Linden leads Canucks to Game 7 win
Canadian Press
4/23/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - Coach Marc Crawford called it the first step.
For the Vancouver Canucks it was like hurdling a mountain of past failures and uncertainty.
Trevor Linden scored shorthanded 28 seconds into the third period and assisted on Brendan Morrison's go-ahead goal in the second as the Canucks completed their playoff comeback to defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 in Tuesday's Game 7 to win their first NHL series in eight years.
Henrik Sedin and Markus Naslund, on the power play, also scored for the Canucks who rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to win the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final.
Vancouver will face the Minnesota Wild in the second round which begins Friday at G.M. place (CBC, 10 p.m. EDT).
``We've taken a step,'' said Crawford.
``It's a very important step. I told the guys I really feel this is our time and we have to take that step. They went out and performed extremely well. When you win that first series you get the idea.''
In a quiet Blues dressing room the players tried to understand how they let a stranglehold on the series slip through their fingers like a child dropping an ice cream cone.
``They're a good team,'' said Doug Weight, who led the Blues with 13 points and five goals.
``Once you get life you inch back into the series and that's what they did.''
The Canucks hadn't won a playoff series since 1995 when they beat the Blues in seven games in the opening round. Since then the Canucks weathered years of turmoil, player exodus and coaching changes.
Vancouver missed the playoffs for four straight years. They were swept in four games by Colorado in 2001 and last year held a 2-0 lead on Detroit before losing the next four games.
``It's a breakthrough time for everybody,'' said grinding forward Trent Klatt, whose crunching hit on defenceman Barret Jackman helped set up Sedin's tying goal in the first period.
``Everyone wanted us and expected us to do more than we did last year. Not to come out of the first round, in everyone's eyes including ours, would have been a disappointment.''
Martin Rucinsky scored for the Blues who received an emotional lift when captain Al MacInnis, out since the second game of the series with a shoulder injury, returned to the lineup.
It wasn't enough.
Linden, the former Vancouver captain who has played in every Game 7 in Canucks history, scored on a 2-on-1 break with Jarkko Ruutu off for interference. He waited for defenceman Chris Pronger to sprawl on the ice, then fired a laser over goaltender Chris Osgood's glove to make the score 4-1.
``We were just going to battle to get that kill and work from there,'' Linden said.
``Doug Weight misplayed the puck at the blue-line. I was able to steal it from him. Sometimes when you shoot it actually goes where you want it to.''
Weight was left shaking his head over the play.
``I was going to take it (the puck) off my left skate and it kind of curled on me,'' he said.
``Linden made me pay. It was a tough goal.''
Naslund said he felt the series shift after Vancouver's win in Game 5.
``I think we started seeing it in their eyes,'' he said.
``It felt like they were wearing down a bit, getting tired and we just got stronger.''
Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier celebrated his 27th birthday by making 33 saves. He helped redeem himself from last year's playoff loss to Detroit where he allowed a long-shot goal in Game 3 and was yanked from the final two games in the first period.
The Blues looked to have control of the game when Rucinsky scored at the one-minute mark, sending a shiver though the frenzied, towel-waving sellout crowd of 18,514.
St. Louis made everything look easy, skating with confidence and making plays look simple. The Canucks meanwhile laboured to get the puck out of their own end and couldn't complete a pass.
Vancouver gained some confidence when Sedin tied the game at 11:54 of the first, then the momentum shifted when power forward Todd Bertuzzi flattened defenceman Bryce Salvador with a thunderous hit.
One the same night, the Canucks and the Wild became the 17th and 18th teams in 194 series to win a playoff round after trailing 3-1.
Twice before Vancouver had rebounded from 3-1 deficits to win a series. The last time was in 1994 when they beat the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs and went on to lose the Stanley Cup final in seven games to the New York Rangers.
The Canucks finished the regular season fourth in the Western Conference with a franchise record 104 points, five more than the fifth-place Blues.
Notes - Osgood played without a stick for over 30 seconds in the first period but Vancouver didn't get a shot on net. ... Bertuzzi entered the game leading all players with 34 minutes in penalties. ... The Blues payroll is $60 million US, about twice Vancouver's $32 million.
Cheers,
Aquaman