Canucks 2011 Playoff Run

[Robbie]

Way to go, !

Reaching to the 3rd round for only the third time in franchise history. In both times, they made it to the final. Let the streak continue.

Back in the CFL seasons when the Lions finished first in the west, there was always talk about which opponent you would rather see in the division final and to a lesser extent, in the Grey Cup final. So now, we can talk about it for the Canucks as well.

Which team would you rather have the Canucks face in Western Conference final - Detroit Red Wings or San Jose Sharks?

And which team would you rather see as the Eastern Conference representative - Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning?

[Sir Purrcival]

Tough choice really.

Detroit has the more banged up team and I think the weaker goal tending but they have that experience factor that can be really scary. If they can come back from 3-0, then they are a team to be feared.

SJ is a team that constantly mystifies. People expect that they should do better and yet, they seem to struggle in the post season. They are more of a wild card IMO. They can certainly beat you but they have had that history of choking too. Even this year, they have done a Jekyll and Hyde thing playing very poorly in the first half and then great in the second.

So who do you prefer.

As much as I would like to face Detroit, I think I have to go with SJ.

Reason 1. The travel. SJ is in the same time zone and much easier to get to than Detroit. We have already gained enough air miles for this playoffs and having a relatively close team to play against would probably be too our benefit.

Reason 2. The choke factor. Simply put, I wouldn't expect Detroit to engage in much of a mental battle winning or losing. They have been there, done that. They aren't going to get phased too much by anything. SJ on the other hand might be easier to get down and consequently out. They have done it before and that is bound to be swirling around in the back of their minds somewhere. We have a better record against SJ as well.


Having said all that, I am certainly not against them beating each other to a pulp before a winner is decided.

[1greatmysticbushape]

it just doesn't matter.

[Rammer]

I don't think Nashville is all that impressive, just their goalie. If it weren't for him, chances are very good that we would be comfortably up 3-0 in this series. Aside from part of game 2, the Preds as a team have been thoroughly outplayed and it is only because of goal tending that they have been in it. Even many of their goals have had a horseshoe factor, deflections or fortuitous bounces. The effort from them is their but pound for pound talent wise, they are over matched. Can you imagine if we had their goaltender?

Rinne sure kept the Predators in this series, well that and the occasional 'unlucky' goal against for the Canucks. Great to see the other series extend as well, as that will only help the Canucks now.

[WestCoastJoe]

May 4, 2011

Ryan Kesler. Chris HiGgins Roberto Luongo

Good resolve in the end. Hung in when it might have been tempting to pack it in after the hardship of another late goal given up. Perhaps we can ride Kesler for a while. He is our horse.

Back on May 4th, I blogged that Kesler might be able to carry us for a while. Wow. That sure came true.

Suddenly he was a leader like Steve Yzerman, Jonathan Toews, and Mark Messier. Legendary leaders.

Back in the day, if you looked up leadership in the dictionary you were likely to see a picture of Mark Messier. That is how it seemed to me.

Well now we have our own legendary leader: Ryan Kesler. OK, he is American. But they are our brothers, after all. And he does live and play in Vancouver, which is a Canadian hockey hotbed.

I don't think I've ever seen a player carry a team the way Kesler did against Nashville. Maybe Toews last year in the Cup run. Kesler is playing at such a level that it dulls the senses, as in "Did I just see what I think I saw?" "Did he just do that again?" "Did he just split the 2 supposedly best defencemen in the world, and then beat what seems like the best goalie in the world?" Did the Canucks have a special play where they fire Kesler out of a cannon on the power play and he goes through the Predators and scores? Yep, seems like.

And Kesler was not alone. Bieksa and Hamhuis were quietly awesome. Higgins and Lapierre gave so much energy, shift after shift. Raymond also. Burrows also. Hansen. One can knock Luongo for being somewhat uptight, for giving up some soft goals, but Oh Man, is he a competitor. Read a blog by a Nashville fan, about how Luongo is a wall in goal. I think it is easy to expect a kind of per-fection from Luongo. I think we should just appreciate how hard he works, how much he cares, how willing and professional and courageous he is to face the most pressure-packed games one could imagine, how many great saves he makes, and not expect him to be per-fect. Even Rinne showed some cracks finally.

Kudos to Gillis, and Vigneault, and to the owners, the Aquilinis. It is obvious that the ownership is totally committed to winning, and it permeates on down through the team.

It ain't per-fect, but it is dayum good.

Nashville might be the toughest opponent we could expect in these playoffs. They are a playoff type of team. Very, very tough. As was Chicago, which cranked it up, after a sleep walk season.

Now if some of our guys who might be undererforming could channel Kesler, we will be in really good shape.

[KnowItAll]

for what its worth, canucks had better success against SJ during the reg season.

[Rammer]

for what its worth, canucks had better success against SJ during the reg season.

As we have seen playoffs are much different than the regular season, as the refs are allowing the contact that teams have to fight through, not Sedin friendly. So throw that regular season out the door and watch out for the size of San Jose to even out the playing field if they can bounce the playoff savvy Red Wings.

[Rammer]

And Kesler was not alone. Bieksa and Hamhuis were quietly awesome. Higgins and Lapierre gave so much energy, shift after shift. Raymond also. Burrows also. Hansen. One can knock Luongo for being somewhat uptight, for giving up some soft goals, but Oh Man, is he a competitor. Read a blog by a Nashville fan, about how Luongo is a wall in goal. I think it is easy to expect a kind of per-fection from Luongo. I think we should just appreciate how hard he works, how much he cares, how willing and professional and courageous he is to face the most pressure-packed games one could imagine, how many great saves he makes, and not expect him to be per-fect. Even Rinne showed some cracks finally.

Even Ron McLean could figure out that Kesler was the best player in the playoffs to date, and then he stepped it up a notch against Nashville. That said, I was never a real Kesler supporter, so for me to done him some accolades means even that much more, probably more for his offing of Team Canada last year at the Oly's. Furthermore, I started off loving Bieksa in his rookie season, only to fall off his bandwagon as time went along up until last season when I wanted him traded (I wasn't alone there). He was underperforming to the point that his trade value was next to zilch considering his contract, Canaucks were saddled with him. Thank goodness as he has been our best D-man all season, and IMO, his playoffs have showcased what we all thought about him in his rookie season.

[TheLionKing]

for what its worth, canucks had better success against SJ during the reg season.

If the Canucks get San Jose in the final, they don't have to worry about checking Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. They'll be conspicuous by their absence.

[notahomer]

Kesler even seems to have copied Dustin's B. inyourface goal celebration for the Nashville fans/bench. It was fun to watch, IMO. I also felt the Pred/Canucks series was awfully civilized for an NHL Stanley Cup Playoff series. Sure there was a little after whistle stuff and goalie snow showers but not much, I feel. I personally hate the cheap stuff but if its gonna happen then let it go for both teams. IMO, if anything, the Nucks' got some calls they just weren't getting the past three playoff series versus the Blackhawks. Certainly was surprised by Trots comments, awfully nice/classy for a losing coach. Look forward to seeing Kesler continue what he showed us so far this playoffs.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

for what its worth, canucks had better success against SJ during the reg season.

If the Canucks get San Jose in the final, they don't have to worry about checking Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. They'll be conspicuous by their absence.

QFT lol

[Robbie]

Reason 1. The travel. SJ is in the same time zone and much easier to get to than Detroit. We have already gained enough air miles for this playoffs and having a relatively close team to play against would probably be too our benefit.

So it will be indeed Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks in the conference final. I guess after flying to the midwest four times, the Canucks certainly wasn't crazy about flying there for a fifth or sixth time. As long as they pressure Antti Niemi and the goals will come and as KIA said, Patrick Marleau got his first point only tonight so the Canucks should finish the series maybe in 5 games.

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I stated several times before that I never felt that Canadian-based NHL cities represented Canada, and apparently most Canadian cities share that feeling although while I'm impartial of whether the team is based out of a Canadian (other than Vancouver) or American-based city, it seems like the other Canadian NHL cities hold a grudge against Vancouver: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Dear ... story.html

"Of some 2,500 posts related to the Vancouver-Nashville series on the Flames Forum at calgarypuck.com, the vast majority are virulently anti-Canuck ..." -Calgary Herald sports columnist Kevin Brooker, in his May 9 column.

As you can see, the rest of Canada, which we here in Vancouver officially refer to as A Good Place To Be From, has been busy reminding us that they do not like our hockey team.

"Of some 2,500 posts related to the Vancouver-Nashville series on the Flames Forum at calgarypuck.com, the vast majority are virulently anti-Canuck ..." -Calgary Herald sports columnist Kevin Brooker, in his May 9 column.

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It looks like whenever there's some major sports competition between a Canadian and American-based team, there has to be some kind of Canadian article that has to reinforce about how Americans are so ignorant about international geography and politics, and that was quite prevalent in the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. While this article does not mention the playoffs, I wonder if it was cleverly released just as the remaining Canadian-based NHL city enters the semi-final series: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Talki ... story.html

More than 1,000 Americans were asked, among other questions, if they knew the name of Canada's capital. About 48 per cent of those surveyed said they did, while the rest said they didn't know or were "not sure" where the capital was.

Of course, one can easily cause a huge debate as to who won the War of 1812.

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And speaking of international, it looks like after Canada knocked off Russia in the quarterfinals in the 2010 Winter Olympics, Russia got some revenge by knocking Canada in the quaterfinals in the 2011 IIHF.

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What do you think about the green men?



Do you think orange men would be suitable in Lions games? I don't think it would be effective.

[Sir Purrcival]

That it was a Calgary forum that was virulently anti Canuck is of no real surprise at all. Reading the posts at sites like TSN have revealed most clearly that of those posters that are predicting, nay wishing for a Canucks failure, the overwhelming amount of them are either Calgary or Oiler fans with a smattering of fans from the team we are opposing. It is sad and pathetic about how those posts change but stay the same.

Ex. Blackhawks in 5 at the start of that series
Then it was six
Then it was seven
When they came back to force that 7th game, there was much glee and "I knew they would fold" comments.

Then when the Blackhawks lost it was because "this isn't the same team as last years, they had to gut the line-up because of the salary cap".

In round two, it was all about the Nashville Defence to start with.

Nashville will check them into the ground
Nashville will out work them

When the Preds took game 2, again the naysayers were in their glee thinking that it was the beginning of the end.

Again the majority of these comments were coming from Flames and Oilers fans.

I really don't care what anybody thinks about the Canucks or their fans per se, nor does it really matter if they don't root for the Canucks, but when morons continue their drivel without any regard for facts and with obvious bias, they just look foolish and petty and sad to say there seems to be an abundance of those in Alberta right now.

Hate the Canucks all you want, but at least have the balls to admit when a team is good even if they are the enemy.

As for the Green Men, I think they should come to a game in another colour and say they are in "disguise". Either that or have 100's of fans come this way so as to handcuff the NHL in their actions against them.

[1greatmysticbushape]

ANTI NIEMI - PHHHT. WHAT A RUBE. THANK THE MAN IN THE SKY WE GET TO STRAIGHTEN HIM OUT THIS YEAR TOO.

ORANGE MEN AT THE LIONS GAMES ? ALL WE NEED IS A PENALTY BOX.

[notahomer]

I know its been said before by others but I gotta give Gillis credit for his trade deadline swaps. Both of those guys (Lapierre and Higgins) have contributed, IMO. Really enjoyed the 1st game of the Western Final Series. Nice to see the Sedins show some life. The only thing I can do without is the cheap stuff (snow showers, after the whistle etc...). That was certainly something missing from the Predator series that I don't want to see be a big part of this series either.