Official: Vancouver Canucks W00T

[LAUST]

woohoo go Flim Flames

 

[bootymac]

Not a great start... BUT GO CANUCKS!

 

[sandorski]

woot Nazzy!

hmm, got away with one there.

 

[Loggerman]

Well good game ,just those Zebra's making wierd calls.

Rudy is a totall idiot !!!!!!!!! (Flames fan)
Must be roping up "Behind the Mask"

 

[Insane3D]

I think the NHL must have sent out a memo to the refs to call more penalties. The two guys @ the B's game were making marginal calls left and right, even when it was an outright dive. Amazingly, both teams ended up with 6 PP's and the whistles went away in the 3rd. It's funny how those penalties even out eh..

Oh, we had the two "Brad's" reffing tonight. Mcgoo actually did well on Wednesday....thank god Kerry Fraser isn't calling any games...

 

[sandorski]

doh! Good game, but the Flames just had a little more tonight.

 

[Insane3D]

Sorry you guys didn't get the win.

That's why it's a best of seen series though.

I predict the 'nucks will win game 3.

:beer: for all the hockey fans!

 

[bootymac]

The last few minutes was intense. I seriously thought we could tie it up *shrugs*

 

[Loggerman]

Originally posted by: bootymac
The last few minutes was intense. I seriously thought we could tie it up *shrugs*

What an ending,even though we lost.

Just wish the Canucks would crashed the net as hard as the Flames do.
Defense needs to hit back.Our defense is being hit,hard sometimes.But they do nothing about it.
Both times the Canucks went to the final's,they were more physical. Better to wear them down,than being run down.

 

[Aquaman]

Flames hang on to tie series with Canucks

TSN.ca Staff
4/10/2004

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Calgary Flames returned to their hardworking, tight defensive style of game and earned a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks Friday night to tie their first-round NHL playoff series.

The Flames return to Calgary feeling good about themselves and with the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final deadlocked 1-1.

Jarome Iginla and rookie Matthew Lombardi scored goals 50 seconds apart in the first period while goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff looked sharp stopping 25 shots.

It was Calgary's first playoff victory since 1995.

``Tonight I felt a little more comfortable, our team felt more comfortable,'' said Iginla. ``It showed in the way we played. We played more our style. In the first game we got away from a lot of things we did all year. I think part of it was over excitement. It was a learning experience.''

Markus Naslund scored Vancouver's lone goal on the power play.

``We created quite a few chances but we still can't let them get the two-goal lead,'' said Naslund. ``They are good defensively and we have to learn from that. It's one game and we can bounce back.''

Included among the cheering, towel-waving sellout crowd of 18,630 at GM Place was B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

The Flames, making their first playoff appearance in eight years, lost Wednesday's opening game of the series 5-3.

Afterwards Darryl Sutter, Calgary's coach and general manager, criticized both Iginla and Kiprusoff. He said both would have to play better.

Both did.

Iginla played big, making hits and scoring the game's opening goal. He bounced a shot off the cross bar during a third-period power play.

``After the last game I didn't feel very good after the game, the way it went for the team and myself personally,'' said Iginla, named the game's third star. ``Tonight from the start I was trying to move my feet more. It was great to get an early goal.''

Kiprusoff set the tone with a toe save off Naslund in the first period. With six minutes left in the third he stopped a Brent Sopel drive, then slid across the crease to block Martin Rucinsky's shot on the rebound.

``I didn't do a great job last game,'' Kiprusoff said after being named the game's first star. ``This was as more like us. We played a great defensive game. It was a great win for us.''

Calgary now has a record of 20-8-4 this season in the game following a loss.

Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier said the Flames wanted the win more than Vancouver.

``They just simply outworked us,'' said Cloutier, who made 22 saves. ``You never want to see a team come in your building and outwork you, especially in the playoffs.''

There were 14 penalties called in the game but both goalies were fuming over the calls that weren't made.

On Calgary's first goal, Cloutier argued he was nudged by Chris Simon, allowing Iginla to rifle a shot past him.

``The guy just kept going, pushing my stick around, so he kind of twisted me,'' Cloutier said afterward. ``That goal is over with. I don't think it's going to change anything by complaining.''

On Vancouver's goal, instant replays showed defenceman Ed Jovanovski knock Kiprusoff down, giving Naslund an open net.

``He pushed me,'' said Kiprusoff. ``I was surprised they didn't call it. Right now it doesn't matter. We have the win and that's the bottom line.''

The two plays left Sutter scratching his head.

``I'm not sure what obstruction and goaltender interference is,'' he said. ``I thought I knew this morning but now I'm not sure.''

Lombardi's goal came on a weird play.

Defenceman Rhett Warrener shot the puck into the Vancouver zone and it got caught up in Sami Salo's equipment. As the Canucks defenceman frantically looked around for the puck, it dropped to the ice, where the Lombardi pounced on it and fired a shot past a startled Cloutier.

The series now moves to Calgary for games Sunday and Tuesday at the Saddledome.

Notes: Vancouver made one lineup change from Wednesday, taking Jarkko Ruutu out of the lineup and replacing him with Jason King ... The Canucks four power-play goals in Game 1 tied a team playoff record set April 9, 1989, against Calgary ... In the 10 playoff series that Vancouver has won Game 1 they've gone on to win the series six times ... Canuck defenceman Marc Bergevin, picked up at the trading deadline, has played in three conference finals during his 20-year career but has never appeared in a Stanley Cup final.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Canucks need more even-strength goals

Canadian Press
4/10/2004

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Vancouver Canucks must create more traffic in front of Calgary's net and do battle with the big Flames defenceman if they want to start scoring some five-on-five goals in their NHL quarter-final playoff series.

The best-of-seven series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 in Calgary Sunday night.

One of the reasons the Flames won Friday's second game of the series 2-1 is Calgary's defenceman managed to move the Canuck forwards out from in front of the net, giving goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff a good look at all the shots.

``We have to keep shooting and getting guys in front of the net,'' left-winger Daniel Sedin said Saturday after practice before the team flew to Calgary.

``If he (Kiprusoff) sees the puck he's going to save it. We have to have one guy standing there.''

Of the six goals Vancouver has scored in the series, five have come on the power play. The sixth came on a delayed penalty with goaltender Dan Cloutier on the bench for an extra attacker.

``They're playing it tight for sure,'' said captain Markus Naslund, who leads the Canucks with four points from a goal and three assists.

``We're creating chances. It wasn't like we didn't have any chances and didn't have anything going (Friday). I thought they had a good goaltending performance and that was a big difference.

``I'm not worried. We're skating, we're getting shots and we're driving the net. It's a matter of time.''

Before Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for the regular season and the playoffs for his attack on Colorado's Steve Moore, one of his roles was to plant himself in front of the net.

He'd root himself like an oak tree while defenceman hacked and slashed to move him. He would screen the goaltender and create room for his linemates.

With Bertuzzi gone, the Canucks have to find other ways to create clutter, veteran centre Trevor Linden said.

``Down low they are really boxing us out and squeezing us on the three-on-three coverage,'' said Linden.

``We're going to have to try to use our defencemen a little bit more maybe on five-on-five and really work hard on opening up space.''

Right-winger Matt Cooke has taken Bertuzzi's place on the first line along with Naslund and centre Brendan Morrison. He said the Canucks also need to get more shots on net.

``If you don't have a grade A opportunity, you shoot for the rebound instead of shooting to score,'' said Cooke.

``You want to believe those pucks are going to go in. We want to work below the circles in their end. To do that we have to get the pucks there.''

On power plays, the Canucks have moved big defenceman Ed Jovanovski from the blue-line the front of the net.

``It's an area where you have to work and try and create as much havoc as you can,'' said Jovanovski.

``They are big bodied in front of the net. For the most part you try to free up some other guys.''

Coach Marc Crawford preached about hard work, one of his favourite sermons, when asked how the Canucks can improve their five-on-five scoring.

``It's a lot about support,'' he said.

``It's a lot about speed and attack. Scoring goals is a combination of a lot of good habits. Going to the net with your stick on the ice, getting rebound chances.

``A lot of the chances that end up becoming goals are shots and rebounds off the initial shot. It's winning those battles in the paint and those areas in, and around, the goal crease. We know these are the habits we have to have.''

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Game 3

Canucks Vs Flames

6:30pm PST on CBC

Go Canucks Go!!!

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[oldfoof]

Ant going to be easy but we def need a win here .

 

[Aquaman]

Game 3: Playoffs return to Saddledome

Canadian Press
4/11/2004

CALGARY (CP) - After seven quiet springs, the Calgary Flames are expecting a roaring welcome from their playoff-starved fans Sunday night, especially since splitting their first two games against the Vancouver Canucks.

Fresh from a gritty 2-1 win Friday, the Flames also hope that they're done with the playoff jitters - no matter how loud the crowd cheers.

Forward Craig Conroy said his team needs to guard against trying to impress the hometown fans by doing too much, too early in the game.

``We're going to talk before the game ... we've got to go out there, the fans are going to be very excited, it's going to be loud in here,'' said Conroy, who joined the Flames three years ago after nearly four seasons with the St. Louis Blues.

``But we've got to play with some composure - with emotion, but under-control emotion.''

By most expectations, Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome will be ready to burst when more than 18,400 red-cloaked faithful arrive to watch their team face the Canucks on Sunday night. It will be the first home playoff game since April 26, 1996 when the Flames lost a heartbreaker to the Chicago Blackhawks in triple overtime.

Remaining tickets for Sunday's game sold out within minutes last week and the town is abuzz with talk that the Flames, who finished sixth in the Western Conference, could be this year's playoff surprise.

``Basically, all we're doing is continuing to play the odds,'' Flames coach Darryl Sutter said Saturday. ``We weren't supposed to be in this position so we'll just continue to roll with it.''

Still, even Sutter, born in Viking, Alta., admitted to feeling the playoff excitement around town.

``It's hard for you to understand how great it feels to me to come back to Canada and be in this environment,'' said Sutter, who took the Calgary coaching job last December after being in San Jose for nearly six years.

``As Canadians, it's a neat feeling.''

Still, the Flames know that excitement can get out of hand. Before the first game last Wednesday was five minutes old, the Canucks were up by two goals and on their way to a 5-3 victory complete with four power-play markers.

In Friday's second game, Calgary managed to stay out of the penalty box and play a more defensive game against Vancouver, reversing the outcome by scoring two quick goals and holding on for a 2-1 victory.

Captain Jarome Iginla says whether his team's on the road or at home, the same all-out effort is required.

``We expect it to be loud, it's been getting great here over the last while and we're very excited to play in front of them, but at the same time we still have to prepare the same way and win game three.''

Winning Game 3 at home will require breaking the Canucks' recent mastery of the Saddledome. In their last nine games in Calgary, Vancouver is 7-0-2.

``We feel good about going on the road,'' said captain Markus Naslund, who leads the Canuck scoring with a goal and three assists for four points. ``We have a feeling we can win on the road. We're confident. We know it's going to be a tough building to play in. They haven't had playoffs for a while.

``The building is going to be loud and they are going to be excited about playing at home. It's definitely going to be a tough couple of games but I think we have a good chance to win there.''

If the first two games in Vancouver are any indication the playoff matchup between the Canucks and Flames will continue to be a hard-hitting affair.

Calgary defenceman Denis Gauthier believes the intensity more than doubled between the first and second games of the series and he hopes it will continue.

``Both teams are very desperate, they want to move on and have things improve,'' he said.

``We feel good playing that way - that's the way we like to play is five-on-five hockey and a lot of skating and physical play. And they feel comfortable playing that way too.''

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[silverpig]

Private jet to the game Aquaman?


Go Canucks Go!

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Private jet to the game Aquaman?


Go Canucks Go!

I couldn't get tickets........... so I didn't bother to fuel up the jet

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Loggerman]

I wish the refs would just let the guys play.Quit calling crap,and try to get the ones that count.

Must be harder to play,then wacth.When you have no idea what/what not the ref is going to call/miss.

I'd really like to see that Brandon Ried come up and play with Sanderson.That would be one hell of a fast/intense line.

Still say our defence ,has to hit more,than being hit.

Crash the net! (flames 4-Canucks 1)

Have to give it right back,take no sh!t.

 

[Insane3D]

I agree. They are calling some really marginal stuff in all the games so far. Must have been a memo circulated. Let 'em play!

I'm getting ready for a B;s loss tonight. They just said Nylander is out with the flu and won't play tonight. I hope it's not too bad...this is a bad time of year for a flu to circulate through the team.

Regardless....Go B's and 'nucks!! :beer:

 

[sandorski]

Blarg, Clouts is injured.

 

[sandorski]

WTF? Someone needs to take the damn puck! :|

 

[sandorski]

woot Naslund

 

[sandorski]

woot Cook

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

What happened to Cloutier? (I turned the game on WAY late)

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
What happened to Cloutier? (I turned the game on WAY late)

Sat on his leg awkwardly. Hedberg played well though, we win! woot

 

[bootymac]

Woot!! Finally get to see Ohlund and Iginla drop the gloves