On Closed Windows, Playoff Bounces and Coin Flips
Thomas Drance
May 06 2013 10:53AM
Photo Credit: Christian Petersen , Getty Images
When the Canucks ultimately lose this first round series against the San Jose Sharks - and the guillotine might fall mercifully on Tuesday, or perhaps the Canucks can fruitlessly extend the series the way they did a year ago against the Los Angeles Kings - the calls for wholesale change out of Vancouver will be fierce and constant. Trade the Sedins, trade Edler, fire Mike Gillis, or at least fire the coach, as if that does anything beyond putting lipstick on a pig...
The Canucks are now 4-11 in their last fifteen playoff games going back to the start of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Over that fifteen game sample they've managed just twenty-one total goals and only seventeen tallies at even-strength. They've been outscored twenty-six to seventeen at even-strength, but nineteen to four on special teams and forty-seven to twenty-one overall. Yep, it's been an ugly stretch for the Canucks and one that's easy to overreact too.
Read past the jump.
Canucks Blow Late Lead, Lose in OT
Thomas Drance
May 04 2013 01:03AM
I am become Raffi, destroyer of windows.
Photocredit: Rich Lam, NHLI/Getty
At the end of the day, the Canucks are a tragic franchise with a sordid history of unspeakably painful losses.
Another chapter in that story was written on Friday night. Down one-to-nothing late in the second, Ryan Kesler began to hit everything in sight. In the third period, he came out and personally brought the Canucks even in the game with a power-play goal. Then he put them up one capitalizing off of a Joe Pavelski turnover. The Canucks shut the Sharks down pretty successfully in the third period, actually, as the Sharks managed only two scoring chances in the frame. One of those came when Desjardins sent a puck off the post. The second was a tap-in goal for Patrick Marleau with fifty-five seconds remaining...
To rub more salt in the wound, the team was ultimately defeated in overtime by former Canucks forward Raffi Torres. Torres and Brent Burns capitalized off of an Alex Edler turnover at the Canucks offensive blueline and went in two-on-one the other way. Kevin Bieksa modestly misplayed the situation, failing to take away both the shot and the pass. Torres finished easily over a sprawling Roberto Luongo, and that was that. The Canucks are now in a massive hole, one they very probably won't be able to dig themselves out of over the next five games...
Read past the jump.
Afternoon Headshots: May 3rd
Thomas Drance
May 03 2013 04:49PM
Just a tremendous image. Via Redditer Etzio192.
Today at CanucksArmy we micro-analyzed Vancouver's faceoff issues, looked at whether or not Friday night's game qualified as a must win (it kind of does), talked at length about the Canucks 2011 draft class which is looking pretty interesting in the wake of Alexandre Grenier and Henrik Tommernes signing entry-level contracts, rounded up the Canucks week in quips, and of course previewed tonight's Canucks game, which is kind of a big one for the Canucks to win lest they end up like the frustrated T-Rex in the image above...
More Canucks links and stuff after the jump.
Sharks @ Canucks: Game 2 Preview
Thomas Drance
May 03 2013 10:56AM
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All eyes will be on Luogno, as usual, in game 2.
Photograph by: (John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail)
It didn't take long for the Canucks to get their backs up against the wall in the 2013 playoffs. Teams have come back from 2-0 deficits in a playoff series in the past, hell it happens every second year or so, but usually that team is the road team. Vancouver's already lost home-ice advantage, and the outlook for this series will turn grim if the team loses again on Friday night...
If they hope to avoid that fate, they'll need to generate more quality looks and test Niemi. The Canucks only challenged Niemi with five difficult shots on Wednesday night, a paltry number and not nearly enough, especially when you consider that none of those shots came in the third period of a tied playoff game.
Read past the jump for more.
Canucks Sign 2011 Draft Picks Tommernes, Grenier
Thomas Drance
May 03 2013 10:04AM
The Canucks Signed Henrik Tommernes to an Entry-Level Deal This Week.
Photograph by BILDBYRÅN via Aftonbladet.
Among a certain segment of Canucks fan, the 2011 NHL Draft is more widely known as "the draft the year after the Canucks took Adam Polasek ahead of Brendan Gallagher." But it's looking like it could actually be an interesting one. This week the Canucks signed two more of the eight players they selected in Minnesota that year in puckmoving defenceman Henrik Tommernes (team press release), and beanpole forward Alexandre Grenier (team press release).
Read past the jump.
