Official: Vancouver Canucks W00T

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Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
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Blues exact revenge on Canucks

Associated Press
3/18/2003

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Chris Osgood wasn't overly pleased with his home debut with the St. Louis Blues, but he'll happily take the win.

Osgood managed to earn his second successive victory with the Blues, despite stopping only 21 of 25 shots in St. Louis' 6-4 victory Tuesday night over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Blues acquired him just before the NHL trade deadline last week to shore up their shaky goaltending. In his first start for St. Louis at Nashville, Osgood stopped 35 shots in a 1-0 win last Saturday.

``I felt sharp,'' said Osgood, who improved to 12-1-4 against Vancouver. ``You're not always going to get the bounces.

``You have to battle and figure out who to make the big saves at the right time to keep your team in it. It's fun playing in a game like this that means something.

``I would have loved to let in less than four goals but I mean, sometimes the bounces don't go your way. You have to battle through and find a way to win.''

Peter Cajanek and Eric Boguniecki scored 40 seconds apart in the third period for St. Louis, which trailed 4-3 heading into the second period despite outshooting the Canucks 22-20.

Dan Cloutier made his first start for the Canucks since Feb. 25 when he hurt his knee against Atlanta.

Boguniecki pulled the Blues even at 4-4 with a power-play goal at 3:35 of the third. The puck came to Boguniecki at the side of the net after a shot by Dallas Drake bounced off a Vancouver defenceman. He scored into an open net.

Cajanek scored his second goal of the game 40 seconds later on a deflected wrist shot from the top of the slot, putting St. Louis ahead for the first time at 5-4.

``I'm not sure what happened,'' Cloutier said. ``I can't even think about them right now. I can't remember them all there were so many.

``I didn't feel rusty at all. I knew coming in it was going to be a high-scoring game. The times we've played St. Louis it's been like that.''

Scott Mellanby finished the scoring with his second goal, into an empty net, with 45 seconds remaining.

Drake also scored for the Blues, who outshot Vancouver 13-5 in the third period and 35-25 overall. It was the fourth and final meeting between the teams. Vancouver won the season series 2-1-1.

Brendan Morrison, Trevor Linden, Trent Klatt and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks.

``I don't think we ran out of gas,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. ``We just made a few mistakes.''

Canucks forward Markus Naslund agreed.

``I thought we were sloppy throughout the game,'' Naslund said. ``We gave up a lot of chances and that resulted in goals. Our team defence wasn't what it was supposed to be.''

St. Louis is 7-1-1 in its last nine games and unbeaten in five home games.

The Canucks took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Morrison and Linden.

A St. Louis goal was disallowed at 8:45 for goalie interference by Tyson Nash. The Blues cut the lead to 2-1 when Drake scored on a rebound at 14:46.

In the second period, St. Louis got goals by Cajanek and Mellanby but Klatt and Sedin scored for Vancouver as the Canucks took a 4-3 lead into the third period.

Notes: Blues RW Valeri Bure, acquired March 11 from Florida, has yet to play for the Blues. He is recovering from a sprained knee and is expected to be out for another week. ... The Blues released G Fred Brathwaite.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Canucks send Auld to minors

Canadian Press
3/18/2003

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Vancouver Canucks sent goalie Alex Auld to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL on Tuesday, making room for the return of Dan Cloutier.

Auld made 26 saves and picked up his second NHL win at Dallas on Monday. The 22-year-old rookie was 1-2 with a 1.48 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage in four games. He was recalled on March 3.

Cloutier missed 10 games after spraining his right knee during a Feb. 25 shutout against Atlanta. He is fourth in the NHL with 31 wins.

Cloutier will be backed up by struggling veteran Peter Skudra, who has surrendered 20 goals and been pulled twice in his last six starts.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Canucks look to tame Predators

The Sports Network
3/20/2003

(Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks will try to improve their positioning in the Western Conference playoff race this evening when the Nashville Predators come to town.

Vancouver resides in the top slot in the Northwest Division and third in the West overall. The Canucks are just two points behind second-seeded Dallas and three points back of No. 1 Detroit. Vancouver owns a six-point advantage over Colorado in the Northwest as well.

The Canucks suffered a 6-4 setback at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. They have now lost two of their last three and have just one win in the past four games (1-2-1).

Brendan Morrison, Trevor Linden, Trent Klatt and Daniel Sedin each lit the lamp for the Canucks, while Dan Cloutier made 29 saves in the loss. Cloutier played his first game since February 25 after suffering a knee sprain.

Vancouver has tallied a 6-2-3 mark in its last 11 home games, improving its overall home record to 19-11-6-0. The Canucks are 11-5-2-1 versus the Central Division and 28-15-9-1 against the West.

Nashville is just 1-4-2-1 in its last eight games, fading into 10th in the West. The Predators' playoff hopes are dwindling quickly, as they are now 10 points behind eighth-place Edmonton.

The Predators slipped up again on Monday, falling 5-3 to Edmonton. Denis Arkhipov scored twice and Vladimir Orszagh also tallied for the Predators, who have not won in their last five games (0-4-1). Arkhipov scored a power-play goal for the first time in 61 games.

Tomas Vokoun made 18 saves in the losing effort. Vokoun started his 59th game of the year, surpassing Mike Dunham's previous team record of 58.

Nashville is only 2-4-2-1 in its last nine road games to drop to 9-13-7-5 in such contests. The Predators are 5-9-3-0 versus the Northwest Division and 19-22-8-3 against the West.

Vancouver has won two of three meetings this season and has posted an 8-2-1 mark in the last 11 clashes. Nashville has lost five straight and six of its last seven at Vancouver.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
McCabe furious over diving fine

Canadian Press
3/20/2003

TORONTO (CP) - An angry Bryan McCabe of the Toronto Maple Leafs is among the first NHLers to be fined $1,000 US by the NHL for diving.

In only its second week of penalizing players who ``cross the embarrassment line'' when it comes to flagrant dives, McCabe is on a list of five players that the league decided were a little too light on their skates last week.

On the list with McCabe are New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, Darius Kasparaitis and Matthew Barnaby of the New York Rangers and Shaun Van Allen of the Ottawa Senators.

McCabe was called out for an incident with the Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi in Vancouver during the Leafs' 1-0 win last Saturday. The two became entangled in front of the net and then exchanged gloved pushes with McCabe eventually flopping to the ice. Bertuzzi was given a two-minute minor for holding. McCabe escaped punishment until now.

And he was furious when told by a reporter that he was now wearing the NHL's version of the scarlet letter.

``I am? For what? For Bertuzzi pushing me? You can quote me on this. Did I dive when he speared me in the (private parts) and they didn't call a penalty? They had a picture of it in the paper,'' said a steaming McCabe, a player who does not have a reputation for diving.

``They didn't call a penalty and now I'm a (expletive) diver because he punched me in the head and I went down?''

Before the exchange with Bertuzzi, in a graphic exchange caught by a Canadian Press photographer, the Canuck was clearly testing the strength of McCabe's protective cup.

If the league's intent is to remove flagrant diving from its game by publicly humiliating players - the lists are supposed to be posted in team dressing rooms - it doesn't wash with McCabe.

``They can put me down (on their list) ... whatever. They don't call half the (crap) that goes on. I get speared in the (groin) the play before, then I get punched in the head and I go down and it's a dive? So (expletive) them.''

After McCabe's rant, he went back into the private area of the dressing room, but he could be heard loudly cursing as he told his teammates that he'd been listed as a diver.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
11
81
ROFL @ the sportsnet power poll...

What is your favourite amateur sports event to watch?

NCAA tournament
US College Bowl Series
Olympics
Memorial Cup
Hot oil wrestling at the Cecil <---- What I voted for and has 21.64% of the vote :D
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Reid powers Canucks past Predators

Canadian Press
3/21/2003

VANCOUVER (CP) - Rookie Brandon Reid was almost nonchalant coming back on the ice for a curtain call after being named the first star.

"I wanted to seize the moment and take it in," Reid said Thursday night after his first two NHL goals helped propel the Vancouver Canucks to a 7-3 victory over the Nashville Predators.

"It doesn't happen too often and I just wanted to make it special."

The speedy Reid, a five-foot-nine centre who darts like a waterbug, was called up from the AHL's Manitoba Moose to fill in for injured Artem Chubarov and has made the most of his opportunity.

He also assisted on another goal, giving him four points in the only two NHL games the 22-year-old has played in.

Reid scored on a backhand that sent Nashville's starting netminder Tomas Vokoun to the bench in the first period and roared around the net to beat replacement Wade Flaherty on a wraparound in the second period.

He assisted on Vancouver's goal in a 1-1 tie with the Canadiens on March 1 in Montreal.

And Reid says he's not surprised by his early success.

"You visualize it happening that way," said Reid who was inserted between Trevor Letowski, who also scored, and Matt Cooke.

"I give a lot of credit to my linemates. With the speed that we have, they (Nashville) couldn't handle it. I have my speed and that's the biggest part of my game. They've told me before to use my speed and use my creativity."

His second NHL game was easier to play than the first, said Reid, who only kept one of the two pucks he put behind the Nashville netminders.

"It was a lot less stressful. The first game took me almost two periods to get into it. This time I felt real good right off the bat."

The Canucks chased Vokoun after scoring on three of their first four shots. Flaherty, playing his first NHL minutes this season, saw the Canucks' lead balloon to 5-0 by 1:10 of the second period before Denis Arkhipov scored the first of his two goals to give him four in two games.

Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund continued to share the NHL goal-scoring lead at 43 as both scored in the first period.

Other Canuck snipers were Trent Klatt 30 seconds into the game and Trevor Linden. Karlis Skratins scored the third Predators goal with 30 seconds remaining in the contest.

It was a key victory for the Northwest Division-leading Canucks who kept the surging Colorado Avalanche six points back. The Avs, with two games in hand, had beaten San Jose before Vancouver took the ice.

"It's nice to get that monkey off your back but I think the key is with Colorado winning we're keeping up," Naslund said of only his second goal in 12 games.

Bertuzzi led the race for the Richard Trophy that goes to the league's top goal scorer for nine minutes but Naslund said the two linemates aren't competing against each other.

"I think it's being made too much of a big deal," said Naslund. "If you watch us play, you see us looking for each other.

"Whoever's in the best position is going to get the puck and that's why we've been successful."

Bertuzzi also downplayed any rivalry.

"I knew it wasn't going to last long anyway so it's no big deal to me," he said of taking the lead.

"We're just going about our business. Obviously if we're scoring it betters our chances of winning the game."

Flaherty said it was tough to come in down 3-0 early in a game but the Reid line made it tougher.

"They had a lot of speed and we just couldn't contain them. They took it to us."

NOTES: Vancouver defenceman Mattias Ohlund, out three weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery, could begin skating next week. ... Chubarov (abdominal strain) and Mats Lindgren (back spasms) remain doubtful for Sunday's game against the Washington Capitals. ... Of Vancouver's seven remaining games, six are against clubs below them in the standings and four are against teams currently out of a playoff position. ... Canucks G Dan Cloutier, who missed 10 games with a sprained right knee, expects to experience soreness in the joint for four months. ... Ex-Canuck Todd Warriner returned to GM Place with the Predators, his third team this season.

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
Originally posted by: silverpig
Brandon Reid = teh GOOD!!! :D

And that guy on ESPN ranked use 30th on the talent list in our minor team.

How about Reid, King, Kavaugh & Auld :D

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
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