GDT: BJs vs Canucks

[levelheaded]

And then there were 7.

At least we got the point, but that's no consolation. We have to start winning shootouts. If we miss the playoffs you can point directly at that 1-6 shootout record.

[Island Nucklehead]

Yep. Jackets deserved that one I think.

Bieksa was Jovanovski-esque out there...turnovers but put some points up.

Sundin looks better. Still a long ways to go before he can keep up to a play.

Luongo was outplayed tonight, imo.

Don't have much else to say, it's becoming painful to watch this team play.

[Miller Time]

Why is Bieksa playing so many minutes every night? It seems as though Ohlund and he are just getting tired and making mistakes. I think Salo coming back will help, but the All Star break will be good for these guys. The top 3 are looking worn down.

[Sid Dithers]

I think Salo coming back will help...

I think Salo coming back will lead to Salo getting hurt again. Maybe if the Canucks are lucky, Sami will get injured Tuesday in San Jose, thereby using the all-star break to begin his recovery period and not missing any games for those 7 days.

[Larry Goodenough]

As with most big slumps, you slowly go into them by getting some points in a few games you probably shouldn't have, due to poor play.

Then you hit rock bottom and media and fans begin to ridicule you.

Then you begin to work your way out. Often, you get a much better effort, but not a great result. However, at the end you can feel like you're almost back on track.

That's what I saw tonight.

[mr perfect]

I'm cutting and pasting my replies between here and OTP because as Johny Rotten stated, I'm a lazy sod.

Back from the game. We sat in the lower bowl, section 107 in the Jackets end for the first and third periods. Columbus has a large team. Their defence is massive. The game starts with a Bieksa giveaway and Luongo makes the save that probably prevented a blowout. The Canucks start to play better and don't look like the team that stunk agains St Louis, New Jersey and Phoenix. Pyatt makes a rare foray to the front of the net and roofs a pass to make the scorer 1-0. Later he puts Daniel Sedin in the clear for what should have been a 4-1 Canucks lead but the twin misses the net. This is Pyatt's best game of the season but he still loses battles along the boards for the puck because he's not physical and was a statue on the Jacket's second goal, a powerplay goal off a one timer by Jason Williams. Rick Nash is a horse. He is so big and strong, the Canucks couldn't knock him off the puck. Nash also has excellent vision on the ice and passes the puck well, setting up Malholtra for the Jackets first goal. He powered his way past Kelser and scored on an out of position Luongo and O'Brien after another Canucks turnover in their own zone. Nash was the best player on the ice with one goal, two assists and the shootout clinching goal. Why he wasn't chosen first star, your guess is as good as mine. I remember looking at the time clock in the second period after the Hordichuk/Boll fight and the score being 3-1 Canucks with 17 SOG for them and 10 for the BJs. Then Columbus scores on 2 of their next 3 shots and it's a tie game. Into the third, five shots and 2 goals later it's 5-3 Columbus with the SOG 18-17 in their favour. Clearly the fight got Columbus going and the Canucks lost intensity even though Hordichuk held his own against the bigger, younger Boll. I don't know what causes these lapses in the Canucks play and why they haven't put in a 60 minute effort for many games. The Canucks fight to tie it up. On to overtime where shit for brains Bieksa coughs up the puck creating a scoring chance fo Columbus, then on the same shift KB gets caught out of position and takes a hooking penalty. I counted 3 times where Bieksa was stripped of the puck while trying to stickhandle when he was the last Canucks skater back. Right now he doesn't deserve the All-Star break off, he needs to practice making outlet passes with the coaching staff. Off to the shootout and the result is predictable, the Canucks lose. Didn't Vigneault state last season he doesn't practice the shootout? I think it shows.
I beleive the Jackets are two players away from being a very good team. If Derek Brassard comes back from injury and plays the same way he did early in the season, then it's only one player, a top 4, puck moving D-man they lack. Watching the two teams play defence, both coaches are known as defence first types. But while Vigneault has the Canucks 1-2-2 set up with the two forwards at the red line with the other forward high towards the offensive zone, Columbus has their two forwards at the opposition blue line with the third high in the offensive zone. The result was the Jackets skated out of their zone uncontested when possessing the puck with no Canuck supplying pressure whereas the Canucks had problems leaving their zone with puck possession due to the Jackets pressure. It's not just the Canucks players not executing that's the only problem, there are flaws in Vigneault's system that other teams are exploiting.