Marco Sturm – A Goal and an Assist.
Nice debut, kid.
(Photo courtesy canucks.com)

The Canucks and Flames played almost simultaneous split-squad games last night, one in Calgary and one in Vancouver. Here’s the CanucksArmy recap of the game from Vancouver, as the Canucks came back to down the Flames 4-3 at Rogers Arena.

Cgy 1-0 Van – PP. Nice, clever pass by Michael Ferland to Niklas Hagman. Aaron Rome looked bloody awful as he was caught watching Hagman stroll leisurely around him. Hagman then went clear across the crease and put the puck far side along the ice past Cory Schneider. Uh, no poke check there, Cory? I know it was a terrific play by Hagman. It really was. But put your stick out there, kid.

Van 1-1 Cgy – The play started with point shot from Rome. The shot on net led to a rebound. A nice play from Marco Sturm to spin off his check, quick release on his shot and he slotted it short side.

Van 2-1 Cgy – SH – Beautiful goal against the run of play while shorthanded. Tanev bolted up ice, accepted a perfect pass from Sturm and potted one past Irving. Lovely goal.

Lots of Canucks penalties in the first. 4 total penalties to kill in the first period. Aaron Rome looked to redeem himself after looking pylon-esque on that first goal.

Cgy 2-2 Van. PP. Beautiful one-handed tip-in by Mikael Backlund on a pass from Sven Baertschi.

Cgy 3-2 Van. Hagman with a brutal goal. Cory Schneider was not playing his angles properly at all. Hagman bloops it in.

Goalie switch. Schneider out. Lack in. Within only a few moments of restarting play, Eddie Lack made a great sliding stop on Curits Glencross. Later in the period, Adam Polasek made a great diving defensive play on Baertschi, the only good play Polasek made in the game, really.

Van 3-3 Cgy. 2 on 1 from the Canucks. Nicklas Jensen with a breakout pass to Steve Pinizzotto, who went up ice quickly with Jordan Schroeder. Schroeder had a big one-timer waiting and blew it by Irving.

Van 4-3 Cgy. Jensen emerged from behind the net, shot from a really poor angle and the puck sweaked in. This goal was just as ugly as Hagman’s blooper in the 2nd.

Marco Sturm – Great game from start to finish.

Keith Ballard – I think Ballard was the best Canucks player on the ice. Smart decisions all game, he was flying with the puck and made some terrific passes.

Chris Tanev – Just like his partner Ballard, Tanev was making great plays all game. Tanev is a great counterbalance to Ballard. Ballard likes to rush with the puck and skate, while Tanev is solid while he hangs back. That said, Tanec made a beautiful play going up ice on the Canucks’ second goal.

Eddie Lack – Solid in relief. He looked very poised and comfortable.

Nicklas Jensen – Jensen was definitely more noticeable as the game went on. But he looked great. Terrific skating and some wonderful passing.

Kellan Tochkin – Tochkin seemed to be causing turnovers all game. Nothing flashy from him. Just some great spade work all night long.

Cory Schneider – Although he started ok, Schneider looked rough on all three goals.

Ryan Parent – Out of place all game long. He was beat to the puck on far too many occasions.

Adam Polasek – With the exception of the one nice defensive play, Polasek looked like a boy among men.

Antoine Roussel – Looked utterly lost most of the night. Got himself into a fight to remind everyone he was there.