Canucks have Wild against the wall
Sports Network
5/5/2003
(Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks try to advance to their first conference final in nine years tonight when they welcome the Minnesota Wild to GM Place for Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal set.
Vancouver, ahead three games to one, last made it to the conference finals in 1994, defeating Toronto via sweep. That year, of course, the Canucks fell in seven games to the NY Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The current Canucks are in the position they're in because of Friday's 3-2 overtime victory at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Defenseman Brent Sopel scored a power-play goal 15:52 into the extra session to provide the heroics, capping off the comeback win. Sopel also assisted on Ed Jovanovski's goal late in the third period that forced the extra session.
Matt Cooke also scored for the Canucks, who swept both games on the Wild's ice, and Dan Cloutier made 25 saves.
Marian Gaborik scored both goals -- his seventh and eighth of the playoffs -- for the Wild, who find themselves trailing 3-1 for the second straight series. Minny rallied from a 3-1 deficit to knock off Colorado in the first round, but no team in NHL history has ever come back from 3-1 down twice in the same playoff season.
"This team will never surrender," said Wild forward Darby Hendrickson. "We're down a few and we've just got to work to get back."
The Canucks, who have lost only once since falling behind St. Louis 3-1 in the first round, aren't taking anything for granted.
"They've done it before just like we have. I'm sure they're believing that they can get it done," Jovanovski said of the Wild possibly coming back. "It's always tough winning that fourth game, and you've got to respect that team over there because they work hard and they stick with it."
Minnesota has done a solid job containing the potent Canucks attack, especially the duo of Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi, and each game of this series has been decided by just one goal. The difference, perhaps, has been the contribution of Vancouver defensemen like Sopel and Jovanovski.
Canuck blueliners have accounted for half of the team's 12 goals this series, with four coming off the stick of Jovanovski. His four-game goal-scoring streak is one shy of the NHL playoff record for a defenseman, set by Edmonton's Paul Coffey in 1983. Boston's Bobby Orr (1970) and Buffalo's Mike Ramsey (1983) also scored in four straight postseason games.
If Minnesota wins tonight, Game 6 will be played Wednesday in St. Paul.
Cheers,
Aquaman