-->
CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Canucks 3 Sabres 4 (SO)

There's no need to be desolate even after the Canucks' 4-3 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. After they gained seven out of a possible eight points in their four-game road trip and 21 of a possible 24 points in their last 12 games, why would they?

In fact, this recent hot stretch showed a lot of positive things for our boys in Orca Bay blue. It proved that they can play with the best teams in the league. They beat Calgary three times in a row, twice in their own barn; they beat Edmonton twice, once at the drugstore-named arena; they beat Dallas and Florida in shootouts; and of course, they beat all three Eastern Canadian teams on this road trip, and with Dany Sabourin in net, took a point from the Eastern Conference-leading Sabres.

Speaking of Dany Sabourin, for one night at least, he proved that he can play in the bigs. In what was easily his best game as a Canuck, he stopped 33 shots and gave his team a chance at sweeping the road trip. And after the game, the rest of the team stood up for the little-used back-up:

"I wanted him so badly to win," Sabourin's friend and teammate, Alex Burrows, said. "He made some unbelievable saves and everyone wanted to win that first game for him. It's been tough on him for sure. He wants to stick in the NHL. He wants to prove to everyone that he's a good goalie. We know he's a good goalie."

Vigneault said: "The last five minutes of the third period, I thought, you know, maybe our guys were thinking so much about getting it done for Dany, we forgot to keep the pedal to the metal and keep going after them.

"I thought it really showed a gutsy effort for a kid who doesn't get to play a lot. It's unfortunate that we couldn't get it done ... we still had a pretty good trip. Tomorrow, we're probably going to say that coming out east here and getting seven or eight points was a pretty good feat."
Pretty good indeed.

More from the Mainstream
  • As expected, Roberto Luongo really, really, really wanted to play on Friday night, but this time, Alain Vigneault stood his ground. - Iain MacIntyre (Vancouver Sun)

About the game around the blogosphere

My 3 Stars of the Game

  1. Maxim Afinogenov (BUF): How he's not going to the All-Star game (and Jason Blake is) baffles me.
  2. Dany Sabourin (VAN): 33 saves on 36 Buffalo shots.
  3. Thomas Vanek (BUF): Only one assist but turned up his game in the third period and overtime.

Official Statistics

Next Game

Marc Crawford returns to GM Place with his new team, the Los Angeles Kings

______________
Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,
posted by J.J. Guerrero, 10:58 AM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home