Canucks slip past Wild on back of Sedin
Minnesota Wild (2) vs Vancouver Canucks (3)........
The Wild visited Vancouver on Saturday to take on the Canucks who were not-so proud owners of a 10 game losing streak. The Wild who are three points out of first in the West were on a slide of their own, losers of three straight. So this was the game where Minny got their game back right?.... Not so fast !
The Canucks opened the scoring at 11:35 of the first when Daniel Sedin scored his 3rd of the season as he picked up a Jack Johnson rebound that went wide of the net and was allowed three whacks at the puck without a Wild player touching him as he slipped it past Antti Niemi. After twenty Vancouver outshot Minny 13-6.
Minnesota tied the game off the stick of Thomas Vanek(9th) at 4:11 of the second from Tyler Bozak. Bozak won the faceoff against Henrik Sedin in the Canucks' end and got the puck to a charging Vanek who lifted a cheeky backhand over Tomas Vokoun's shoulder. Vancouver took their second lead of the game at 7:23 thanks to Teddy Purcell(5th) who picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped it over Niemi. With Vancouver's Mark Fistric in the box for hooking, Jay Bouwmeester(4th) hammered home a blast from the point to even the score once more at 10:53. The shots were 25-14 after fourty.
With Purcell in the box for the Canucks for high-sticking, Vancouver's penalty killers went to work and Viktor Stalberg
(3:23) scored his first of the season as he grabbed the loose puck in his own zone off a face-off win by Alex Ovechkin and raced down the right side before cutting to the middle of the ice and snapping a shot through Niemi's pads, a shot this reporter thinks the tender would love to have back. The shots in the third much closer (4-3 Minny) but the Canucks outshot Minnesota 28-18.
Canucks Derek MacKenzie was ejected at 6:02 of the third as he was sent to the showers early for arguing what he thought was a blown penalty call as he claimed he was caught by a Wild high stick but couldn't supply any physical proof.
MOLSON'S THREE STARS:
1 - Daniel Sedin (Van).......... 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 4 shots
2 - Viktor Stalberg (Van)...... 1 goal, +1, 2 shots
3 - Thomas Vanek (Min)...... 1 goal, 1 assist, even =/-, 3 shots
With the loss Minnesota fails to make up any room between them and West leading Nashville, in fact they fell back two more points with Nashville's 3-2 overtime win over the Lightning in Music City. Minnesota will look to rebound again as they host the Oilers on Sunday, the Oil coming off a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Canadiens.
The win for Vancouver was just their second of the season and first in ten games. The Canucks will host San Jose on Sunday, the Sharks are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Capitals at the Shark Tank on Saturday and have now lost four of their last five games.
Reporting For The WCHL Network........
Peter Puck
The Wild visited Vancouver on Saturday to take on the Canucks who were not-so proud owners of a 10 game losing streak. The Wild who are three points out of first in the West were on a slide of their own, losers of three straight. So this was the game where Minny got their game back right?.... Not so fast !
The Canucks opened the scoring at 11:35 of the first when Daniel Sedin scored his 3rd of the season as he picked up a Jack Johnson rebound that went wide of the net and was allowed three whacks at the puck without a Wild player touching him as he slipped it past Antti Niemi. After twenty Vancouver outshot Minny 13-6.
Minnesota tied the game off the stick of Thomas Vanek(9th) at 4:11 of the second from Tyler Bozak. Bozak won the faceoff against Henrik Sedin in the Canucks' end and got the puck to a charging Vanek who lifted a cheeky backhand over Tomas Vokoun's shoulder. Vancouver took their second lead of the game at 7:23 thanks to Teddy Purcell(5th) who picked up a loose puck in the slot and snapped it over Niemi. With Vancouver's Mark Fistric in the box for hooking, Jay Bouwmeester(4th) hammered home a blast from the point to even the score once more at 10:53. The shots were 25-14 after fourty.
With Purcell in the box for the Canucks for high-sticking, Vancouver's penalty killers went to work and Viktor Stalberg
(3:23) scored his first of the season as he grabbed the loose puck in his own zone off a face-off win by Alex Ovechkin and raced down the right side before cutting to the middle of the ice and snapping a shot through Niemi's pads, a shot this reporter thinks the tender would love to have back. The shots in the third much closer (4-3 Minny) but the Canucks outshot Minnesota 28-18.
Canucks Derek MacKenzie was ejected at 6:02 of the third as he was sent to the showers early for arguing what he thought was a blown penalty call as he claimed he was caught by a Wild high stick but couldn't supply any physical proof.
MOLSON'S THREE STARS:
1 - Daniel Sedin (Van).......... 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 4 shots
2 - Viktor Stalberg (Van)...... 1 goal, +1, 2 shots
3 - Thomas Vanek (Min)...... 1 goal, 1 assist, even =/-, 3 shots
With the loss Minnesota fails to make up any room between them and West leading Nashville, in fact they fell back two more points with Nashville's 3-2 overtime win over the Lightning in Music City. Minnesota will look to rebound again as they host the Oilers on Sunday, the Oil coming off a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Canadiens.
The win for Vancouver was just their second of the season and first in ten games. The Canucks will host San Jose on Sunday, the Sharks are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Capitals at the Shark Tank on Saturday and have now lost four of their last five games.
Reporting For The WCHL Network........
Peter Puck
