Throwback Thursday: On this day in 2003, Canucks mount late comeback to topple Avs

Welcome back to a much-beloved series on the Nation Network: Throwback Thursday. We’ve resurrected this weekly piece from the grave in thanks to a fancy website that allows us to take a look at newspaper archives.

So without further ado…

On this day in 2003, the Vancouver Canucks got a little bit of help from the referees in a 2-1 overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche — at least, that’s what the Avalanche said.

The Canucks were down by one with five minutes left in the third period against an Avalanche team fighting with the western Canadian club for a playoff spot. And it was at the 15:09 mark when Avalanche rearguard Derek Morris was penalized for grabbing the jersey of Markus Naslund, who according to Vancouver Sun scribe Iain MacIntyre, “collapsed without resistance.”

1:20 into the subsequent powerplay, Todd Bertuzzi tipped past Avs netminder Patrick Roy tieing the game at 1 late.

It quickly became the story of the game.

“Avalanche winger Alex Tanguay folded equally easily to draw a makeup hooking call against Canuck Mats Lindgren at 17:12 and, after a successful kill by Vancouver, Colorado was penalized again at 19:24 when Mike Keane crashed the crease,” MacIntyre wrote. “Colorado, assessed five of the last six penalties, killed that disadvantage but was beaten 4-on-4 when Brendan Morrisson skated away from (Avs Adam) Foote and tapped in Brent Sopel’s brilliant diagonal feed.”

And Adam Foote was not shy about blaming refs Brad Meier and Kerry Fraser.

“I feel we totally controlled the game. It’s typical and I’m not surprised; we feel we were getting grappled all night and all of sudden they start calling stuff.”

All in all, the win was big for the Canucks who ended a 10-game win streak for the Avs and gave Vancouver control of the North West Division title.

On Twitter: @zjlaing