As the Canucks enter the “stretch-run” of the season they host the Kings and with only five games remaining this season it “full-steam ahead”.
This is the forth and final meeting of the season between the clubs and currently the Canucks are 1-1-1 and in the last 10 games they are a 9-1-0. They also enter the game with a League best home record of 25-8-5.
No pressure, but if the Canucks win this game they win the NHL’s President Trophy for the first time in the history of the franchise.
The trophy is an award presented by the NHL to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season.
If two teams are tied with the most points, then the trophy goes to the team with the most wins. The winning team is also awarded $350,000 in cash bonuses.
The Presidents’ Trophy has been awarded a total of 24 times to only 14 different teams since the first was awarded in 1985.
The win in Nashville on March 29th set the record for team wins in the month of March.
While Roberto Luongo plays stellar, let’s not forget the Manitoba Moose. Starting “tender” Eddie Lack has a record of 27-19-3 with a 2.16 GAA is forth best in the league.
Friday April 1st stands out for the Canucks as they are involved with the local Autism Fundraiser.
More info on this can be found at http://www.canucksautism.ca/
The King’s got on the board first on a bad clearing pass by Bieksa who dished it off to Doughty who made a cross-ice pass to Clifford to get on the board at 13:09.
While everyone is impressed with the overall play of the Canucks this season, one should not forget that probably the one single component that has changed is the style of Loongo’s game.
The Canucks had many question the change in goaltending coach, but it has helped the overall play.
New goalie coach Rollie Melanson has transformed Roberto into a super “R-man”.
Luongo has a strong back-up this season, but the one question being asked it “will Cory Schneider stay. He has one year remaining on his contract at $900,000 per and becomes a UFA the year after.
Given the manner in which Cory is playing, he is indeed making his mark and this could be costly to the Canucks?
Henrik tied the game at 15:06 on a play on the left side, with a give-and-go with Oreskovich to fool Quick with a fast release.
The turning point in the game was the second goal by the Canucks at the end of the 2nd with 0:09 seconds left.
They scored one at the end of the first only to have time expired, so this was extra special.
Shots after two saw the teams tied at 19, with Henrik playing 11:45 minutes over 15 shifts for an average of 45 seconds per.
The Kings Kyle Clifford went stride for stride with Tanev who looked over his shoulder before playing the puck against the boards, then got hammered from behind.
He was handed a Major plus a Game Misconduct for a Check From Behind. So the Canucks go on the PP at 6:29 left in the 3rd.
Not one penalty – but two. Green took a cross-checking minor with 5:47 left in the game and 4:23 left in the major.
Kesler got his 17th of the season from Daniel Sedin and Sami Salo giving them a 3-1 lead. This gives Daniel 100 points on the season and the first time he has managed to reach this plateau.
Dumb play of the game award goes to Kyle Clifford on his hit from behind on Tanev, who looked over his shoulder as he was going to the boards, them got hammered.
With time ticking down, the Kings managed to take yet another minor. Daniel reaches 100 points.
Final shots in the game had the Canucks outshoot LA by a 35-19 difference.
As the song goes – “SIMPLY THE BEST”
3rd star Ryan Kessler
2nd star Christian Ehrhoff
1st Star Daniel Sedin
