Follow me for random Canucks thoughts and to get my thoughts on your questions about anything.
Last night one team looked playoff ready and one team looked playoff weary, as the Canucks fell to the Los Angeles Kings 4-1. The Kings, out played, out hit, and out shot the Canucks on their way to the win. Vancouver will now take a day off to rest before welcoming the Sharks to Vancouver on Monday.
The first three or for minutes went well for the Canucks, as they the dominated the Kings and carried the play. Hank to Danny, behind the back to Bieksa and bang, it’s 1-0 Canucks. Unfortunately that’s where the razzle-dazzle would end as the Kings picked up the intensity and the Canucks did not respond.
The response started when Jarret Stoll drilled a Canucks player into Luongo. The Canucks took the power-play and failed to score, LA amped up their attack and it was all Kings from that point on. Brad Richardson tied the game when he fished a puck out of a goal mouth scrum and beat Luongo, 1-1 after one.
The Kings continued their bullying tactics into the second, as Brown and the Kings targeted the twins with hits several hits. Matt Greene would make it 2-1 Kings when a blast from the point would beat Luongo while he was looking for his stick. After the goal is when the fun stuff would start, as Richardson gave Hank a bit of a shove on the way to celebrate.
I like Alberts response to the shove, and seeing him go after whoever he could get his hands on. I loved that he stepped up right away and defended Hank, however I would have liked to see him continue the tough play and go after the Kings with a big hit or two, and maybe drop the gloves with someone. It’s one thing to be a tough guy when the referee is around, but you have to play that way all the time if you want to detour these cheap shots. The team needs to be a bit tougher between the whistles and leave the stuff after the whistles alone, that’s where they get beat.
Shortly after that goal, Williams would set up a racing Kopitar as he cut to the net and beat Luongo with a sick backhand. After looking back at the game, this goal by Kopitar was the turning point. That goal seemed to take the life out of the Canucks and from that point on they were never really a threat to the Kings. After a goal like that is when you need your leaders to step up and push back and last night the Canucks leader didn’t have it.
The third period would be filled with lots of scrums and extracurricular activities, which would not serve the Canucks well. The most notable one, when Drew Doughty pushed Daniel Sedin after the whistle. In this one Burrows came flying in like he was Superman or something and received a penalty for roughing on the play. I don’t agree with Burrows jumping in on that play. Yes you have to stand up for the Art Ross winner, but at the same time you have to sometimes let Daniel stick up for himself. Daniel was never really in trouble during the scrum and on that play it’s better to leave well enough alone and play hockey. You want to get at Doughty for pushing Daniel, challenge him on the ice to a fight or give him a dirty stick in the corner, jumping on him with the referees right there does nothing.
Five minutes after that scrum, Justin Williams would score on the power-play to seal the deal for the Kings. That goal would be the final nail in the coffin and kick start the rough stuff after every whistle. Ballard and Clifford would be tossed and the Canucks would wilt away into the night, and hope for a better effort on Monday night.
I did love the reaction Hank had after the game when he was questioned about this teams toughness. To Paraphrase Hank, “I’m stick of that question. This team is as tough as any. We give hits, we take hits, it’s hockey. Last year we were tough enough to win the Presidents Trophy and get to game seven of the Stanley cup and this year we are just as tough. We lose because we don’t score, not because we’re not tough.”
I agree fully with this answer. Every night teams target the Canucks and try to intimidate them. 3 out of 4 times trying to bully the Canucks fails, so why does every time it works the media want to dwell on it. As Hank said, this team lost because they couldn’t score, not because they were bullied.
The stars on the Canucks played like crap last night and didn’t step. The Sedin line was pretty average last night, and didn’t step up the intensity when they were pushed. Kesler was invisible. Luongo was pretty average. The Defence looked like swiss cheese and couldn’t keep LA out of the crease. That’s why this team lost, not because they were bullied. Every player has bad games, and unfortunately for Vancouver, all of their stars had one last night. LA was ready, Vancouver wasn’t, let’s just leave it at that.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»