Burrows 4 Conn Smythe

It was an ironic title. Lets not get ahead of ourselves, we could barely get by the first round.

That being said, the Canucks did win game seven with a roller coaster of a story for burrows. First he scores 2 minutes into the game. Then he misses a penalty shot early in the third.... thats when his tide started to turn. Then late in the game, shorthanded, he coughs the puck up to toews who eventually inserts it into the back of the net, to tie it up for the Hawks. Then in overtime he puts the canucks shorthanded, forcing luongo to make the most important save of his career. Following that, he shoots it top corner over crawford. It's still unclear whether Campoli tipped the shot, or if it went straight in off of burrows stick. Either way, Alex Burrows is starting to look a whole lot like Pavel Bure.

-hark

Burrows post game:

Blackhawks Line Combos

HOSSA-JONATHAN TOEWS-SHARP
KANE-SMITH-FROLIK
BiCKELL-DOWELL-PISANi
STALBERG-JOHNSON-KOPECKY


DUNCAN KEITH-BRENT SEABROOK
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON-BRIAN CAMPBELL
NICK LEDDY-CHRIS CAMPOLI

These are the lines from the final game of the season. Interesting that the Blackhawks had Kane on the ice with Ben Smith and Michael Frolik. Not a lot of skill playing with Patrick Kane on that line and I'm sure thats part of the reason the Canucks feel comfortable calling up Cody Hodgson. Even if Cody might be out of his depths with the Canucks third line, it won't be as bad as the blackhawks third line. This year the Blackhawks third line will be Bickell, Dowell Pisani. Thats a huge change from last year when they had Bolland, Versteeg and Ladd; and that line was the most deadly out of anyone on chicago.

Brouwer and Bolland are supposed to be back soon. But Bolland is about the same stage of Crosby in his concussion. He still hasn't been cleared to take hits. Yet Bolland will probably come back early and not worry about the effects on his brain. He'll just have to hope he doesn't take a big hit from Beiksa, Hamhuis, Ballard or Oreskovich. Injury riddled Chicago is in a lot of trouble against a canucks team that is mostly healthy. Troy Brouwer is also injured.

Seabrook and Keith are definitely a deadly defensive duo, more deadly than any duo the canucks have. the question is will that pair be able to shut down the Sedin's; probably not. There is no such thing as shutting the Sedin's down, only containing them partially.

-Hark

Game 6

elimination?
canucks could suffer tonight!
a win gets home ice

flames took chi to six,
how much better is van-can,
tonights game will tell.

danielle has three points,
kesler is worse in playoofs,
burrows round 2 disappearance,

luongo can win,
but the team must get better,
to beat the red wings.

-hark

Game 4 Recap

So the Canucks had a lead with three minutes left in the game, and they blew it again and lost the game to the blackwhores. the havlat line got both the game tying goal and the ot winner. it was the first time havlat has shown up to the series.

the canucks looked bad. they couldn't genereate enough offense. they only mustered something like 15 shots on goal while chicago had over 30. the sedins were virtually non-existent, getting shut down in the offensive zone. the only line on the canucks that scored was the 4th line, when rick rypien took a move out of the todd bertuzzi school of spinoramas, and made an excellent pass to hordichuk for the 1-0 goal in the first period.

the b'whores tied it up late in the game. mitchell made a bad play to get the puck out of the zone, it hit two canucks forwards that were out of position on the boards. ladd outfought both of them for the puck, and then fed havlat who was not being covered by mitchell. i think the nickname 'the mule' should be given to ladd. he was credited for the ot winner as well.



all in all, our best defenseman mitchell was having an offnight and was -2. mitchell really screwed up on the ot winner:



bright side: we go back home to vancouver where we will be better at generating offense with the support of the home crowd. salo could be back next game as well which will help a little. there is no way our top three lines could play worse next game than they did last night.

down side: bieksa seems to have a knee injury, but he should be able to play through it.

fuck canucks. u guys can never make anything easy on yourself. two minutes left in the game and it seems like the series is on lockdown. now its looking like a fo-sho 7 gamer.

i think canucks fans need a laugh. heres some lost tpb footage of jroc



-hark

Game 4

This could be the most crucial game of the series for the canucks. if you win tonights game, you can pretty much put the blackhawks away, by only having to win 1 of the next 3 games. luongo can win at least 1 in every 3 games. but if we lose tonights game, then the blackhawks are right back in the series.

Keys to the game for chicago: score first. or dont score first and come back again like usual

keys to the game for van: score first. luongo plays well. sundin tries to keep up with kesler and raymond. the sedins and sundin backcheck. don't take stupid penalties. and o'brien has to not fuck up. i think we can do all these things.

injury update: sami salo did not skate today, and the canucks are saying that he won't play. however, yesterday he did skate with the team. i think the canucks might be trying to fake out the blackwhores. salo will play tonight, and the blackhawks will be crushed during warmup when they realize that the best canucks defenseman is back in the lineup. salo has not played too great for the canucks, but he has played surprising good against the blackwhores.he has 4 goals in his last 7 periods against the blackhawks.

Story of the Game/Story of the Series

The canucks have been able to come out strong early in the game. we have gone up 3-0, 2-0, 3-0 in the first 3 games respectively. blackhawks don't look as strong as us early in the game. they can't skate with us. and when they start playing physical and trying to scare us we have been able to exploit it. if you look at the mason raymond goal, the first one of the game, two blackhaks were laying a hit on kesler beside the net, which left mason raymond wide open streaking in from the point to pop it home. chicago has some sloppy coverage when they try and play physical.

but the amazing thing about chicago is they are always able to break our defensive system. so many teams get turned aside and have to wait for a powerplay in order to get a chance on us. but chicago gets the puck deep and generates chances, even when they're losing 3-0. you've got to give them credit, and they're probably only going to get better as this series goes along.

if the blackhawks do win the stanley cup, they would have to give the conn smythe to bifugly. this guys is definitely their best player. did you see the tsn segment about him where they said he used to be 290 pounds before he lost weight? this guy is a tough goon, of the todd bertuzzi elite power forward school. bifugly is getting time on the top line. he drives to the net and screens luongo, and size wise there is no better player in the league to have as your screen. bifugly even scored a goal on luongo in that 6-3 blowout win. apparently he is getting to luongos head. it definitely looked like lou was frustrated in the loss on saturday. lou was trash talking bifugly in his post game interview, check it out:



-hark

How the Playoffs could Unfold

With Anaheim's win over san jose last night, they have nearly put the nails to the coffin of the Sharks tremendous year. Bobby Ryan has looked amazing in the playoffs so far. He has had 4 goals in 4 games, and has been playing tremendous on the line with Getzlaf and Perry. Getzlaf is the set up man and Bobby Ryan is the finisher.

I am really hoping for anaheim to win this series, because then canucks will have home ice advantage next round. if the ducks win, they will play detroit next round, while the canucks will play the winner of calgary/chicago.

The calgary chicago series is definitely the best series of the first round. the blackhawks definitely look like the favorite at this point for two reasons. 1) the blackhawks have home ice advantage for the final best of 3 series. 2) the flames roster is very depleted. i have been saying that this one will go to seven games for a while and i still believe it will. tsn injury update is saying that lang-con-bourque are all questionable for saturdays game.

having a lot of injuries this time of year is not bad luck. it is a sign that your players have been overworked and have not had enough time to rest. for the canucks past 3 years there have been massive injuries on their defensive core. i first thought that we were just unlucky, and that we had the curse of the jade groin. but it was really because we were asking our players to do too much. even while their groins were soar, we were asking them to play because its better to have an injured willie mitchell than a healthy ossi vanaanen.

the fact of the matter for the flames is that they have lost two of their best faceoff men in langkow and conroy. they have lost their best defenseman in regher. and they have lost their best secondary scorer in rene bourque, who has likely reinjured his ankle. while the chicago blackwhores have no injuries to contend with, although they probably have some sore players on the ice like patrick kane. if the flames can find a way to beat the blackhawks with this injury riddled team, then if they are able to get some of their injured players back in the second round, they will be a force to contend with. for now, iginla needs to keep on scoring, you need to keep getting secondary scoring from guys like nystrom, and phaneuf has to keep playing effective.

interesting note: todd bertuzzi is leading the team in plus/minus with a plus 4. he is tied with jordan leopold who i have not been very impressed with so far this series. leopold has already taken 4 minor penalties this playoffs.

400th Post: the Calgary Flames injury Update

Congrats guys, we made it to 400. We will have paid our dues to the devil and will stop being slaves to this blog once we post 30,000. lets keep up the good work, we're almost there.

this post is about injuries, which is a very important topic if you are a calgary flames fan. the flames lost last night, kindly handing the division to the vancouver canucks. it is now looking like flames will finish 5th, and play chicago in the first round. it will be a good matchup and probably one of the best series in the first round, just because both teams are so even. only a couple of points separate them and both teams have a real physical element to their game. It will be beautiful hockey.

when it comes to injuries in chi-town, currently patrick sharp is injured for the blackwhores. he's one of their star players. however its an injury that he's working through and he should be back in the lineup tonight. versteeg is suffering the same type of injury. overall, the only other b'whores player with a long term injury is brent sopel, but he is expendable.

the flames on the otherhand have more pressing injury concerns. firstly, superstar forward rene bourque has been injured since he was slew-footed way back in february. he has been sadly missed in the goal scoring department since his departure. furthermore, 3 of calgary's 4 best defenseman are injured. regher and sarich have both been out ten days, and the IR states them as being "out indefinitely". Then there's the case of dion phaneuf. he's been playing awful lately, and many flames fans should question if they actually want him back. but he is a clutch playoff performer so its crucial that he comes back to the lineup soon. he got injured off of a hit by alex burrows in the game against vancouver the other day.

All in all, the first round should be a good series for chi-town and cal-city. but with all the flames injuries they are going to have their work set out for their against the blackhawks. if they can emerge out of the first round without many more injuries, they can hopefully expect to be a healthy team for the second round. but who knows? maybe the flames will lose in the first round for the 4th straight year.

-hark