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CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Canucks 3 Wild 2 (OT)

That's more like it!

I don't want to get ahead of myself too much but last night's 3-2 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild makes me feel a lot better about the Canucks' postseason chances. While Saturday night's win was more of a pure blood and grit kinda win, last night's had more of a playoff feel to it. Both teams matched lines, both teams slowed the game down, and both teams approached the game more strategically.

The Canucks won and deservedly so. Just like on Thursday night, they controlled a lot of the play and certainly created more scoring chances. Thankfully, this time they came out with the two points.

On even-strength, Ryan Kesler's line played well against Marion Gaborik's line. Sedin, Sedin and Naslund were clutch. Louie was clutch. The Little Engines That Could - Ryan Shannon, Matt Cooke and Mason Raymond - played great and even chipped in with a goal.

Shannon, especially, is beginning to look more comfortable. Unlike at the start of the season, he looks more patient with the puck and more competitive without it. In other words, he's letting the game come to him instead of vice-versa, and in the five games since his call-up, he has three assists and is a plus-2.

By the way, someone explain to me the Wild fans' animosity towards Mattias Ohlund. I know he slashed Mikko Koivu and Koivu missed 24(-something) games after that, but surely they haven't forgotten that that was a response to Koivu' dirty shot to Ohlund's head moments before that. Personally, I loved Ohlund's game last night - he had 26 minutes of ice-time, an assist on the game-winning goal and a plus-2 rating. It didn't shut up the fans, but I'm sure it pissed them off.

About the game around the blogosphere:

More from the MSM:

Next game:

Tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators.

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

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posted by J.J. Guerrero, 6:08 AM