CanucksArmy Post-Game: Perfection
By J.D. Burke
6 years agoThe Rundown
I’ve been crying for the majority of the night, so try to bear with me. Something tells me if you’re reading this, you’re similarly afflicted with all the best sports emotions imaginable.
Tonight’s game against the Arizona Coyotes would be the Sedins last at Rogers Arena. It was one last chance for Vancouver to see the two best hockey players, and people, to ever grace this great city. A final sendoff.
What happened will go down as one of if not the single best hockey game in the history of the Canucks franchise. It couldn’t have gone any better. From start to finish, it was perfect. A night I’ll never forget.
Let’s get into it on the other side of the break.
Puck Drop
The Sedins skated out slightly ahead of their teammates before puck drop, and the crowd was raucous. By the time the announcer had read their names as part of the Canucks starting lineup, they were deafening. And at puck drop, the roof just about came off the place.
Coyotes forward Christian Fischer did his best to silence the crowd, breaking the scoring just under four minutes into the game after intercepting a Nikolay Goldobin pass and scoring on the rush to give Arizona the one-goal lead.
If not for that rush, though, it’s hard to imagine the Coyotes finding the back of the net in the first. It was all Canucks. By the end of the first frame, Vancouver had 24 shot attempts at 5-on-5 to Arizona’s 10.
Eventually, the Canucks broke though. It was destiny, it seems. At the 33 second mark of the second period, Daniel Sedin scored his 22nd goal of the season, assisted by Daniel Sedin and Alexander Edler. It was vintage Sedinery, and a city collectively wept.
By the end of the second frame, though, the Coyotes regained the lead and doubled it at that. Goals from Derek Stepan and Dylan Strome put the Coyotes up 3-1 by the second intermission.
The Canucks had a tall task ahead of them in the third period. Things started off with a Viking Clap, led by Johnny Canuck, so they had the fans behind them. Just two nights prior they came back from a three-goal deficit to force overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights, so two goals seemed doable.
Little over a minute in, Jake Virtanen started the comeback by ripping a shot past Coyotes netminder Darcy Kuemper right off the faceoff. I looked down for a second, and then boom! The Canucks had cut the deficit in half.
Moments later, Brendan Leipsic, who had been buzzing for much of the night, scored a goal on the rush that was reminiscent of an all-time great that Daniel Sedin scored. It was a spin-o-rama for the ages!
Like Tuesday’s game, this one went to overtime. This time, though, there were different results in the cards.
Michael Del Zotto drew a penalty in the Coyotes zone, and that set the stage for the perfect ending to the perfect night. The Sedins went right over the boards as soon as Richard Panik went to the penalty box, and magic followed. Daniel Sedin scored the game-winning goal, 2:33 into the extra frame, setup again by Henrik Sedin and Alexander Edler. Then the Canucks bench swarmed the Sedins to celebrate.
Sheer perfection.
The Numbers
Quick Hits
- Stay tuned for Jason Hamilton’s post-game article on the Sedins! That’s a collection of CanucksArmy’s greatest hits on the two best players to ever wear a Canucks uniform, and it even includes a couple of notes from the staff on why the Sedins are so damn special to them. I even contributed a little bit of a blurb.
- At some point, I’m going to settle down, stop weeping like a helpless infant, and I’ll have something to write on the Sedins. Right now, I’m speechless. Tonight was one of the best sports experiences in my entire life. Hell, this was one of the best nights of my life period. I cried when the anthem started; I cried when the Sedins scored; I downright had a meltdown when the Sedins shook the Coyotes hands and did one final lap.
- The Sedins are the two best athletes this city will ever know, and perhaps it’s best people, too. I just think so, so highly of them, and you should too. I’m so happy that they got to have this moment, and that we got to share in it. They deserve a send-off like tonight’s.
- It’s so, so good that Henrik Sedin and Alexander Edler each played a part in Daniel’s goals.
- The Sedins are first ballot hall of famers, full stop.
- All my best hockey memories were made possible by the Sedin twins. Their era of Canucks hockey is the only one I’ve ever known. The amount of joy I’ve been able to share courtesy their contributions on and off the ice in this city are immeasurable. We’ll never have another two athletes like them in this city. I feel so absolutely blessed to have had the privilege to see them their entire careers.
#ThankYouSedins
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