Nucks-Blues tilt

I was hoping to read something from the game from the Blues perspective, and there's no game thread? Weird.

(I chose to ignore the angry thread, and decided to post this instead, as I assume the other will be deleted)

I thought the game actually lived up to it's billing and there was some excellent hockey on the ice. Thought the Canucks looked a little tired, especially in the second period, and the first two Blues goals were rather weak... in that Vancouver should have been better defensively. The first... what's Jovanovski looking at the puck for? Jeeze, take the man! The second... well, miscommunication between Sopel and Cloutier, and then, Cloutier shouldn't have that much trouble stopping a shot from there. The third goal was good.

Thought the Canucks second goal was a bit flukey, but the first by King from Naslund and Daniel was very good. St.Louis seemed stronger on their skates, and overall deserved the win. Plus Osgood was very solid in net. He was a bit lucky to get a whistle at the end when the Nucks had the extra attacker, but it was a clear rule as the ref had lost site of the puck.

The Blues play a very physical, tough game, but take way too many penalties... and this is eventually going to bite back. At the moment, their PK is just excellent, and their PP as usual is very dangerous. I think the Blues are talented enough to stop using so much stick work. They have more than enough speed and skating ability to use the body rather than the slashing they keep getting called for. If the Canucks #1 power play was functioning as it should be, I think the Blues would have lost at least one point in the game, if not more. I think there are even up calls in games, so maybe they know that with the great special teams they have... they can still win?

Weight is going to be suspended, and that's how it should be. It was a brutal crosscheck, and as a long time Doug Weight fan I would have said it was uncharacteristic. At the moment, I find it difficult to be very charitable. Enough said.

Looking forward to the next game.

Actually, Since Sedin played the rest of the game, I seriously doubt that there will be any suspension. I would like to see a replay of the hit. I was there (so was IB) and I didn't have a good vantage point of the hit. I do know that Henrick was still taking his regular shifts the rest fo the game and didn't even go back to the locker room for a checkup.

As for the rest, I agree. I don't buy the tired deal in the second though. The Nucks had more than their fair chance to put some points on the board, they just didn't do it. The Blues played a better game and Osgood was very solid in net. Didn't have to be spectacular really, just solid.

I did like Cloutier's saves toward the end of the game. The Blues had 3 or 4 GREAT chances from point blank and Cloutier stopped them all. That was impressive.

One more question for anyone really:
Does Bertuzzi know how to hit anyone the same size as he is? When they are looking of course. My wife thinks he is a punk. We watched him for quite a while last night. She didn't like him right off the bat because before the US Anthem was over, he had his helmet on and was skating toward the bench. Nice show of respect there. Then, we saw him try to hit people from behind just about all night long...there was no shoulder to shoulder or even crosscheck to the front, at least you can see that coming. Everything was from behind :moon:. When he finally starts playing a fairly clean physical game like the rest of the "power forwards" then I will respect him. Right now, he is just a punk who has to hide his hits.

Actually, Since Sedin played the rest of the game, I seriously doubt that there will be any suspension. I would like to see a replay of the hit. I was there (so was IB) and I didn't have a good vantage point of the hit. I do know that Henrick was still taking his regular shifts the rest fo the game and didn't even go back to the locker room for a checkup.

As for the rest, I agree. I don't buy the tired deal in the second though. The Nucks had more than their fair chance to put some points on the board, they just didn't do it. The Blues played a better game and Osgood was very solid in net. Didn't have to be spectacular really, just solid.

I did like Cloutier's saves toward the end of the game. The Blues had 3 or 4 GREAT chances from point blank and Cloutier stopped them all. That was impressive.

One more question for anyone really:
Does Bertuzzi know how to hit anyone the same size as he is? When they are looking of course. My wife thinks he is a punk. We watched him for quite a while last night. She didn't like him right off the bat because before the US Anthem was over, he had his helmet on and was skating toward the bench. Nice show of respect there. Then, we saw him try to hit people from behind just about all night long...there was no shoulder to shoulder or even crosscheck to the front, at least you can see that coming. Everything was from behind :moon:. When he finally starts playing a fairly clean physical game like the rest of the "power forwards" then I will respect him. Right now, he is just a punk who has to hide his hits.

Nice analysis of the game .... both posts.

I just thought the Blues had more intensity, end of story.

Interesting to see all the St. Louis fans gettting such a hate-on for Bertuzzi .. I watched the game on TV and he was booed non-stop every time he touched the puck. I'd say that means he's doing his job. Say what you like, both the hits on MacInnis & Jackman were clean.

But you're right, once he stops being a punk and starts playing clean hockey like ... let's say Tkachuck ...or even Weight (to use a more recent example) then we can all respect him more.

Actually, Since Sedin played the rest of the game, I seriously doubt that there will be any suspension. I would like to see a replay of the hit. I was there (so was IB) and I didn't have a good vantage point of the hit. I do know that Henrick was still taking his regular shifts the rest fo the game and didn't even go back to the locker room for a checkup.

As for the rest, I agree. I don't buy the tired deal in the second though. The Nucks had more than their fair chance to put some points on the board, they just didn't do it. The Blues played a better game and Osgood was very solid in net. Didn't have to be spectacular really, just solid.

I did like Cloutier's saves toward the end of the game. The Blues had 3 or 4 GREAT chances from point blank and Cloutier stopped them all. That was impressive.

One more question for anyone really:
Does Bertuzzi know how to hit anyone the same size as he is? When they are looking of course. My wife thinks he is a punk. We watched him for quite a while last night. She didn't like him right off the bat because before the US Anthem was over, he had his helmet on and was skating toward the bench. Nice show of respect there. Then, we saw him try to hit people from behind just about all night long...there was no shoulder to shoulder or even crosscheck to the front, at least you can see that coming. Everything was from behind :moon:. When he finally starts playing a fairly clean physical game like the rest of the "power forwards" then I will respect him. Right now, he is just a punk who has to hide his hits.

Not to be a troll or jerk but if you watch a lot of the players towards the end of the anthems they move before it is over, I have seen at least a player from every team doing it so as for Bertuzzi I don't think he was meaning to show any disrespect. And as for his hits, if they were from behind, why were they not called??? I didn't see any from behind.

Heck of a game. Sounds like a lot of hard nosed hockey was played. Good to see a rivalry being built. I hope the next game is just a good.

Blues played with more of an edge and definitely deserved that win. My hat goes off to them.

Hey did anyone see the pregame antics. We got there before the warm-up skate. And when the warmup started both teams gathered at center ice and were talking smack. Tkachuk and drake were already face washing and jabbing people. Then i knew it was gonna be a great game.

My observations from last night.....

1. The Canucks fans need to send a memo to Bertuzzi and ask him to stop cherrypicking at the blue line. He might have been below the faceoff dots in his defensive zone 3 times all night, 2 of those in the pre-game warmup.

2. The pre-game bruhaha involved Cloutier and Danton to start. (Danton....what a shock!) I don't know exactly who started it, but they started exchanging words as they were stretching and one of the Canucks came over and said something to Danton. That got Danton on his feet and saying stuff back, everyone hears words getting exchanged and both teams get together and exchange Christmas cards. Not really much in terms of action - a few facerubs on both sides and lots of "Yeah, let's see you back that up at game time" comments.

3. Blues fans....Bertuzzi does *NOT* get his feelings hurt when you boo him, so please....stop it. Start chanting for the Blues instead and get our team fired up instead of wasting oxygen and energy booing an opponent who could really care less what we think of him.

4. The only weak goal was the SHG by Martins - should have been stopped by Cloutier, plain and simple. Otherwise, defensive breakdowns led to the other goals.

5. Don't know if they ever changed it, but the Canucks 2nd goal should have been credited to May - it went off his skate (unintentionally) and in.

I missed the Weight-Sedin incident but I can say that the Sedins were playing hard-nosed hockey all night long and weren't backing down from Pronger, Baron, etc. so aside from the Weight incident any complaints about them being roughed up during the game should fall on deaf ears - they were dishing out as much stick work as they got back getting pounded by the Blues.

One other thing.....

The best officiating all night (by far) was during the Mighty Mites game. McGeough and the other guy (who cares who it is?) were just horrible throughout the game, and if they don't get a warning after their "performance" last night then the NHL might as well take the referees off the ice and pull penalties out of the rule book.

Pronger had to tell McGeough that there were supposed to be coincidental penalties at the end of the 1st instead of just the lone penalty on Tkachuk for his get-together with Jovanowski, calling coincidental penalties for kneeing (Cloutier) and goaltender interference (Drake) was a complete joke - it was more interference than it was kneeing (Kneeing? Really?), but it still wasn't interference given where Cloutier was and what he was doing at the time, and how Nicklaus gets called for obstruction when he's trying to backcheck and the Canucks player interferes with him was laughable. On the other hand, the Canucks getting nailed for delay of game (maybe the proper call) was incredibly inconsistent with how that situation is handled throughout 99% of all games in the league. :shakehead

Just bad, bad officiating all around.

On the delay of game penalty - they said on the radio that when two guys in a row get thrown out of a faceoff, their team gets a penalty. That was an automatic penalty I guess.

That's fine....I agree it should be called, but I couldn't begin to count the # of times it's happened in the last year and it *wasn't* called.

Consistency....that's all I'm asking for.

that and $5,000,000 ... but other than that I'm not asking for anything.

Great game I cannot wait for the next one. :handclap:

I thought martins shot was slightly deflicted off something because the tragectory changed slightly on the way in... but that's just me

Hey did anyone see the pregame antics. We got there before the warm-up skate. And when the warmup started both teams gathered at center ice and were talking smack. Tkachuk and drake were already face washing and jabbing people. Then i knew it was gonna be a great game.
yeah, I saw the replay of that during the game on TV, and apparently some of the guys were smiling while talking smack to each other, so it's not really that serious. I think Cloutier was insulted by what someone said to him because mike keane tried to pull cloutier away from the croud so there wouldnt be a cloutier osgood fight. :D

yeah, I saw the replay of that during the game on TV, and apparently some of the guys were smiling while talking smack to each other, so it's not really that serious. I think Cloutier was insulted by what someone said to him because mike keane tried to pull cloutier away from the croud so there wouldnt be a cloutier osgood fight. :DCloutier is a hothead we all know that, Danton was probably just trying to get into his kitchen. :dunno:

good game although your team is a bunch of cheap shot artists. :D

This coming from a guy who has "MAY DAY" under his name...


;)