Maple Leafs at Canucks – Shacks’ Take a Running Diary

The building is packed, there’s a buzz in the air that we don’t usually experience in mid-February.  At first I thought it must be a Justin Bieber concert but it turns out it’s the hated Leafs in town which kind of makes sense since they seem to evoke the same mixture of adulation and revulsion among the locals as the Biebs does.  I’m glad it’s a hockey game I’m watching and not a Bieber concert though. In honour of JB and Leaf nation, I’m returning the Shacks’ Running Diary Take:

Pre-game

Ron McLean starts by trying to compliment Vancouver while reminding us how much he the rest of Canada hates the Canucks.  Ron maintains people hate the Canucks because they are so good.  Vancouverites might respond that people wouldn’t hate the Canucks so much if you weren’t running smear campaigns against their players.  It’s all right Ron, you don’t need to suck up to us, we don’t need you or the rest of Canada to like our team.  Canuck fans love their team and most don’t like you. 

Elliot Friedmann shows a graphic that has to make Canuck fans a little giddy, Vancouver has won nine straight versus the Toronto Leafs.  10 in a row would be even better.

Looking at the goaltending match-up is nice, the nine wins in a row is better. 

1^st Period

Tanev is in and Alberts is out this game.  Since Tanev is likely to be a part of the Canuck’s playoff roster, we appreciate the sneak peak.

Happy Birthday Cody Hodgson, who turns 22 today, maybe for a present AV won’t bench him after his first mistake.  I’m guessing he’s more likely to get a cake.

Nothing like a Leaf visit to get the top line going.  On a 2 on 1 Burrows opens the scoring from a simple feed from Daniel Sedin, thanks to a bad misplays by Phaneuf and Aulie.  The puck went around the boards in the Canuck end to Lupul at the top of the circle.  Hank did an excellent job of tying up Lupul, and as Aulie came in to take the puck, it popped out to where a breaking Daniel could pick it up— Daniel was off to the races with Burrows and only Phaneuf back.  If I were diagramming a how-not-to video, I would be inclined to use this for the 2 on 1 selection. 

Phaneuf went straight to Sedin with the puck who only needed to slip the puck past Phaneuf to allow a streaking Burrows to skate on to it and come in alone on Reimer.  Burrows made no mistake burying the puck low glove side for a 1 – o Canuck lead.  Kids, never go to the puck carrier on a 2 on 1— always eliminate the pass first.  The goalie will handle the shooter.

Phaneuf gets way too close to Daniel giving him a huge lane to put the pass  through.

Which allows Burrows time to walk in and pick his corner before Phaneuf can get back to defend

Vancouver doubles the lead a few short minutes later off an awesome individual effort from Manny Malholtra.  Lapierre got the puck on the boards at the Leaf line, brought it in and fired the puck cross ice toward the net.  Malholtra dove past Cody Franson to get his stick on the puck, poking it past a startled Reimer.  This is one of those goals where no one can really be faulted, Malholtra simply made a great hustle play. 2 – 0 Vancouver.

Malholtra goes flat out to score.

Glen Healy actually suggested the goalie should have come out of his net to stop the pass.  Seriously, so he should play a hard pass crossing 10 feet in front of his crease to prevent a play there was no way he could anticipate?  I swear I get dumber just listening to him.  I could do a running diary on his ridiculous commentary but I fear I would go insane, let’s just move on…

Thank god Gillis signed Hamhuis to play with Bieksa. Twice already Bieksa has made terrible mistakes to cough up 2 on 1’s, and both times Hamhuis has tipped the centering pass to prevent great chances.

Other than the two chances Bieksa almost handed to Toronto, they really didn’t give Luongo much trouble during the first.  The one real opportunity they did get, for some reason Lombardi decided to pass with Luongo out of position and half a net to shoot at.

If you have the puck here and that much net you've got to shoot don't you? 

1^st Intermission

Don Cherry continues the CBC suck up to the Canucks tour, first saying Vancouver looks dopey tonight but they’re so talented they still scored two goals.  I’m not sure that’s how I would describe the period but Don’s getting on in years, so I doubt he stayed awake through the whole period.  The real surprise came when Don complimented Vancouver’s toughness and specifically Lapierre. Wasn’t this the guy he called a weasel last playoffs?

Don’s right though, until they ban fighting, it will be an essential ingredient to success and I for one, hope they never do.

2^nd Period  

It’s nice to know Ron Wilson plays favourites like Coach V does.  Keith Aulie may have given up the 2 on 1 that started Burrows’ goal, but Phaneuf is the one that played it so badly, it was as if he just learned the game today— even so, Phaneuf doesn’t miss a shift and Aulie is benched.  I often wonder if the players notice these decisions and respect the coach a little less each time.  The reality is the Leafs will win more with Phaneuf on the ice than Aulie, and Wilson is aware of who’s ego he has to stroke.

Burrows gets his second of the night off a nice feed from Danny again, and more terrible decision making from a Maple Leaf.  After Daniel’s pass around the boards bounces off Franson’s skate and back to Sedin, every Leaf stares at Daniel with the puck while Burrows stands in the mid-slot with no one within spitting distance.  For the second time tonight, Daniel makes an easy pass to a wide open Burrows who has time to walk in a couple steps and rip a wrist shot blocker side to the top shelf where Mom keeps the chocolate chips.  3 – 0 Vancouver.

The puck is on the side boards and four Leafs are staring at the puck while Burrows sits at the top of the slot. 

Burrows able to walk into the hashmarks before picking his spot. 

Following the Burrows chance, Toronto gave up three consecutive odd man chances, including a breakaway opportunity for David Booth that he just missed to the stick side.  Toronto needs to gain some composure quickly or this will be ugly.

As quick as you can say ‘bad refereeing’, Toronto gets back in the game thanks to a goal from Dion Phaneuf, showing why he’s not the one to get benched.  Kessel raced over the line, goes around the defense on the outside and around the net.  At the same time, Joffrey Lupul shoves Bieksa from behind causng him to spill into Luongo. Kessel then passes across the slot to a wide-open Phaneuf, who shoots off Luongo's dropped stick and over a scrambling Lui. Rightfully, this goal should have been called back for an interference call, but what makes this incredibly bad refereeing is they were going to call a penalty on Bieksa.  Missing the shove by Lupul was bad, calling it a penalty on Bieksa? C'mon man!  Vancouver 3 – Toronto 1.

Lupul shoves Bieksa from behind...

Which causes Bieksa to crash into Lupul leading to Phaneuf's goal.

Toronto has tilted the ice back in their favour since the goal, carrying much of the play.  Luongo had to make a great save off Lupul from a rebound, and the Sedins were stuck on the ice for a couple of minutes having to ice it twice.

Another weak penalty call landed Hodgson in the box for tapping Phaneuf’s stick and causing him to bobble the puck.  This led to an almost completely ineffective power play, until the last seconds, when Lupul took the puck off the half board and went to the net. His shot deflected to the other side of the net where Kessel moved in with the whole net to shoot at.  Instead, he either whiffed or casually slid it towards the net allowing Luongo to reach back and glove the sliding puck, covering it before it could go in.

The Canucks get a lucky break to take control of the game again as Clark MacArthur had a free path out of the zone but he stepped on the puck and fell down. Amazingly the refs did not give Vancouver a penalty for this, allowing Hank to pick up the puck on the boards and slide it cross ice to an open Daniel.  Daniel was able to walk in and shoot it low stick side for a 4 – 1 Vancouver lead.

Another sight that will always bring a smile to the face of Canuck fans.  

Vancouver gets their first power play and runs up the score again.  This time it’s Mathew Lombardi’s turn to make a terrible mistake.  With time and space to ice the puck, he delays then whiffs, turning an easy clearing attempt into a pass to the point.  Four passes and less than 10 seconds later, Daniel tees’ it up for Salo who blasts it past a stunned Gustavsson.  Gustavsson was still on his goal line when Salo shot the puck, not bothering to challenge at all. I’m guessing he didn’t want to get hit by one of Salo’s howitzers. Vancouver 5 – Toronto 1

Despite the blur, you can see Salo letting go the shot and Gustavsson is almost on the goal line. 

Vancouver really took advantage of Toronto mistakes in this period.  One Leaf steps on a puck, another fans on a puck and both are in the net within seconds.  Toronto is nowhere near good enough to get away with mistakes like that against a team like Vancouver and thus the huge lead.

2^nd Intermission

Nothing Canuck related but a lot of Rick Nash & Patrick Kane trade talk, so nothing new to report here. Teams are interested, Columbus and Chicago want a lot in return. Apparently Gagner is still available in Edmonton and Jokinen hasn’t been offered a new contract in Calgary despite being their best forward this year.  Let’s get back to the game.

3^rd Period      

It’s funny watching the third period of a 5 – 1 game.  Both teams seem to be playing like they wish this was a beer league game where they can play running time the rest of the way. Despite enjoying a good Leaf thrashing I kind of feel the same way myself.

A sweet little passing play leads to Kevin Bieksa scoring the Canuck’s sixth goal.  Toronto is caught pushing for the next goal and a long outlet feed from Hamhuis finds Daniel who puts it back to Hank.  Henrik feeds it across to an on rushing Hansen who passes it off to Bieksa in the slot.  Bieksa rips a low shot for the goal, Vancouver 6 – Toronto 1

At this point I’m grasping at straws for some entertainment so here’s a shot of Burrows running into the referee Dennis Larue.

At the top of the screen you see Burrows first contact Larue.

And Larue goes down. 

A Toronto fan caught a puck that went into the stands then turns and shows it to the crowd.  He either forgot he was not in Toronto or that he was wearing a Leaf jersey because he seemed genuinely surprised he was booed and not cheered.

So much for the Sedins’ slump, with four points each I’m going to assume the talk will stop for at least a day or two.

The first fish of the year finds its way onto the ice with five minutes left.  This caused a five-minute discussion in my household about the fish. What kind of fish was it?  Who brings a fish to a game?  How did they get the fish into the game?  What would it have been like to sit beside the guy with the fish for more than 2 ½ periods?  Was the guy kicked out, is that why he waited until five minutes left in the game?  Is this supposed to be some kind of good luck charm? Honestly at this point the fish is more interesting than the game.

Is this salmon or tuna?   

The Canucks get a late power play and this is when we get to see interesting line combo’s.  Tanev and Rome start on defense and the second unit consists of Bitz, Lapierre and Malholtra.  I think we can safely assume these are not the units we will see come playoff time.

Toronto scores a goal with less than a minute left and nobody cares, especially the Canucks.  The puck gets to the net twice and Vancouver doesn’t knock anyone down nor do they compete very hard for the puck.  After a couple of wicked Luongo saves, Kulemein picks up a rebound and puts it over a prone Luongo.  If a puck goes in and no one cares does it really count? Vancouver 6 – Toronto 2

Vancouver wins it’s 10^th straight against Toronto in a game that lacked any excitement after the midway point.  At least the Leafs were accommodating and allowed the Sedins to break out of their slumps, but if they were going to be this nice, shouldn’t they have given Cody a goal for his birthday?  I guess the win will have to do.