Canucks Suffer 2-1 Overtime Defeat At Hands of Blackhawks

By Nelson Daily Sports

Leigh Ramsden lives in Vancouver and is an avid Canucks fan, having been a partial season ticket holder for over 10 years. He's old enough to have witnessed all three Stanley Cup losses, as such, his prime goal is to remove those scars by seeing a Cup brought to Vancouver. Leigh is Fighting For Stanley's (www.fightingforstanley.ca/vancouver) west coast correspondent, and will also blog after all Canuck games for The Nelson Daily.

Most of the chatter surrounding the Vancouver Canucks’ recent swoon has centered around their lack of effort and the appearance of coasting as they finish off the regular season.  Tonight’s game in Chicago was viewed by many as an opportunity for the Canucks to up the ante as they ready themselves for the playoffs.  The  team did just that, playing an inspired game, but came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 overtime decision to the rival Blackhawks.  Unfortunately, this increase in intensity may have cost the Canucks leading goal scorer, Daniel Sedin.

Tonight’s game really has two storylines.  One is of the game itself, which featured stellar play by Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo and some intense, uptempo, pressing hockey from the Canucks through much of the first and third periods, play which should comfort most of the fan base and prove they can bring it when they need to. 

The second storyline, however, centres around a brutal cheap shot delivered to Daniel from Norris-trophy winner Duncan Keith, which knocked Sedin out of the game with what is widely being speculated as either a concussion or a fractured jaw.  The Canucks' attempts to exact some level of retribution on Chicago through most of the second period continued this story, the attempts to enforce hockey’s outdated “code” putting the Canucks on the penalty kill for a total of 10 minutes in the middle frame, which slanted most of the play in the Blackhawks’ favour.

Vancouver opened the scoring in the first minute after a tremendous cross ice pass out of their zone by Sammy Pahlsson to Jannik Hansen, who used his speed to go around Johnny Oduya and beat Chicago starter Corey Crawford. 

From that point, Vancouver was handed three consecutive power plays, however, the power play struggled and they weren’t able to generate much of anything against Chicago’s penalty kill.

During the second power play, Daniel hit Keith in the corner just after Keith had moved the puck up ice.  It was a rare hit by Daniel, and unfortunately, his shoulder hit Keith’s head, the play going unpenalized. 

Four shifts later, Keith retaliated by delivering a dirty, cheap elbow to Daniel’s face in the neutral zone, just after Daniel turned around to chase the puck (which at the time was about 15 feet in the air headed into the Chicago zone).  Keith made no attempt to chase the puck and it is patently obvious that the hit was intentional and was meant to injure. 

The officials, who had attempted to clamp down on the two teams in the early going, assessed only a minor penalty to Keith for elbowing.  Daniel played the next shift on the ensuring power play, but did not return.

The Blackhawks tied the game three minutes into the second period after Marian Hossa’s pass from behind the net went off Pahlsson into the slot onto Patrick Kane’s stick, where he shot it into the net past a frozen Luongo.  After the goal, Kane celebrated as though he had just won the Stanley Cup (literally it looked like his celebration from his Cup winning goal against Philadelphia in 2010).

From that point forth, the Canucks did their best to enforce “the code” and avenge the dirty hit on Daniel by targeting Keith every chance they got.  Unfortunately, Keith did not oblige, which led only to a multitude of scrums. 

The referees, tonight clearly not righting previous wrongs, kept sending Canucks to the penalty box with extra minor penalties.  Daniel’s brother Henrik, clearly upset with what had happened both as a brother and as team captain, also took a couple of minors in the latter half of the period.  The goaltender intereference call on him was especially weak.

The Canucks came out for the third period with a renewed focus on playing hockey and were the better team for most of the final stanza.  They generated a number of quality scoring chances and hit the post twice, with another shot going off the inside of Crawford’s skate and through the crease. 

They played with the passion and fire that we have all come to expect.  It was a welcome sight for sore eyes given the uninspired play we’ve seen from them of late.  They were unable to get anything past Crawford and into the net, however, and the game went to overtime.

During overtime, the Canucks did not play well and they eventually succumbed to the Blackhawks after an odd-man rush against saw an Oduya shot go off Andrew Shaw’s shinguard past Luongo.  The play came after Vancouver had a promising foray into the offensive zone, unfortunately Henrik was caught up ice and wasn’t able to backcheck in time to make a difference on the play.

For many reasons, Canucks fans should be happy with what they saw tonight from the team – it was a step in the right direction.  The team played with a fire and intensity that has been seldom seen of late.  They played well defensively and didn’t give up an abundance of grade A scoring chances.  When they did, Luongo was there and as a result had a tremendous game.  The penalty kill was extremely effective. 

Finally, while the second period was spent in their own zone killing penalties, they were the better team for the bulk of the first and third periods.

The hit on Daniel, if his injury isn’t severe, may prove to be a positive as it will hopefully spark the team and give them something to rally around.  In a season where motivation has been difficult to manufacture, they have now found it.  It’s up to the team to see what they can do with it.

BUSH LEAGUE NHL CONTINUES TO DEAL INCORRECTLY WITH SERIOUS ON-ICE INCIDENTS

The fact the Keith hit was not assessed a five minute major and a game misconduct is abhorrent and is indicative of the bush-league state of officiating in the NHL.  From the NHL Rulebook, Rule 21:

 21.1 Match Penalty - A match penalty involves the suspension of a player for the balance of the game and the offender shall be ordered to the dressing room immediately.

A match penalty shall be imposed on any player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner.

Daniel was injured on the play.  The hit was delivered in a deliberate manner.  It seems clear this should have resulted in a five minute man advantage for Vancouver – however, it was assessed the same penalty as little-used Brandon Bollig was assessed just seven minutes earlier for a harmless glove to the face of Zack Kassian. 

Quite frankly, the inconsistency of the league’s officiating is a farce.  Referees are ludicrously hesitant to dole out a five minute major for anything other than fighting, which is always an offsetting penalty.  The fact that a player can go out and head-hunt, the only consequence being a measly two minute minor, pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how this league wants to conduct its business. 

For all the talk of skill and speed and everything that is great about the game, it’s all complete and utter lip service.  The league can say what it wants, but its actions paint a much different picture.

The panel on TSN discussed the severity of the play and the likely suspension that will be handed down by Brendan Shanahan.  Bob McKenzie correctly pointed out that as far as the Canucks are concerned, the number of games meted out is irrelevant, especially if Daniel, the team’s leading goal scorer and one of its key players, is out for any length of time.

Canucks Nation will wait with baited breath for news from the Canucks tomorrow regarding Daniel’s injury.  He did play one shift after the hit, but took himself out of the game thereafter.  There are rumours tonight that it could be a fractured jaw, as TSN reported he went into the X-ray room with a doctor.

The pain from a fractured jaw would be so intense that it’s unlikely Daniel would have told training staff on the bench that he was “OK”, which he did after he got to the bench, and even more unlikely that he would have played the next shift. 

He looked a bit glazed over, and for those reasons, I believe that Daniel suffered a concussion – or at a minimum was held out of the remainder of the game to monitor him for this purpose.  With any luck, Daniel will have travelled with the team to Dallas tonight and be no worse for wear tomorrow.

The downside of this hit is much worse.  If it’s a fractured jaw, this would be a six to eight week injury.  If a concussion, Daniel may be unavailable to the team for as little as a game or two, or at worst, for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs. 

I hope Shanahan bears this in mind when he figures out what to do with Keith, but my guess is that he will receive, at most, a meaningless three game vacation.

GAME OBSERVATIONS

• Mason Raymond had one of his most effective games of the season tonight.  He was fast and, for a change, got to the middle of the ice where he was able to create a number of dangerous scoring chances.  This is the Raymond we saw immediately after he returned from injury earlier this season.  When he’s on his game like this, he can still be an effective player.  He started the game playing with Kesler and Booth, but after Daniel’s injury, played a lot of shifts with Henrik.
• Many people will be upset with the perceived lack of response by the Canucks after the hit.  I saw the game unfold differently – immediately following the hit, the team was on the power play, which for obvious reasons isn’t a good time to exact revenge.  The period then ran out shortly thereafter.  In the second, the team took after him every chance they got, but after the most major scrum halfway through the period, he was assessed 14 minutes in penalties.  By the time he was back on the ice, the Canucks had turned their attention to getting the go ahead goal.
• As a result, there just weren’t a lot of opportunities for the team to get at him.  When they did, he refused to answer the bell.  There really wasn’t much the Canucks could do.
• Kane’s celebration of his tying goal was over the top.
• I felt that Lapierre, Weise, and Kassian all had some effective shifts in a more physical role.  Still I’d like to see just a bit more out of these guys, especially considering the Keith/Sedin incident.  Kassian did his best to lay some hits out there and stood up to the Blackhawks when challenged.
• The Canucks outhit Chicago 38-24.  This is a great indicator that the Canucks can turn it up when required.
• Amazingly, Daniel wasn’t credited for a hit when he hit Keith (he actually hit someone else on that shift as well).
• A huge part of the Canucks’ success killing penalties tonight was their complete domination of Chicago in the faceoff circle.  The Canucks won 60% of their draws tonight.
• The Kesler-Booth combination was more quiet tonight as Higgins was moved down to the third line to accommodate Raymond’s return to the lineup.
• Andrew Alberts drew into the game (his first in the last 10) and played very well.  I have been saying this all year, but I like the physical presence he provides on the back end.  He’s definitely not the fastest player, but he can be a very effective defenseman.
• There was an Alex Edler sighting!  He played pretty well tonight and was noticeable both offensively and defensively, even delivering a solid hit on Shaw in the first period.  Definitely a step in the right direction.
• The Canucks are still struggling to put a totally complete game together.  That said, tonight they can be proud that they played as a team, stuck up for each other, and limited Chicago’s scoring chances.  Their goals will come, especially if they continue to put forth the effort we saw tonight.

IF THIS WERE A PLAYOFF GAME

Tonight basically was a playoff game and was decided in overtime, no shootout required.  The only way to conclude here is that this would have been a playoff loss.  The Canucks are now 2-3 since I started gauging the games in this manner.

PARTING SHOTS

Broadcast Observation of the Night:  TSN broadcast the game tonight and while I’m not a huge Chris Cuthbert guy, I love Ray Ferraro.  His experience as a player shines through as he’s able to provide insight as to what might or might not be going on within the team over the course of the game, in addition to his excellent analysis of the play.

I thought the panel had good segments in the first and second intermissions as they analysed and discussed the Keith/Sedin incident.  Aaron Ward seems to have taken on a liking of the Canucks over the course of the season, as he hardly says anything overtly negative about them.

Looking ahead: Vancouver flew to Dallas directly following tonight’s game, where they will face the surging Stars tomorrow night.