on goal, a block, a hit and two takeaways. Juice also had two assists to go with a block, two hits and a takeaway. Bozak had his fourth assist of the postseason, as well as a takeaway and three shots and went 62.5% in the faceoff circle. Vancouver travels to Missouri to try and finish the series and move on to the conference finals. They look to be on a collision course with Chicago for a repeat of last year's conference finals, though if that's the case they certainly hope for a different result. Rumours are that emerging star defenseman Ryan Ellis may be ready to return to the lineup soon. Kings 0 @ Blackhawks 3 (Chicago wins series 4-0) Get out the brooms! This was no contest from the start. Brandon Pirri opened the scoring in the first (from Hayes and Frolik) and Chicago never looked back, dominating with 39 shots to 19. Patrick Sharp (Pirri, Seabrook) and Michael Frolik (Toews) added to the score in the second, and though Bernier fought to keep his Kings in the game, there was no pushback from LA as Crawford cruised to a series-clinching 19 save shutout. Nick Leddy was a plus one with nine shots and three blocks in twenty one minutes. The scary thing for the league is that Patrick Kane isn't even back from injury yet and already the Blackhawks are looking like their dominant selves from last year's run. Red Wings 4 @ Senators 3 (2OT) (Series tied 2-2) A balanced and competitive game. Nick Foligno (Forsberg, Phillips) and Niklas Kronwall (Zetterberg, Helm) exchanged goals in the first. In the second, Riley Sheahan scored a one timer from Gus Nyquist to put Detroit in the driver's seat headed into the third. Early in the third period Tomas Tatar (Ouellet, Zetterberg) extended that lead, but Ottawa wasn't done and Erik Karlsson drew them back to within one (from Regin and Wiercioch). With five to play it was Jason Spezza who got the equalizer (Phillips, Greening) to send it to overtime. The first overtime period solved nothing, though it did see a rare overtime fight between Brian Lee and Matt Greene. Midway through the second OT it was again Gus Nyquist (his 10th assist of this postseason) setting up Riley Sheahan to win the game. Nik Kronwall had four shots, seven blocks, a hit and a takeaway to go with his goal in thirty five minutes of icetime. Jason Spezza was dialed in for the Sens, with six shot attempts (three on goal), four hits and a takeaway, along with his goal and a 58.1% win ratio in the faceoff circle. Bruins 2 @ Rangers 3 (OT) (New York leads series 3-1) An evenly matched and tight defensive game. In the first, Zach Hamill scored with the man advantage (from Bergeron and Horton) to give the Bruins the lead, but New York answered back when Karl Alzner blasted a heavy point shot past Rask (from Girardi and Richards). There was no more scoring until the third period when Justin Abdelkader put the Rangers up by one (Richardson, McDonagh). With three minutes to go Gregory Campbell tied it back up (Dwyer, Paille), sending us to overtime. In the extra frame it was Karl Alzner who played hero with his second of the night, from Stepan and Abdelkader, to thrill the home crowd and push Boston to the brink of elimination. Chara had two hits and four takeaways but still ended up a minus two on the night. Ryan McDonagh was a two way force, with seven shot attempts and an assist to go with his two blocked shots, one hit and one takeaway in twenty eight minutes played. Marc Staal blocked EIGHT shots as well. Attached Images

10-16-2022, 02:16 AM	#199
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 5 Canucks 0 @ Blues 2 (Vancouver leads series 3-2) With a stranglehold on the series the Canucks came out flat on the road, giving up two first period goals to Backes and Perron and generating no offense for a comeback. Halak had 23 saves in the shutout. Ryan Ellis looked good, with two shots, two hits and a takeaway. Perron had a monster game for the Blues, a goal and assist, plus 2, 3 shots and three hits. Senators 0 @ Red Wings 2 (Detroit leads series 3-2) Another hotly contested match between these two teams, with lots of offense and tremendous goaltending. Mrazek made 36 saves for the shutout, and Bishop stopped 39 in the loss. Riley Sheahan continued his hot streak with a second period goal from Brad Stuart to open the scoring. Seconds into the third Xavier Ouellet added an insurance marker assisted by Zetterberg and Datsyuk and Detroit will go into Ottawa with a chance to clinch the series. Rangers 0 @ Bruins 3 (New York leads series 3-2) Krejci opened the scoring on the powerplay, assisted by Hamilton. In the second he added his second of the game from Lucic and Seidenberg. In the third Krejci completed the hat trick, assisted by Lucic and Peverley. Rask made 33 saves for the shutout. Patrice Bergeron won 74 percent of his faceoffs and threw four hits, finishing with a 98 DGR. Attached Images

10-16-2022, 11:28 AM	#200
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Round 2 Game 6 INTERVIEW - with Henrik Sedin Sportsnet Reporter: Henrik, how are you feeling as you head home with a chance to clinch this series? Henrik Sedin: Well, we're confident, we need to execute and we know we can do that, we know the Blues are a good team and we'll have to play our best game. SN: Are there any takeaways for you as a group from the shutout loss last game? Henrik: Well we weren't happy with our effort that game. Embarrassing. We let Markky down there, he played good and we need to be better on offense to support him. SN: Are you looking ahead at all to a potential rematch of last year's conference finals against the Blackhawks? Henrik: No, one game at a time for us. We aren't there until we win against St. Louis and they have a good team and that's all we're focused on. SN: Anything else to say about game 6? Henrik: We're prepared, we're going to have a better effort than last game. That's for sure. SN: Thanks for your time, Henrik. Henrik: Thank you. Blues 0 @ Canucks 3 (Vancouver wins series 4-2) After team captain Henrik Sedin spoke about being embarrassed in the game 5 shutout loss Vancouver came out firing at home in this one. They dominated the Blues all game, outshooting them 41-17. They controlled the game physically as well, with 27 hits to 18 for St. Louis. Damien Brunner assisted on both first period goals, by Danny and Bozak. Juice scored an insurance marker in the third and had a solid game with a goal and an assist, plus two, four shots on goal, a block, two hits and a takeaway. On the second pairing, Jake Muzzin had a very good performance, with an assist, plus two, three shots, three hits and a takeaway. With the game out of reach, Ryan Reaves fought Jon Marchessault, infuriating the Canucks bench. Red Wings 3 @ Senators 2 (Detroit wins series 4-2) Zetterberg scored in the first assisted by Matt Greene. In the second, Frans Nielsen chipped in with his first goal of the playoffs, from Helm and Meszaros. Filip Forsberg answered back for Ottawa with his sixth goal of the playoffs, assisted by Da Costa and Karlsson (his tenth assist). Heading into the third the Senators were on the ropes, down one in an elimination game, and it got worse quickly when Cory Emmerton notched his fourth of the playoffs (from OUellet) to increase the lead to two. Patrick Wiercioch drew Ottawa to within one (Condra, Da Costa) with eleven minutes to play, but from there the veteran Red Wings bore down on defense and young netminder Petr Mrazek shut the down to seal the ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals and end Ottawa's storybook run. Bruins 0 @ Rangers 2 (New York wins series 4-2) It was a tight defensive matchup through two periods, with the shots tied at fifteen apiece going into the third and Mark Scheifele's first period tally (McDonagh, Gaborik) standing up as the lone goal. Both teams opened up the offense in the third, almost matching their shot output from the first two periods (Boston had 15, New York had 12) but the goaltending was up the the task. With Boston killing a penalty with two and a half minutes to go, Milan Lucic took a hooking penalty and earned himself another ten after beaking off to the ref about it. While they killed the two man advantage, Boston couldn't hold the fort for the remainder of the Lucic penalty and Derek Stepan scored an insurance goal (from Zuccarello and Callahan) with a minute to play. Lundqvist made 30 saves for the series clinching shutout. Attached Images