Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:53 pm Posts: 6856 Location: Inside your computer
Hopefully, Ballard's return will get him going. The Cannots' d has been pretty shaky lately, and they'll need all the experience they can get against Crosby, Malkin and Letang.
Surprised to see that Pens are in the bottom 3rd (24th) on the PP; but their PK is very good (tied for 4th overall) - it should be tested against one of the best PPs in the league. I think this is a very winnable game; I sense more positive mojo tonight than I did against the Sabres. Good teams don't/won't lose two games in a row, even if one of them is an OTL. I would also expect that AV will continue to throw Samuelsson over the boards with the Sedins - it was thatunit that got the second and third goals against the Sabres, and more importantly, for the first time all season, the Sedins looked like they were about to take over the game. And if that can coincide with Samuelsson (who is overdue for a positive scoring streak), then look out.
The second line of MayRay / Kesler / Bureaux also needs to get going; I realize Kesler has been scoring but they need that line, and especially MayRay, to score if they want to have success on the road. I expect that Hamhuis will get the assignment on Crosby, while Ballard, given his experience against the Pens, should get the assignment on Malkin.
The Penguins are a very good team no matter what their record is. I picked them to win the Stanley Cup based on their acquisitions of D-men Martin and Michalek to go with Orpik and Letang, Bourdon's former junior defensive partner who is coming into his own as a very good defenceman. The Canucks have been killing teams on the powerplay lately but the Pens PK completely dominated the Canucks tonight. The Crosby breakaway was as much as a shorthanded goal. These are the type of teams the Canucks will face in the playoffs come second round.
I think everyone will agree how lucky the Canucks were to actually score the goal they did, because 56-goal-pace Daniel Sedin declined to shoot from prime territory. Yes, they eventually scored, but it was a totally unnecessary pass to a covered Henrik, and very nearly didn't work. Plus Alex Burrows ended up getting no points when he was the guy who really created the scoring chance.
Pass it to Bulis wrote:
The Canucks' only goal of the game, as seen above, came on a fantastic play by Alex Burrows, as he took two Penguins players out of the play on the rush with an incredible display of patience before feeding it out to Daniel Sedin out in the slot. Frustratingly, Daniel chose not to shoot it, instead trying to feed it to Henrik, who was covered by the only other Penguins' player in the zone. His choice not to shoot robbed Burrows of a well-deserved assist. If it wasn't for a fortunate bounce and a heads-up push pass from Henrik to Dan "Hammy" Hamhuis, then the Canucks would have been shutout tonight. Just look at this picture:
Imagine you're Daniel Sedin. You are 4th in NHL goalscoring and you have an obscene 22.2% shooting percentage. You have the puck all alone in the slot without a defender anywhere near you. Now imagine you pass up that shooting opportunity to pass it to someone who is covered by Kris Letang, who leads the Penguins in +/- and is their best defenseman. Now imagine kicking yourself. Yes, it worked out for the best, but it is killing me to see the Sedins passing up prime scoring chances for worse scoring chances. Even a pass to Dan Hamhuis would have been a better option. Last season, the Sedins frequently passed up a possible scoring chance because they wanted to create a better one. This season, it seems that they're passing up great scoring chances for mediocre scoring chances. It's bugging me.
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