(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (8) Los Angeles Kings Series Thread

[jstewismybastardson]

AV had him at hello

 

[naslundfan19]

I could understand that. It definitely wasn't an illegal check. He kept his shoulder down and made initial contact with the shoulder. He didn't accelerate into the hit (nor take strides, looked like he stayed the same speed throughout) and he didn't leave his feet. Henrik didn't have the puck though, so it was close to interference and I could have lived with that call.

Yep. My thoughts exactly.

 

[naslundfan19]

Before I heard the potential good news on Daniel, I was with matty in saying series over. Now, if he can somehwo play, not so sure about that.

 

[mattola]

Gallagher: If Canucks can't come back then give them a new coach

 

[puckhead]

they tried to thug it up and failed. not sure why they tried to do that as they are not good at it. not sure why AV can't control that group for how it acts on the ice. maybe he wants them to act that way. i dont know. series is not over but it is. this year is a really squandered opportunity and is a real set back. makes last season loss all the greater to me. Canucks wanted to get bigger and meaner and failed. wrong players brought in?

Weise under 2 minutes, Kassian under 4 minutes.
he's got the meat, but is afraid to use them.

 

[SLY]

Gallagher: If Canucks can't come back then give them a new coach

The real question is... Do you guys want to see him go? (barring a miracle and coming back from 0-3)

 

[mattola]

The real question is... Do you guys want to see him go? (barring a miracle and coming back from 0-3)

its hard to say. I get so mad at some of his decisions for example

why isn't Lapierre on the top line while Daniel is out, we are not scoring why wasn't that line starting. it worked well enough late in the season

the d pairings have been all over the place and I believe was a part of the keystone cops we have gone through with them.

but again. 2 years in a row best record in the NHL
a SCF last year
4 straight Division titles.

he has shown progress every year.

but a first round loss is unacceptable for this team and market. as other points indicated on how they have played this year and this playoffs it shows its not going right at least for me.

Im really 50/50 on this. lets see if they can make a series out of this and get LA on their heels.

of all things though that bug me the most is the PP and its utter demise I know its not his direct control (that is Browns) but he is responsible overall for allowing it to continue the way it has gone down. that really makes me unhappy.

Gallagher makes a couple points but I truly believe that fucking guy would have this team be a bottom feeder or mid pack team for years so he has column after column after column to write. its hard to find things wrong when so much goes right but he does.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

for me I think its the way he handles players personnally that will end up costing him his job. He sucked the confidence out of Ballard and he was one of the reasons Cody Hodgson asked for a trade. One thing that hasnt gotten much play is the way he has handled the Sedins with reagrds to the shootout. I think it pisses them off that he very very rarely let them have the puck on their sticks with the game (or extra point) on the line. During the season, there was an article that is out there where the Sedins basically rolled their eyes at not being involved in shootouts.

Mike Gillis gave him alot of rope with regards to player personnel decisions and he's kinda let AV hang himself with that. AV was the guy who wanted to do the about face and go from skill to grinding team ... half way through the season??? obviously AV didnt have the confidence in his team and I think it shows in the way his players are playing for him in the past couple months since the trade deadline.

for me its about confidence in the team you coach ... and when you can only give your 4th line guys 2 and 4 minutes you are showing no trust in your bottom 6 ... year after year, we have seen AV given these new bottom 6 players ... Gillis would bring in different guys each year ... and rarely did they ever have sustained success ... because AV didnt trust them ... you see a guy like Tanner Glass move on and have success ... why? probably because Claude Noel trusted him to play his game ... AV didnt and doesnt

 

[mattola]

holy fucking EPIC

Canucks dont play today.. they play tomorrow lol....

 

[SLY]

lol

 

[dash]

holy fucking EPIC

Canucks dont play today.. they play tomorrow lol....

Gives you an extra day to stock up the liquor cabinet, matty...I think Raymond is good for a few tumbles tomorrow night.

 

[mattola]

Johnny Canuck is back.... I dont get the Jet part in the sky but this is pretty good.

 

[puckhead]

The real question is... Do you guys want to see him go? (barring a miracle and coming back from 0-3)

the question I ask is.... is there a a better alternative available?
same thing with the Caps. I thought firing Boudreau was a mistake, because Dale Hunter is fucking awful.
so if we can Vigneault, what's next? Craig McTavish? no thanks.

Johnny Canuck is back.... I dont get the Jet part in the sky but this is pretty good.

longing for the days when we would face the Jets in the first round.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

i think its just us fighter jets escorting a Korean airlines plane into Comox

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Jeff Paterson ‏ @patersonjeff
#Canucks Kesler assisted on 4 of linemate Booth's 16 goals this season. And Booth set up 5 of Kesler's 22. #nochemistry

 

[dash]

Paterson is a stats hound, that's for sure. And I like him a lot more than that weenie Blake Price on Team 1040.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

a Raymond Kesler Booth line is best described as:

Raymond: small fast guy who likes to carry the puck and inevitably always falls down
Booth: bigger fast guy who likes to carry the puck and inevitably always gets knocked down
Kesler: even bigger fast guy who likes to carry the puck and inevitably always dives

mix in a pass douchebags!

 

[SLY]

 

[jstewismybastardson]

wish we had a guy like Tiger Williams on this team

As those 4,000 career penalty minutes attest, Dave (Tiger) Williams knows the subtle nuances of villainy in the way, say, a Lord Voldemort would.

During a flamboyant career of stick-riding, mitts-chucking and ensuing chaos, Tiger was as far removed from the deep-dish-dimpled, cleft-chinned leading man as you could unearth. Let the pretty boys get the girl. He’d get the five, the 10 and, on many occasions, the extra two, as well.

And he undoubtedly revelled in the role.

Sunday lunchtime and Tiger, now 58 but still wonderfully politically incorrect, is tugging on a skate and stripping tape across a set of shin pads ahead of the final of the Scotiabank Pro-Am, in aid of the Gordie and Colleen Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s.

He’s still, in his words, a “big-time” booster of his old team, the Vancouver Canucks.

But the onetime West Coast icon isn’t immune to the well-publicized dislike across Canada for the Canucks since they reached the Stanley Cup final a year ago, becoming this country’s best chance at championship glory since 1993

Success, envy, arrogance (perceived or otherwise), outside anarchy and failure at the decisive moment, all dropped into a confusing grab-bag of factors.

The reasons for the intense reaction, he reckons, are many.

“Unfortunately, that riot killed off any Canucks fans living east of Field, B.C.,” Williams says with characteristic candour.

“I’ve got guys in Swift Current who always cheer for Canadian teams telling me ‘I can’t . . . just ‘cause of the riot.’

“I think it’s that way across this whole country. And I think it’s gonna take that organization — even though it’s not the organization’s fault or the players’ — four or five years to get past that.

“Time is always a great healer.’

Rather than being embraced by Canada, the Canucks have been largely held at arm’s length. The L.A. Kings even posted what has now become a famous tweet on their official account following a Game 1 victory in their opening-round series: “To everyone in Canada outside of B.C., you’re welcome.”

“When you’re in first place, win the league two years in a row, not everybody’s going to like you,’’ reminds Tiger. “You’re in last place, nobody cares because you’re not bothering anybody.

“There’s always been a dislike for top teams.

“There was a time, I’d run into people and they’d tell me: ‘I hate Gretzky.’ Why? ‘Because he wins everything.’ ‘Well,’ I’d say, ‘no (bleep)ing kidding. And by the way, ‘Isn’t that the point?!’

“But that’s the stupidity out there.’’

Not that he’s letting the Canucks off the hook. Far from it. He points to a pair of incidents during last spring’s seven-game Cup final loss to the Bruins as crucial evidence for the prosecution.

“I can’t remember who it was (Brad Marchand) that completely manhandled (Daniel) Sedin. But the guy just basically punched him five or six times in the head. And everybody else stood around. Nothing was done about it. Not at the time, not later.

“And then going into Boston (for Game 6), to get run out of the building, physically and mentally, like that . . .

“For us Saskatchewan guys and Alberta guys. . . stand up, be counted. If you take your lumps, you take your lumps. But to not be physical enough in situations where you were forced into taking on that challenge is unacceptable.

“Boston played unbelievable. Their goaltending was unbelievable. But they won the Stanley Cup because they had way more heart than (the Canucks) did. That bugs me.

“Think about getting to the sixth or seventh game of a Stanley Cup final, to have that once-in-a-lifetime chance. And you’re not willing to die to win? To me, that’s sad. They lost the average Canadian’s respect.

“It’s up to that organization and those players to gain all that back from us. That’s my read on it.’’

As the current edition of the Vancouver Canucks, widely unloved and now suddenly unfancied, is now trailing 3-0 in the series, Tiger sees in the pervading gloom a chance to begin the redemptive process.

“People look at me as if I’m a two-headed cow, but to me it’s a bit of karma, for what happened after the seventh game in Vancouver last year. The Hockey Gods making them pay. If they don’t know that the Jedi with the sword is not in their favour, well, they’re going to have to cut the head off the monster and take that sword back.

“If they could somehow win this now, come back and beat L.A. after losing two games at home — and, gawd, I hope they do — it’d go a long way in mending a lot of those issues.

“It’s so hard to get respect. But it doesn’t take much to lose it.

“And once you’ve lost it, as hard as it was getting it in the first place, it’s twice as hard getting it back.”

 

[dash]

Great words from Tiger Williams, I agree 100% with what he said...