Avalanche vs. Vancouver 02/15/12 Shacks’ Take:

Avalanche vs. Vancouver 02/15/12 Shacks’ Take:

The numbers tell the story going into this game as Vancouver is 12-3-1 against Northwest division foes this year and 12-0-2 against Colorado in their last 14.  It appears the Canucks should be conceded this game, but I’m still going to watch, here’s Shacks’ Take:

Vancouver got a huge early boost, scoring 13 seconds in off another great drive to the net from David Booth who scored for the third straight game.  Booth started the play when he fed Raymond then followed up by skating hard to catch up—when the puck deflected up in the air and landed in the slot, he pounced on it and backhanded a hard shot to the glove side for a 1 – 0 lead.

Booth’s goal started an 8-minute stretch of hockey that had more excitement than the entire Coyotes game and possibly half the Wild game too.  First, Kesler’s line had two more dominating shifts after scoring, including one stretch where their hard work and puck movement allowed Alex Edler to use Varalmov for target practice, hammering four straight slap shots at him.  Then Byron Bitz fought Cody McLeod and landed a couple of unanswered blows in the short bout to take the judges decision.  The sequence finished with the Sedins doing their cycling wizardry for an entire minute.  Although it didn’t result in a shot, it put an exclamation point on the early domination.

The rest of the first was fairly uneventful until the last 5 seconds when Ryan Kesler lost his man at the blue line creating a 2-on-1.  Hamhuis stepped up to take the puck carrier Johnson, who slid the puck over to Jay McClement as he broke in on the left side.  Kesler was caught staring at the puck as Kevin Porter slipped behind Kevin Bieksa on the right side, making Kes way too late to stop the cross crease feed. Fortunately for Kes, Luongo was already sliding across, covering the far post with his pad for a spectacular save to end the period.

At the top of the screen, Kesler is next to Porter but staring at McClement who has the puck.  

Now that Kesler is a step and a half behind, Porter is wide open to get the pass.

Luongo doing the classic butterfly to get his toe on the redirection.

Penalty calls in the NHL are so inconsistent it’s annoying at times.  Hamhuis’ penalty for interference is only a penalty if you’re calling the interference on Lapierre in the 1^st.  It’s not from malice, it’s just human error right? Enough said, I’ll just move on.

Raymond really looked good on the line with Kesler and Booth.  It may be a result of his speed being a good fit for the line, or it may be that when Booth and Kesler are playing well, they’re going to make most wingers look good.  Likely, it’s a combo of both.

I think the Av’s will be better off if they remember not to feed Shane O’Brien, who’s scored a career 12 goals in 433 games, when coming in on odd man opportunities.  

Colorado’s first goal was a result of some nice patience by Canuck killer Hejduk and six Canucks staring at the puck.  As all Canuck eyes were on Hejduk expecting a shot, he threw the puck across the slot to Johnson who easily buried it in the open side. Kids, I can’t stress strongly enough, find your check, then, find the puck.

You can see Johnson sneak in from the top of the screen as all Canuck eyes are fixed on Hejduk.  Careful what lurks behind... 

I might be insane but why is Cody Hodgson’s ice time under 11 minutes with Ryan Kesler’s at 17 minutes and Hank Sedin’s at 19 in a mid-February game?  Ryan Kesler has broken down two straight years in the playoffs, can’t a little of their ice time be dispersed to Cody to keep them fresh for the playoffs and to see how Cody reacts with more responsibility.  I’m going to explore this subject and more on Hodgson in this week’s Sunday Canucks’ Take.   

He of the Superior Hockey IQ Cody Hodgson - the subject of this week's Sunday Canucks' Take.

Other than the eight minutes to start the game, Vancouver played right down to Colorado’s level through the rest of the game.  Both teams missed a few grade A chances but neither enjoyed a lot of sustained pressure.  While this wasn’t as slow as the Phoenix affair it wasn’t a whole lot better.

Jannik Hansen put the Canucks back on top 2 – 1 with a wicked slap shot that went top shelf where mom keeps the cookies, thanks to a perfect feed from Cody Hodgson. Hodgson got the puck off the boards after the puck took a lucky bounce off the linesman as Colorado attempted to get the puck out and slipped a check before passing it to Hansen at the hash marks.  Amazingly Hodgson wasn’t benched for his efforts – sorry, obviously I’m a little bitter at Hodgson’s lack of ice time.

Burrows empty netter put the finishing touches on the game proving the Canucks can still win a game in regulation.  It wasn’t pretty but it’s another two points that may come in handy in the race for home ice advantage in the West.