R2G1 - Canucks host Preds - 6pm - CBC, VS

[the toucan kid]

And yes, the Twins continue to look uneasy and discombobulated. Weird.

[Cornuck]

We dominate for over 2 periods and everyone bitches...

We're up against a decent team with a great goalie. But then we started great against Chicago, didn't we. No impressed with the refs (surprise!) and we just look so much faster overall.

Good start to the series, no complaints here.

[Island Nucklehead]

A triple post by the Touc... nice. I agree with your first two. Weber is a beast and if that man was steaming at me at 40K/hour then I would be terrified for my life. Edler belongs on the PP. The guy has a monster shot, and Samuelsson's only talent seems to be to throw it at the net. That will come in handy during the playoffs, but we don't need on it on every PP.

I disagree with you on the Sedins. They were fairly effective tonight. They can do better, no doubt, but they got some chances tonight, had some effective shifts, looked good on some sustained PP pressure and if it weren't for Rinne they would have been on the board for sure. IMO, the have to keep battling and they'll be just fine. They looked 10X better tonight than vs. Bolland.

Good enough for me, tonight. They dominated the Preds, and were it not for Rinne's outstanding play it should have been 5-0 (Sound familiar?). The good news is that we held our own defensively, Luongo robbed Fisher SH breakaway, and the boys didn't give up anything late tonight.

I honestly believe H. Sedin when he says they are prepared to win games 1-0 or 2-1, and they showed that tonight. Kept coming, and even if Nashville had tied or even won that game in OT I honestly believe the Canucks will be fine.

A better effort from Nashville next time (they couldn't get much worse), but if the Canucks keep that effort and play up we'll be just fine.

[ClamRussel]

WTF was up w/ that "tripping" penalty on Ballard's MAGNIFICENT hip check on Tootoo?!?!!?

That is EXACTLY the type of play the NHL should be encouraging. One of the most exciting plays in hockey. Clean. No head shots involved. Gets the crowd pumped. Nope, can't have that.

[Robert]

I was pretty pissed at that call too Clam, I mean a great hip check old fashioned style is now a penalty? Maybe it's because so many guys have forgotten to hit that the refs can't even recognize one when they see one.. I dunno...It's a piss off for sure.

[Island Nucklehead]

WTF was up w/ that "tripping" penalty on Ballard's MAGNIFICENT hip check on Tootoo?!?!!?

Couldn't agree more (and the penalty was clipping, which still is incorrect because Ballard didn't hit him in the knees). And I think the ref that made that call will look at the video and agree with you before the NHL calls him to tell him "Hey buds, ya f*cked up".

[lifer]

Great effort by the Canucks. Beating them all over the ice. Looks like they sat back for the first half of the 3rd period though. Not quite a 60min. effort but it didn't matter, they still dominated. Nice to start the series with a victory!

Game 2 I expect a lot more from Nashville.

Looks like we're up against another Goalie that is going to be very stingy.

[ClamRussel]

I don't even think the Canucks played very well for the most part. The played good enough to win and deserved a better score but they can do better, much better. Preds were just that bad imo. Nashville will bring a better game next time hopefully the boys do as well. Rinne scares the bajeebus outta me. Best glove in the league?

[dr.dork]

I don't even think the Canucks played very well for the most part. The played good enough to win and deserved a better score but they can do better, much better. Preds were just that bad imo. Nashville will bring a better game next time hopefully the boys do as well. Rinne scares the bajeebus outta me. Best glove in the league?

For a variety of offspring related reasons (oh my) I only watched the third period. Not sure I missed a lot, but we won. No complaining about wins.

I thought it was interesting that Nashville in the interviews were all complaining about their play and lack of energy. Hey, and that is great. If Nashville wants to pick up their energy (which is really a euphemism for offense) then we will end up with yet more scoring chances. Nashville played their game. They hung around and hung around, and we didn't give them a lot of chances and when we did Lou could see the puck (and he stopped it). And if we learned anything this year we learned to be really comfortable in these types of games. We won a heck of a lot of 2-1, and 3-2 games this year.

And the Sedins have played fine all playoffs long. Their bad games were 4 and 5 of the Chicago series, just like everyone else. They played fine in games 6-7 vs Chicago and the played fine tonight. They had their chances.

We're not going to beat the Preds by going toe to toe, because they won't play that game. We have to win 2-1, 3-2 and 1-0. And that means not taking any chances. But maybe we need to bury more chances as a general rule, but if we go out and try to generate more chances we're likely falling into their game plan.

Oh yeah, and Torres, Oreskovich and Glass on the 4rd line is fine with me (sorry, I forgot about Torres who I general think has done a great job). I think Higgins, Lapierre and Hansen are a confirmed third line, and I like it. They have been very good, and keeping the other team stuck in their own end on most shifts.

[dr.dork]

WTF was up w/ that "tripping" penalty on Ballard's MAGNIFICENT hip check on Tootoo?!?!!?

Couldn't agree more (and the penalty was clipping, which still is incorrect because Ballard didn't hit him in the knees). And I think the ref that made that call will look at the video and agree with you before the NHL calls him to tell him "Hey buds, ya f*cked up".

Haven't seen it in slow-motion, but it looked to me it wasn't "knee first". But Bob McKenzie claims the hit was knee first. I have to go check it out if I can find it on youtube.

And yes, it looks like it was knee first, but Tootoo had his knee thrust forward, so it wasn't like it was a "targeted" takeout of the knees, which is really what clipping is. Normally if refs want to make "statements" wrt your hip check being too low and make new interpretations of rules they do that in the regular season. But maybe the ref decided that Ballard is just getting too low... Basically, it was a bullshit call. When they spend whole games in the playoffs calling nothing, calling this is really an attempt to have Nashville tie it up.

[Tiger]

1-0 and a magnificent display of goaltending by Pekka Rinne.. (sorry spelling )
Trotz did some great coaching .. putting his best defensive players against the Kesler line not the Sedin's which is why:

DR DORK SAID :

I disagree with you on the Sedins. They were fairly effective tonight. They can do better, no doubt, but they got some chances tonight, had some effective shifts, looked good on some sustained PP pressure and if it weren't for Rinne they would have been on the board for sure. IMO, the have to keep battling and they'll be just fine. They looked 10X better tonight than vs. Bolland.

and other than pp they didn't look that good to me ..
2nd , 3rd , 4th line carried the load..

[ClamRussel]

WTF was up w/ that "tripping" penalty on Ballard's MAGNIFICENT hip check on Tootoo?!?!!?

Couldn't agree more (and the penalty was clipping, which still is incorrect because Ballard didn't hit him in the knees). And I think the ref that made that call will look at the video and agree with you before the NHL calls him to tell him "Hey buds, ya f*cked up".

Haven't seen it in slow-motion, but it looked to me it wasn't "knee first". But Bob McKenzie claims the hit was knee first. I have to go check it out if I can find it on youtube.

Well even if it was technically on the knee its not like Ballard took out his knees, he took the whole body and probably hit the knee a bit in doing so.....but tell me this how could the ref diagonally across the ice and behind the net see that in real time & determine it was clipping?!? Give me a break, he just saw Ballard low & winged it. Ballard does hipcheck low but its not like he's Marchment taking out guys' knees intentionally. I haven't seen Ballard hurt anyone seriously on a hipcheck. They're freaking great hits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znuYertkcX0

[the toucan kid]

When I mentioned the Twins, I mean that their passes aren't crisp and their cycle is sort of off at the moment. They aren't nearly as dominant in controlling the puck as they usually are.

[Cornuck]

I'll agree with that, and add that I thought I saw some of it coming back in last night's game. A few better passes, but their timing just seems a little off - and that's all it takes in their precision game.

Rinne can't play like that in every game, can he?

I'm all for protecting the players from head shots, but if hits like Ballard's aren't allowed anymore - what's the point of having contact at all?

Good game, but Nashville isn't nearly as bad as they looked last night.

[the toucan kid]

Even I will say the Ballard hit was completely legit and it was a stupid call.