Canucks Mercifully End Season Series With Columbus, Take 5th Straight Overall: Recap and Chance Data

Cory Schneider had to find a way to keep busy on Tuesday night, as the Blue Jackets certainly didn’t seem interested in helping out.

Sorry, this game recap would have been up sooner, if not for the fact that I fell asleep sometime between the second period and the third. That game was.. not all that aesthetically pleasing (I’m being kind). Sure, we’ll go with that description.

The Canucks came out of the gate with their guns blazing, blitzing a Columbus Blue Jackets squad that looked severely outmatched. Their early efforts didn’t result in a goal, but at least there were plenty of positives to be taken from the team’s play. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, as the game went along the action slowed down, and eventually ground to a halt.

Both teams seemed somewhat satisfied to let it go into overtime, assuring themselves at least the one point. After 65 minutes of hockey couldn’t produce a single goal, a Max Lapierre shootout winner gave the Canucks the victory and in doing so extended their winning streak to 5 games.

Read on Past the Jump for Analysis, and Scoring Chance Data.

Schneider gets one of the easiest shutouts he will ever get in this one, as he only had to stop 17 shots (with only a few actually testing him in any dangerous way). During his 1st intermission interview with Joey Kenward, Kevin Bieksa was asked about the shot disparity (13-2 at the time). He replied with, "Schneids made two huge saves for us there. Just kidding, I can’t even remember what they were." My thoughts exactly, Kevin. I can’t remember very many of the 17 saves Schneider had on this night, but he keeps his strong play going nonetheless.

As you can see in the chance data below, the Sedins had themselves a tough night; they were on the ice for 5 of the 7 Columbus chances, and didn’t really have any of those extended moments of magic that they’re known for. To be fair, it’s tough to be overly successful when you have guys like Fedor Tyutin doing whatever they please physically, knowing they won’t get called for a penalty. Not to sound like a fanboy or anything, but – at least from my limited viewing experience – the Blue Jackets sure seem to get away with quite a bit of clutching and grabbing. Who knows, maybe it was part of the Rick Nash trade?

A note I have on my paper is "Garrison’s bomb from the point is STRAIGHT KILLIN’ DUDES!" I wonder when people will wise up and start trying to get out of the way of that thing. It’s vicious. I would like to see him get back to utilizing that wrist shot he had found success with earlier in the year, though. Teams get that he his go-to is that bomb, and he’s telegraphing it quite a bit at this point. Rather than just firing it into someone’s shinpads, how about showing some patience in waiting for the shooting lane to re-open, before getting the puck through and giving your team a chance. Just a thought.

I’m still really enjoying the Burrows-Ebbett-Ballard "third line", which was effective for the second straight game. A funny moment – for me, though I’m sure Alain Vigneault wasn’t overly enthused – came in the first period, when Ballard seemed to forget that he wasn’t a defenseman anymore. He got trapped down-low, and it nearly resulted in a goal for Columbus. Can’t really blame him, as all those years of defensive habits are bound to flare up every once in a while during the heat of the battle. 

Alex Edler was back in this one, slotting back in next to Kevin Bieksa. He wasn’t on the top power play unit, though, as the Canucks went with Daniel Sedin on the point opposite Garrison. Obviously if Garrison gets a few of those shots through it’s a different story, but I’m not a fan of that particular scheme. Seems like having both Burrows and Hansen out there at the same time is rather reduntant, and really hampers the Sedins’ ability to be, well, the Sedins.

In the open, I talked about how the Canucks were putting everything on net early on, and here’s some proof: they attempted 75 shots in the game, to only 38 for Columbus. Quite the disparity. Nonetheless, that’s now 5 goals in 194 minutes in the 3 games between these two teams this year. U-G-L-Y. I’m happy that they don’t play again this year, and you should be too.