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Prove It!
Let's whine about it, shall we
The Vancouver Canucks are down 0-3 in this series
against the San Jose Sharks, after letting game two slip away with less than a
minute left. Last time the Sharks were in a position to sweep a series, in
2011, it took seven games. Now is a fine time to prove This Season Will Be
Different.
The Thin Blue Line-
Yes, the Sharks #3 pair
of Brad Stuart and Scott Hannan won't win any skating contests. But the Canucks
never really replaced Christian Ehrhoff after he signed that big deal with
Buffalo. Coach Alain Vigneault looks afraid to play Keith Ballard at all and
doesn't give his third pairing of Andrew Alberts and rookie Frank Corrado much
ice time. The result is that Kevin Bieksa (injured?), Alex Edler, Dan Hamhuis
and Jason Garrison get tired and take silly penalties.
Somebody large
needs to ask Bieksa if Patrick Marleau was "embellishing" when he shot through
Bieksa and Edler to score the Sharks' fourth goal Sunday night. I noticed that
Vigneault immediately broke up that pairing after the score. Will Vigneault
take a chance on bringing back the injured Chris Tanev? Or tap into what's
left: Ballard and former Sharks Jim Vandermeer and Derek Joslin.
The Always and Forever Canucks Goaltending Controversy-
The
Canucks have scored 22 goals in their last 15 playoff games. Eight of those
were in the seven game Stanley Cup Final series against the Boston Bruins in
2011. Unless Roberto Luongo is also an advance scout and offensive coach, he's
not their problem. Cory Schneider seems to be the management and the fan's
choice for starter for some whatever reason. Kirk McLean sends his
regards.
Antti Niemi kept his team in game two and has made big stops
through the series when needed. He's outplayed the Canucks' pair by a good
margin. We wish Evgeni Nabokov all the best with the Islanders but Niemi is
clearly a step up.
Biscuits in the Basket (a registered trademark of
Drew Remenda)-
Coach Todd McClellan finally broke up last season's
top line of Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Joe Pavelski when he moved Brent Burns
to forward. Suddenly scoring on the Sharks spread through three lines.
Vigneault must be envious, his problem is the Sedin twins and they're a unit.
Ryan Kesler was a beast in game two but was pretty beastly in one and three,
unless you count his drop to the ice to draw a penalty in game three that was
worthy of any good Euro soccer player.
Other series-
Red Wings/Ducks and
Kings/Blues are all tied. It means those two series will go at least another
two games. Good news for the Sharks: should they finish off the Canucks it's a
few days they rest and the opposition plays.
NBC sports-
Whoever dresses Mike Milbury has a wonderful sense of humor, then again maybe
they just hate him. Also, it's nice to see that Jeremy Roenick hasn't missed a
meal since retiring.
Contact Ken at at Kenin210@eudoramail.com
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