NHL 2011 Playoffs: Canucks Dominate Special Teams to Defeat Sharks
Game four of the Western Conference Finals was a special teams battle that Vancouver dominated, each around the penalty destroy and around the power play. The final score was Canucks four, Sharks 2.
San Jose received the very first five energy plays, and with 10 full minutes of power-play time within the first fifty percent of the game, the Sharks did not get around the score board.
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Then the tides turned and Vancouver drew penalty after penalty, utilizing multiple five-on-three possibilities to score 3 energy objectives in a mere one:55 of elapsed time.
Henrik Sedin had a night worthy of a captain on a group with Stanley Cup aspirations. He assisted on all 4 objectives, as well as forced a five-on-three opportunity by placing a tape-to-tape pass right onto Logan Couture's stick as San Jose was in the center of a lazy alter.
Oh, and Henrik now prospects the NHL in factors with 19.
I wonder in the event the Sharks are regretting that trade however?
If Heatley by no means plays an additional game for Group Canada, he won't be missed, at least not by me. It may be a cliche, but ever because he signed that big agreement, he appears to possess lost all determination.
It wasn't just the scorers getting it carried out for Vancouver, the grinders and depth guys did their component also.
Following being a healthy scratch for much of the playoffs, Keith Ballard proved that even the seventh defenseman on the President's Trophy team is still pretty damn good compared to the remainder of the league.
Ballard arrived from the press box to play ten:34, recording two hits and contributing to the perfect Canucks penalty kill.
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Apparently, Ballard wasn't in the mood to be thankful, as he threw this devastating hip check on Jamie McGinn.
McGinn, when you might keep in mind, was the guy accountable for the injuries to Christian Ehrhoff and Aaron Rome in Game 3 that led to Ballard's opportunity to play in Game four. Still, Ballard showed no mercy on that hit.
Ballard wasn't the only one throwing large hits.
Raffi Torres leaned right into a clean shoulder to shoulder hit that threw Joe Thornton towards the ice within the third period. Thornton would leave the game with what is suspected to be a separated shoulder.
Thornton has stated he'll play in Game five, although his coach was not so particular within the post-game press conference. Thornton may play in Game five, but he will hardly be 100 percent. And that's a definite blow towards the Shark's hopes of extending the series.
Roberto Luongo was outstanding, stopping every thing early when the Sharks had all the energy play time, and ending up having a 0.943 save proportion.
Antti Niemi however was not magnificent, finishing off the matinee having a horrible 0.692 save percentage. Still, hard to blame him for your loss when his skaters can't convert on their very own energy plays, yet quit numerous five on three possibilities.
Game 5 is 6 p.m. PT at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Unless the Sharks discover a method to discover some pride along with a sense of urgency, this sequence could be more than far faster than anyone predicted a week ago.