Thoughts on the game

[tantalum]

Detroit's goals:

first goal...once again follow the bouncing puck. Rolling puck shot that Luongo has trouble controlling and some decent hand eye coordination by Schneider. Had it not been called a goal on the ice I'm not sure it would have bee counted. IT was one of those borderline goals.

second goals...Luongo gets his pad on it and he was kicking out the rebound hard to the boards or even potentially over the glass. Once again it hits a canuck in front and bounces in. I have honestly never seen so many pucks bounce off of people and get past a goaltender in my life. Tough goal and eventually the luck has to change the other way.

third goal....yeah Salo got caught up ice but the reason the goal went in is because Kesler thought he was on a slip'n'slide. It was a 2-on-1 and instead of backchecking the guy without the puck he dives at the puck carrier! Had Kesler been going for Cleary, he takes Cleary out of the play before he can put home the rebound. Instead Cleary has all the time in the world to get it over a down and out Luongo. I must say...what a pass on that 2-on-1.

Canucks goals:

Kesler goal...still not sure if this hit something in front. Must have because in all honesty I don;t think Kesler can score from there! The Wings announcers seem to think it went off of the D-man but they never had a good replay.

Naslund goal...hard forecheck and great board work by the big line sets up the goal.

First Morrison goal...well pretty much everyone scores that goal. Even Denis Pederson could score that one. Recipient of the ice monster that jump up and bit Hasek.

Second Morrison goal...nice breakaway but what a great pass by Salo.

Random thoughts:

Luongo...if the pucks stop bouncing his numbers will improve dramatically. Made some big saves at important times I thought. Sold the non-called interference penalty earlier to get the call later on (even though it was the correct call...Holmstrom entered the blue paint on his own and even though Ohlund held him in he had no intention of getting out).

Bulis...he was skating well should have had a goal though the puck rolled on him, created a 2-on-1 with the game tied at 3 with a good bodycheck and takeaway behind Luongo. If he plays like he did in the third with any sort of consistency he helps the team.

Cooke. An assist but honestly did anyone notice him on the ice? What happened to his inner Ken Linsemen?

Kesler. I though the struggled defensively last night. Missed several chips out of the zone and I think blew the backcheck on the one goal.

Pyatt. Needs talent to play with to make use of his limited talent. Had a decent second half of the game.

Morrison. Despite 2 goals I didn't think he did much. He certainly isn't creating much offensively and defensively without being able to hook and hold he seems lost at times.

Big line. A decent game but not their best. Scored an important catch up goal to energize the club.

Krajicek...a shift where he had two turnovers late in the third...one his fault and the other shared by the winger who failed to chip the puck out. Other than that pretty much invisible.

Bieksa. a decent game but he's taking a few too many chances for my liking and isn't always picking his spot.

Mitchell. The hit was a bit late but on this one Franzen has to take some responsibility for admiring his pass...a drop pass no less! Interference was the correct call. That was about the only call the refs got right last night. Brutal penalty calls and brutal non-calls on both teams.

Linden-Chouinard-Green...I thought they had a handful of good shifts and created a couple of scoring chances. Can't ask for much more from the 4th line.

Burrows...this guy needs to figure out how to stand on skates. But damn he works hard and creates some havoc. For 500k that's fine by me.

[WCE]

Nice summary tant, I will weigh in on a few items

uot;]Detroit's goals:

first goal...once again follow the bouncing puck. Rolling puck shot that Luongo has trouble controlling and some decent hand eye coordination by Schneider. Had it not been called a goal on the ice I'm not sure it would have bee counted. IT was one of those borderline goals.

second goals...Luongo gets his pad on it and he was kicking out the rebound hard to the boards or even potentially over the glass. Once again it hits a canuck in front and bounces in. I have honestly never seen so many pucks bounce off of people and get past a goaltender in my life. Tough goal and eventually the luck has to change the other way.

Luongo...if the pucks stop bouncing his numbers will improve dramatically. Made some big saves at important times I thought. Sold the non-called interference penalty earlier to get the call later on (even though it was the correct call...Holmstrom entered the blue paint on his own and even though Ohlund held him in he had no intention of getting out).

Holy frig, I have never seen a guy consistently get so many bad bounces in my life. I feels like we are watching replays of the same dang thing, with that puck consistently going off our defender, or a circus bounce.

Luongo had a stretch of games where he gave up a questionable goal, but he was very good last night. Whenever we can find a way out of this bad bounce phase, his numbers will look a lot better.

Bulis...he was skating well should have had a goal though the puck rolled on him, created a 2-on-1 with the game tied at 3 with a good body check and takeaway behind Luongo. If he plays like he did in the third with any sort of consistency he helps the team.

Well tant, you committed the cardinal sin. You mentioned consistency and Bulis in the same breath.

The guy has skills, but he just can't put it all together. We are seeing why Gainey in Montreal bounced him in and out of the dog house.

He can play a contributing role, problem is you never know which version is going to show up.

Cooke. An assist but honestly did anyone notice him on the ice? What happened to his inner Ken Linsemen?

I'll tell you what happened, Cooke realized (like Burrows) that he had to tone down his antics, because without a heavyweight on the team, shit disturbing can yield one of two results.

The first being that Cooke actually has to drop the gloves for himself. I think we all know exactly what that entails. I don't know if I have ever seen a worse fighter for a guy his size who plays his style of game. Embarrassing.

The second being that a teammate has to step up and out of his weight class in order to clean up Cooke's mess. Things like that foster really poor team dynamics, and it wouldn't surprise me if Cooke's teammates told him to cut the shit, or drop the gloves himself (and no, bearhugging Trevor Daley and looking for the linesman doesn't count).

Krajicek...a shift where he had two turnovers late in the third...one his fault and the other shared by the winger who failed to chip the puck out. Other than that pretty much invisible.

Bieksa. a decent game but he's taking a few too many chances for my liking and isn't always picking his spot.

These guys both took a large step back the past few weeks. I think we were all getting used to seeing these guys play like number 2/3/4 d-men, and now that they have regressed back to 45/6 guys, it has been hard to watch. At first I thought it was due to the fact that injuries on the blue line had forced them into too much responsibility, too soon. However, both of them have regressed as of late.

It will be nice when they can find a happy medium and settle in for the year. They are both good, young d-men.

Linden-Chouinard-Green...I thought they had a handful of good shifts and created a couple of scoring chances. Can't ask for much more from the 4th line.

Chouinard was more noticeable tonight than any other game this season. Checking his ice time, he played nearly 12 minutes, almost 4 more than he has been getting most nights. I think the guy can contribute to the team if given those minutes on a regular basis (and if we aren't, for a team tip-toeing around the cap line, it doesn't make much sense to overpay 600,000 for a guy to play the 12/13th forward role). As I said, I think he can contribute.

[JCardinal]

Chouinard was more noticeable tonight than any other game this season. Checking his ice time, he played nearly 12 minutes, almost 4 more than he has been getting most nights. I think the guy can contribute to the team if given those minutes on a regular basis (and if we aren't, for a team tip-toeing around the cap line, it doesn't make much sense to overpay 600,000 for a guy to play the 12/13th forward role). As I said, I think he can contribute.

Yeah I've always felt he's been a bit of a "ghost" on the team up until last night. The first few games I kept thinking "who the hell is this Chouinard guy they keep mentioning" and it was hard to remember he's a Canuck. But I think you've got the dynamic backwards: he's probably getting more minutes because he's playing better.

Out of all the changes to the Canucks this season I think the absolute most important one is the coach instantly rewarding good play with more ice time regardless of who the player is and vice versa.

[mattola]

Mo and Kes have had a couple good games. I hope this is the start of something for the both of them if not just to trade Mo.

Luongo has been getting some bad bounces and our forwards have to start rubbing out the guy that gets the first chance. That is 3 goals I have seen this year where the player comes from behind the net and scores on his own rebound after over skating it. Way too much time.

Ill take the 2 pts happily and start to get more confident only if we come out with 60 mins effort tonight. Win 4 straight and Ill see about changing my mood some more towards our direction

I think people really have to understand one thing about Luongo we are not getting Marty Brodeur or Pat Roy who have (or had) the ability to control the game from the moment they step on the ice and truly have the ability to shut out any team they play, they were that good. What we are getting is a goalie that makes that save when its needed the most. I don't think I have seen a goalie (aside from the 2 aforementioned keeps) that could do that since Grant Fuhr. We may let in 3 to 4 goals but when we are tied or up by a goal Ill put my money on Luongo to make the save that counts.

[Icebreaka]

Ya its the key saves when we are tied late in a game that I think have been one of Luongo's better strengths. He does generally get better as the game goes. If he could stop with letting in a goal every first period though that would help. All in all I think its still easy to argue that we are a few good bounces away from being well over .500 this season so if the hockey gods could just shine a bit like they did last night then we might just climb back up into a comfortable place in the conference.

[Madcombinepilot]

don't think I have seen a goalie (aside from the 2 aforementioned keeps) that could do that since Grant Fuhr.

I thought it was because the coke was wearing off and he woke up in the third?!?!

[mattola]

don't think I have seen a goalie (aside from the 2 aforementioned keeps) that could do that since Grant Fuhr.

I thought it was because the coke was wearing off and he woke up in the third?!?!

its when he stopped doing the snow that he started to slide

I always wondered why he went down so much he thought the ice in the crease was actually.....

[ClamRussel]

First Morrison goal...well pretty much everyone scores that goal.

everyone except Bulis

[tantalum]

First Morrison goal...well pretty much everyone scores that goal.

everyone except Bulis

To be fair the puck didn't roll on Morrison. If it had I think he probably misses it. He was close to hitting the post to begin with!

[ClamRussel]

Krajicek...a shift where he had two turnovers late in the third...one his fault and the other shared by the winger who failed to chip the puck out. Other than that pretty much invisible.

Bieksa. a decent game but he's taking a few too many chances for my liking and isn't always picking his spot.

These guys both took a large step back the past few weeks. I think we were all getting used to seeing these guys play like number 2/3/4 d-men, and now that they have regressed back to 45/6 guys, it has been hard to watch. At first I thought it was due to the fact that injuries on the blue line had forced them into too much responsibility, too soon. However, both of them have regressed as of late.

It will be nice when they can find a happy medium and settle in for the year. They are both good, young d-men.

Alot of things are bugging me about Bieksa lately...he came out of the gates on fire, had poise beyond his years....then came down to reality. His passing CHOICES are atrocious, brutal....ill-timed and low percentage for the most part usually resulting in turnovers. His skating has been fine and he's strong but man he just looks out of place with too much icetime right now. Its his physical element that I like but, as is a common problem with alot of d-men, they all want to be offensive heroes & jump up on the rush, pinch etc. If Bieksa would just simplify his game I'm sure he'd pull it all back together. Perhaps he's best suited on the 3rd pairing for now.....he's got a heavy shot but that passing needs serious work.

I'd really like to see Krajicek start shooting the puck more....he scored that OT winner earlier in the season and appears to have an accurate enough shot but just hasn't been using it. So far he still reminds me of Hedican because of his wheels but lacks in his offensive delivery.

[tantalum]

Krajicek...a shift where he had two turnovers late in the third...one his fault and the other shared by the winger who failed to chip the puck out. Other than that pretty much invisible.

Bieksa. a decent game but he's taking a few too many chances for my liking and isn't always picking his spot.

These guys both took a large step back the past few weeks. I think we were all getting used to seeing these guys play like number 2/3/4 d-men, and now that they have regressed back to 45/6 guys, it has been hard to watch. At first I thought it was due to the fact that injuries on the blue line had forced them into too much responsibility, too soon. However, both of them have regressed as of late.

It will be nice when they can find a happy medium and settle in for the year. They are both good, young d-men.

Alot of things are bugging me about Bieksa lately...he came out of the gates on fire, had poise beyond his years....then came down to reality. His passing CHOICES are atrocious, brutal....ill-timed and low percentage for the most part usually resulting in turnovers. His skating has been fine and he's strong but man he just looks out of place with too much icetime right now. Its his physical element that I like but, as is a common problem with alot of d-men, they all want to be offensive heroes & jump up on the rush, pinch etc. If Bieksa would just simplify his game I'm sure he'd pull it all back together. Perhaps he's best suited on the 3rd pairing for now.....he's got a heavy shot but that passing needs serious work.

I'd really like to see Krajicek start shooting the puck more....he scored that OT winner earlier in the season and appears to have an accurate enough shot but just hasn't been using it. So far he still reminds me of Hedican because of his wheels but lacks in his offensive delivery.

INdeed. But I do think this is the growing pains with a couple of young but promising D-men. I think canuck fans will be rewarded with acouple of good D-men if we put up with some struggles this season. That said, both Bieksa and Krajicek are making questionable plays that need to stop...especially in their own zone.