GDT: Minnesota @ Vancouver - Dec 12th

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Season series: Third of six meetings this season between Northwest Division rivals, with Vancouver winning the first two. The Canucks edged the Wild 2-1 on home ice Oct. 17 behind a third-period goal by Mikael Samuelsson. A rare goal by tough guy Darcy Hordichuk opened the scoring and sparked them to a 5-2 victory in Minnesota on Nov. 5.

Big story: Minnesota could pass both Vancouver and Edmonton into third place in the Northwest with a regulation win Saturday. It took the Wild longer than expected to click under new coach Todd Richards, but now that they have it seems impossible to stop them. First-place Calgary found that out Friday when, despite the best efforts of goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, the Wild still found a way to pull out a 2-1 overtime victory.

Who's hot: Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom is hitting his stride – he's allowed just three goals in his last three starts and has a .961 save percentage.

Vancouver is happy to have a full contingent of Sedins once again. Daniel has five goals and nine points in his last five games, while Henrik has put together five consecutive two-assist games and ranks third in the League with 38 points. Their linemate, Alexandre Burrows, has three goals and six points in the last five games.

Injury report: Defenseman Brent Burns and forwards Andrew Ebbett, Petr Sykora and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are all out for the Wild due to concussions.

Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler is expected to miss two weeks after a hard check into the boards against the Predators resulted in an injury to his left arm. Forwards Michael Grabner (broken ankle), Alexandre Bolduc (shoulder) and Pavol Demitra (shoulder) are all on injured reserve. Demitra has not played yet this season.
 
hockeykid87 said:
Hank in 3rd for scoring, who would have guessed?
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Ya, not bad for a 'second or third liner' on most other teams. Also not bad for a player who is 'nothing without his brother.' Especially not bad for a player who is 'soft' and 'can't take the rough stuff.' Not bad for someone who would be 'grossly overpaid at 4M.'

Will he stay in third? Not likely. Has he proven himself to some of the naysayers this season? I sure hope so, especially with so many games with Daniel injured.
 
Orca Pod said:
Pat - what does this mean?
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I think they are referring to this:

Injury report: Defenseman Brent Burns and forwards Andrew Ebbett, Petr Sykora and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are all out for the Wild due to concussions.

Not Vancouver specifically giving them concussions. Just Wild getting concussions in general.
 
Not trying to start a bickering fest, but is anyone else embarassed for Ryan Kesler and that fake glove drop with Koivu? I mean, really, come on Ryan. He plays with an edge and all and he's not dirty like a lot of pests which is fine, but anytime anyone even halfway tough sqaures up with him he refuses to drop the gloves. Challenging Koivu like that really is quite embarassing, and makes him look like a complete toolshed. It's no wonder Mitchell wanted to pound him in practice.

On a positive note, Burrows has really toned it downthis year, and you can tell he is the one guy benefiting the most from Daniel getting healthy. That line is proving to be one of the most lethal lines in hockey right now, they can score at will when they want to no matter who they are playing against. Very entertaining to watch them dangle.
 
WildforCup10 said:
the ref won the game for the Canucks
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:rolleyes:

Seriously now, how can you say that? Was it the Havlat high stick to eye of Hansen that you had a problem with? Or the blatant Boogard dive?

I am really starting to get SFT of people blaming refs for losses. Yes, there are times calls are missed, and there are definitely calls that should not have been made, but in this game, the officiating was very consistent. Minnesota got away with five picks that I saw, and Vancouver got away with a couple of elbows.

The officiating had nothing to do with the outcome of this game.

Tony - I was not embarassed by what Kesler did. Koivu and him had been jawing at each other, and Kesler was basically saying 'put your fists where your gloves are.' Koivu declined. No big deal.
 
See you knew the plays and you know what I am talking about.

It seems like everytime the Wild go to General Motors place we always seem to have that monkey on our backs. I say let them play the game how it is supposed to be played!

That last power play gave you a goal on a play that should not have been called. Hansen lifted Havlat stick and it was not his fault.

Also the Wild outplayed the Canucks in about every area except power play. The Wild won the face off battle and the shot battle.

I do give props to Luongo for standing on his head and making unbelievable stops!


Orca Pod said:
:rolleyes:

Seriously now, how can you say that? Was it the Havlat high stick to eye of Hansen that you had a problem with? Or the blatant Boogard dive?

I am really starting to get SFT of people blaming refs for losses. Yes, there are times calls are missed, and there are definitely calls that should not have been made, but in this game, the officiating was very consistent. Minnesota got away with five picks that I saw, and Vancouver got away with a couple of elbows.

The officiating had nothing to do with the outcome of this game.

Tony - I was not embarassed by what Kesler did. Koivu and him had been jawing at each other, and Kesler was basically saying 'put your fists where your gloves are.' Koivu declined. No big deal.
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pmc336699 said:
New hockey technique #37: Lift opposing player's stick into your own face, so they get a high-sticking penalty.:rolleyes:
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That and Hortichuk punching Boogaard in the mush and not getting anything. They always see the retaliation. The refs are always watching Boogaard for anything. No wonder Kerry Fraser is retiring after this year....... :rolleyes:

Some pretty bogus ref calls. Not saying they won the game for the Nucks, but they did call some things that make you go "WTF!!!"

Overall, the Wild played good. Just a few calls going against them and a couple good plays by the Nucks (they figured out how to score against Harding...roof, baby!), spelled victory for Vancouver.

Plus Luongo made a few awesome saves. He won the game in my opinion.

Good game to watch...even a flurry finish! :dance:
 
GabbyGuy said:
That and Hortichuk punching Boogaard in the mush and not getting anything. They always see the retaliation. The refs are always watching Boogaard for anything. No wonder Kerry Fraser is retiring after this year....... :rolleyes:
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Aint that the truth. The NHL is famous for their "reputation" calls.

On HNIC tonight, PJ Stock was going on about the way Crosby was smacking around Ballard tonight. He said "If that were me, I'd have at least 12 minutes in penalties for doing that"...so true.

As for the game...yup, there were some questionable calls. Today they went the Canucks way...next game they might not. The Sedins'/Burrows line continues to rack up the points. Luongo looked amazing at times, yet shaky on a few occasions. The Wild did look good, but tonight, looking good wasn't what it took to win.
 
koondog44 said:
As for the game...yup, there were some questionable calls. Today they went the Canucks way...next game they might not. The Sedins'/Burrows line continues to rack up the points. Luongo looked amazing at times, yet shaky on a few occasions. The Wild did look good, but tonight, looking good wasn't what it took to win.
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I agree with you 100% about the top line. And it is also good to see the powerplay clicking as well. When Daniel initially got back the powerplay struggled mightily.

As for the issues with the refs. It is what it is. The only issue you can really have is with the Boogaard call. You can say that you don't like the high sticking call in the third; however, that has always been the rule. So please don't say the refs should not have called it. It is a subtle yet important distinction to make.

Regardless the Wild did carry much of the play, and I am glad the Canucks pulled out the win.
 

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