Sorry for the delayed recap. We were having some technical difficulties with the site after the game last night… and for once that actually means we couldn’t get the site to load, not that we were too drunk to see the keyboard. Now I’ve got to head to work in a bit so we’ll just get right into the bullet points.
- Skille and Stalberg reunited with Dowell as their center and the result is a pretty goal. All three fought hard down low for the puck before Skille poked the puck to Dowell who took the puck behind the net and fed it to Stalberg (do we have a nickname for him yet?). The puck bounced a bit on him but he was able to settle it down and get it over Luongo’s glove. Great job by Stalberg to find an empty area of the ice… and a horrible job by the Canucks D to leave him completely alone.
- Hossa’s point streak ended last night but he again had a solid game. He had a few great chances that either just missed the net or great passes that just missed his teammates’ sticks. You know he has to want that OT breakaway chance back. I loved that comcast’s poll question had an option of him scoring 80+ goals though..
- Bolland was once again horrible at faceoffs but was up against Henrik Sedin all night and didn’t do too bad. He was on the ice for the goal against but it was a power play opportunity and a crazy scramble where the puck found it’s way through Seabrook and right to Daniel Sedin.
- Both goalies had great games last night. There were great chances on both sides of the ice but the saves were sometimes even better.
- One of the weirder shootouts we’ve seen recently. For the Hawks, only Toews scored clean – both Sharp and Kane hit Luongo with the puck but it barely trickled in both cases. Daniel Sedin had a great move for his goal.
- Sharp over Hossa in the shootout? It worked… but it wouldn’t have been my choice. I seem to remember Q going with this a lot last year too.
- Finally – Scott back on D? I can live with this (as long as Soupy is still out that is). He played a respectable 9 minutes. More importantly though, it helped Keith keep his TOI to just under 25 minutes. Nick Boynton is your TOI leader with an even 25 and a solid game. CORRECTION: Keith actually played 30:28- must’ve been looking at his EV ice time. Sorry for the confusion
Player of the Game:
We’re going with Turco. In a low scoring defensive battle we’ve got to go with the man who kept the Hawks in the game throughout many solid Canuck chances. And we really need a good photoshop for him still…