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Canucks pass Red Wings to collect sixth-straight win
Canucks pass Red Wings to collect sixth-straight win
It had all the makings of a great game. It was anything but.
Now, if it was excitement you were after …
The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-4 at Rogers Arena in a game that produced no less than five separate lead changes. The victory was the sixth straight for Canucks (8-3-2), who head out on the road for a five-games in eight-days road trip, starting Tuesday in Montreal against the Canadians.
“It wasn't the prettiest, but we got the win at that's most important,” said Canucks winger Raffi Torres. “It's always nice to have some confidence heading out on the road.”
Alex Edler's first goal of the season proved to be the game-winner, with the Swede wristing a shot past Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard on the power play at 8:18 of the third. Manny Malhotra added an insurance marker with his second goal of the night fewer than two minutes later. His second came from the side of the crease, nothing like his earlier beauty, a breakaway goal with Vancouver shorthanded. Malhotra's shifty deke put the Canucks up 3-2 heading into the second intermission, but the lead was short lived. Jonathan Ericsson beat Roberto Luongo to the stick side on the power play with 59 seconds left in the middle period to knot the game 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Detroit outshot Vancouver 8-5 and 21-1 at the breaks, but a 23-shot third proved to be the difference. That's not a typo. The Canucks had 23 shots in the final period to hold a 34-28 edge after 60 minutes.
“After the first period, there was no room on the ice and in the second we took a couple of penalties and with the skill that they have they really had some opportunities and we were able to weather the storm,” said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault. “In the third we were able to have them take a few penalties which gave us some momentum, but the best thing we did in the third was take a page out of their playbook and started throwing pucks at the net. We shot from everywhere and that creates scrambles and they're tough to defend. Considering it was our fourth game in six nights you have to like how our guys responded.”
The Red Wings led 4-3 early in the third on Niklas Kronwall's second of the night. Kronwall beat Luongo on a shot from the high slot before the period was two minutes old. It was the worst goal Luongo had allowed in recent memory, but the fiery netminder made up for his blunder with a pair of brilliant back-to-back saves with Vancouver on the power play only a few minutes later. It was on the transition that Edler put the Canucks on top for good.
Daniel Sedin opened the scoring at 19:35 of the first period, swatting home brother Henrik's pass from the side of the net.
Dan Cleary with his second in as many games tied the game at 1-1 at 2:51 of the second period after video review deemed he indeed 'deflected' and not 'directed' the disc, which bounced off Luongo's blocker, then defenceman Aaron Rome and finally Cleary.
The Red Wings took a 2-1 lead only a few minutes later as Kronwall outlegged Christian Ehrhoff to reach Tomas Holmstrom's shot off the end boards and jam it short side past Luongo at 4:29. Mikael Samuelsson knotted the game at 2-2 off a deflection on Tanner Glass's shot 34 seconds later.
The loss was the first in regulation in 23 games for Howard, dating back to March of last season.
Dan Hamhuis will make the trip east and is expected to make his return against the Canadiens. The defenceman has missed eight games with a bruised foot. |
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發表於 2010-11-6 22:59
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