Saturday April 25 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - 6 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
Calgary leads best-of-seven series 3-2
After liveblogging the Rangers' win over Pittsburgh last night, I looked back at my preview for that series
here and was pleased to see that I picked the Rangers in five—just as the series turned out.
I mention this for two reasons:
• I picked the Canucks in seven in
this preview, so there's a chance I can still go two-for-two.
• The Rangers' win and their Presidents' Trophy this season got me thinking about the last time the Rangers finished first overall and had this much momentum going into the postseason—in 1994. Their next opponent will be the winner of the Washington/Islanders series, both of whom they beat that year before facing New Jersey in the conference final.
If you really want to amp up the conspiracy theory, you can check out
this piece by Kevin Vanstone from
Pass It To Bulis.
Here's hoping the Canucks can channel that magic when they hit the ice at the Saddledome tonight for Game 6.
Another reminder: the game's an early start tonight, at 6 p.m. PT. Don't tune in at 7:00 and miss the first period!
Though the Canucks were terrific on the road during the regular season, Tony Gallagher
reminds us that Vancouver hasn't had much playoff success away from Rogers Arena since their second-round series against Nashville back in 2011.
As Tony puts it, "Since that Nashville series, the Canucks have won two road games in 11 tries and both of those were extremely strange." One was Game 4 against San Jose in 2011, when the Canucks were granted an endless gift of 5-on-3 power-play opportunities, and the other was Cory Schneider's tour-de-force in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.
After being thoroughly outmuscled in Calgary in Games 3 and 4, maybe it's time for another "strange" game tonight. Or maybe the Canucks can build off their—shall I say, "mature" performance from Thursday night and deliver another disciplined effort that'll be short on drama and mute the rowdy crowd at the Saddledome.
Here's another positive bit of news for the team to rally around today:
Glad to hear Alex Burrows is feeling better, though I'm not sure we'll get much more clarification on just what happened on Tuesday until after the playoffs are over.
This morning's skate was optional, so we won't know if there are any changes to the line combinations till game time.
Listening to TSN1040 live this morning from Calgary, Jon Abbott mentioned that the defensemen were working on some drills to sharpen up their first passes out of the zone. That element has been a weakness in this series, which has led to turnovers and to the Canucks getting hemmed in for extended stretches before being bailed out by their goaltender. Crisper passing tonight would be a great addition to the team's repertoire.
After allowing just one goal in five periods so far in this series, Ryan Miller will get the start again in net. Local goaltending guru Kevin Woodley has a good piece on Miller
here for NHL.com, where the goalie admits that the mental side of the game is most important part of his preparation under these current unusual circumstances:
I am just trying to take the approach it's all about the mentality at this point. It's not about timing. It's not about the physical side of things. It's all about mentally: Can I get into the fight, and how long can I stay there?
Compared to certain other goalies who have patrolled the crease for Vancouver in recent years, Miller's presence helps to settle down his teammates, both on and off the ice. "He's really calm, no ups or downs," captain Henrik Sedin said. "His emotions are very calm and he brings that to the locker room."
We'll see soon enough if the Canucks can stay cucumber-cool tonight. If the officials continue their crackdown on the shenanigans that were the hallmark of Games 3 and 4, that should certainly benefit Vancouver.
I feel more confident that the team can deliver a win tonight than I did heading into Game 5.
What about you? Will we be reconvening at Rogers Arena on Monday, or will the Canucks be booking their tee times?
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