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CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Friday, November 11, 2005

Canucks 3 Avalanche 5

The Vancouver Canucks lost for the first time at home this season, falling 5-3 to the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs built a 4-0 lead early in the first period, then hung for the win. The game recap is here; the score sheet and stat sheet are here and here.

My notes from the game:

  • The score was 4-0 by just past the midway point of the first period. At one point, the shots on goal was 15-0 for the Avs. That's all you need to know about why the Canucks lost the game.
  • Ed Jovanovski had a first period to forget. He was on the ice for three of the four goals and he was directly involved in two of them - his lazy play led directly to the first Colorado goal and he fell skating backwards on the third one.
  • Sven Butenschon made his Canucks debut, filling in for injured Steve McCarthy. He played not bad - didn't notice him much, which I suppose is a good thing for a defenseman. He finished with a +1 rating and 11:24 minutes of ice-time.
  • I don't know if it's a sign of hs confidence, but over the last few games Auld has been more active and playing the puck more. Once against Calgary and another time last night, he played the puck and didn't shoot it hard enough to go past the defender, leading to a goal.
  • I just noticed the Sedin line's ice-time this morning - Henrik played 20:25 minutes, Daniel played 20:17, and Anson played 18:55 - and for the most part was well-deserved. When the Canucks were trying to make their comeback, the line spent most of their shifts in the attacking zone and created numerous scoring opportunities.
  • Not often you see a coach pull a goaltender when his team is three goals down. Interesting and bold move by Crow. Especially after the 5-2 goal, I think it sent a signal to the team to keep playing. Heck, they already took one period off, right?
  • It's actually amazing that considering their start, the Canucks were still in the game towards the end. If only they had capitalized on their third period powerplays, especially the 5-on-3, instead of giving up the short-handed goal.
  • Actually, if only they had started playing at the start of the game.
  • The Canucks' lead in the Northwest Division has now been reduced to two points. The Avs are right behind them with two games in hand.
Next up: Detroit on Sunday. (I'm going to Whistler for the weekend. See y'all on Sunday.)
posted by J.J. Guerrero, 9:35 AM

1 Comments:

At November 14, 2005 2:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've always said: Jovo is brilliant offensively, but a MASSIVE defensive liability. His speed bails him out most of the time but not often enough unfortunately. Crow should just use him for the PP.

 

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