Canucks vs Oilers Post Game Thoughts

Much like December 17th when the Oilers and Canucks met on Trevor Linden night, the game was overshadowed by another story. Mats Sundin was finally going to dress for the Canucks this season! After months of speculation and weeks of waiting we should finally get to see the man in action. While he didn’t put a point on the board in the Canucks 4-2 victory there were a lot of positives to take from the game. More on Sundin in a bit though.

Just yesterday in my previous blog entry I talked about how Steve Bernier was having trouble finishing off his chances, well tonight I was extremely pleased to see that he was able to capitalize as he scored twice in 12 seconds in the second period to put the Canucks ahead 3-1 heading to the intermission. The two goals were just three seconds off the record for fastest two goals by a Canuck. Not to be forgotten was the nice set up from behind the net by Bernier to assist on Alex Burrows goal with just over five minutes left in the second to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately he could not pick up the hat trick as he hit the post midway through the third period in a scramble in front of Roloson. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Bernier who will no doubt be finding himself teamed up with Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows more often with Hansen being sent down to the minors.

Overall I thought the Canucks played a fantastic road game. Through the first two periods they prevented Edmonton from getting any kind of real scoring chance other than the one which Edmonton ended up scoring on the power play. The relatively light night for Jason LaBarbera was a large contrast from his first three games in Vancouver when he was forced to make a few big saves to keep the Canucks in the game. LaBarbera can not really be blamed on either Edmonton goal as they had three whacks on the first and a fantastic/lucky deflection by Erik Cole on the second left him no chance on the shot that appeared would go way wide. All in all it didn’t seem to be your typical Oilers-Canucks game as the first 35 minutes were rather slow and tightly checked rather than the wide open games these two teams usually generate. I can’t complain however, as I am just happy to see the Canucks pick up the two points they desperately need from this game.

If there was one negative to make about tonight’s game was that I didn’t like how the Canucks allowed the Oilers back into the game right after Burrows had scored. It was really an opportunity for them to take control of the game and not allow the Oilers any momentum to tie the game up. Instead the Oilers came out with a good shift and Bieksa ended up taking a penalty and the game was soon tied up. This seems like a theme that has come up a bit too often lately. The Canucks have lacked some of that killer instinct to put games away early. Bernier’s second goal did give the Canucks a two goal lead eventually though and it was too much for the Oilers to overcome, although they certainly made it interesting with a few great chances late.

Back on to the topic of Sundin, I had originally had him pegged for about 12 minutes tonight and I was surprised that he managed to play 15:03 after playing only 3 minutes and change in the first period. The first period was really a feeling out period it would seem as he seemed to take almost half shifts while Raymond and Wellwood were still holding possession in the Oilers zone. The biggest thing he did in that period was throw a hit in the corner on his first shift.

The second was a lot more active for Sundin, he was a strong big body in front of the net and played the power play. He spent some time playing the left side of the top power play unit with the Sedins and it was pretty clear that it was going to take some time for the trio to jell. Sundin was content at setting up just below the face off dot trying to pick up one timers while the Sedin’s game was much more cycle orientated. That’s not to say that they won’t make up a deadly power play combo in the future, its just that there is simply work to be done. The couple shots that he did end up attempting were blocked or deflected. Mats did not end up registering a shot on goal. Also towards the end of the period I was pleased to see him not back down from Steve Staios. After a long layoff it’s easy to try and shy away from that kind of thing but he wasn’t going to take any of it from the Oilers tonight.

The third was much like the second period, Sundin showed flashes of the dominant power forward that he is by driving the puck to the net on one shift and making a few more shot attempts. All in all I think Sundin played it mostly like a pre-season game. It was certainly a feeling out process for him and he should be much more dangerous on Friday and Saturday.

Canucks Player of the Game: Steve Bernier (2 goals, 1 assist, +2, 13:13 TOI)

If you have comments or anything else to add than I’d love to hear from you.