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This is a 2-parter… First, I’ve come actually encountered a bit of Canucks support in Ottawa, and I’m a little happy about it and want to share. Second, just some thoughts about the performances of the six Canucks playoff rookies in last night’s game.
Canucks Playoff Fever… Ottawa style!
I often complain about being an isolated Canucks fan in Ottawa. After the Canucks/Sens game in January I realized there are some Canucks fans in the city, but I never seem to have the good fortune of meeting any. It’s playoff time, so that’s changed a little bit this week, and I just couldn’t be happier about it. On Monday when I went to buy a sandwich for lunch, I overheard some guys talking about the upcoming playoffs. The guy who worked at the restaurant randomly shouted out something like “Ha ha Leafs! Any Leafs fans in here?”. I guess there weren’t any Leafs fans in the restaurant, but there was one kid about 11 years old who responded with “Leafs suck! Canucks rule!” I was pleasantly surprised by this, and I said to him “You are correct, young man! The Canucks DO rule! They won the Division!” (yeah, I was still on my “DIVISION” kick that day). So I got to talking to the kid, and to the guy who works at the restaurant who, as it turns out, is a Canucks fan also. He was slightly concerned about how Luongo will handle the pressure of the post-season, but I told him to have faith (I am occasionally an optimistic person in real life which may be a surprise to some).
Moving on to last night… I went for a quick walk during the intermission before the first overtime period to ease some tension. I walked by an ambulance and I heard someone shout to me, so I walked back and the paramedic sitting in the ambulance asked me “How did the Canucks do tonight?” (I was wearing my sweet vintage jersey, so it wasn’t entirely a random question). I told him that overtime was about to start and I started running home so I wouldn’t miss anything. He shouted at me as I was running, “Good luck! Canucks rule!”
So there is absolutely no point to this post, other than I’m pretty thrilled to meet some common fans in my city which is dominated by fans of the Eastern Canadian teams. Even if they’re 11 year old kids, guys who make sandwiches, or paramedics. I’m less alone in the city than I thought I was in my hockey allegiances, and it’s kind of a good feeling. Canucks fever has hit Eastern Ontario!… Or at least 4 of us.
Now on to the hockey.
Playoff “Rookie” Performances
Last night’s game was the first playoff appearance for six of the Canucks players.
It’s hard to predict how any player will perform under the pressure of the post-season. Some guys seem to thrive on the pressure and play better and produce more than they ever did during the regular season. Some examples of this type of player that pop into my head would be Claude Lemieux, or even Fernando Pisani. Others sometimes have the opposite reaction.
One game certainly isn’t enough to judge what type of playoff performer someone will be (even if said game lasts for 7 periods), but I thought it might be interesting to look at how the Canucks playoff rookies performed last night.
Roberto Luongo – Last night he played 137:53. He faced 76 shots and finished the night with a save percentage of .947. He also won the game. I think it’s safe to say that his playoff debut was an extremely successful one. Although few seemed to doubt him, many hockey analysts had to ask the question “can he perform in the playoffs?” It seems the answer so far is “yes”. Two of the four goals that he allowed were somewhat weaker than we’ve seen this year, but he didn’t allow that to take him off his game, and recovered remarkably. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought he seemed to allow a few more rebounds than usual, but they were usually directed to his teammates or to the corners, and as such were not too dangerous.
Ryan Kesler – Last night he played 27:51, had two shots, and was even in the plus/minus department. It was a pleasant surprise to see him in the lineup last night, as he had missed the last 32 games of the season after having surgery on his hip. Since he did miss the end of the regular season, it’s hard to say how his “playoff” performance was. Either way, I was impressed. To me it seemed to take a few shifts for him to really get into the game, but once he did he was pretty solid. He played very well defensively all game, which eased the burden for the team after losing Matt Cooke and Alex Burrows with injuries. His faceoff percentage was not great (28%). He seemed to be one of the few players who was able to create any energy late in the overtime. Overall, I’d say his playoff debut was a good one.
Alex Burrows – only played 11:38 in the and was -1 on the night before he had to leave the game with an “upper body” injury late in the first overtime. To me, it seemed he was playing his usual style of game – agitating the other team, and also as usual he did an excellent job penalty killing. While I don’t know for sure the extent of his injury, it appears he will miss at least the next game as the Canucks have called up 2 forwards from the Manitoba Moose. So it wasn’t the happiest playoff debut for Burrows.
Lukas Krajicek – played 33:37 in the game and was a +1. He had 4 shots in OT, and one (undisciplined) penalty. He seemed to play as well as usual last night. Other than the penalty he took which gave the Stars a 5 on 3 during the 2nd overtime, I can’t say I really noticed him that much during regulation time, and when I don’t notice the play of a defenseman it’s usually because he played solid and did pretty much exactly what he was supposed to do. He had a few good shots during overtime that I remember. I think I’d grade his playoff debut as “good”.
Jeff Cowan – played 28:32 in the game with an even plus/minus rating, and also dished out 9 hits. The majority of his ice-time was logged in the 4 overtime periods, during which he had 3 shots. He was pretty much the life of the team after regulation time. He seemed to have more energy than any other player on the ice during overtime. I think it was one of – if not the best – game I’ve seen him play this season. He really stepped up his game after the injuries to Cooke and Burrows. Cowan’s playoff debut was nothing short of excellent.
Kevin Bieksa – played an astounding 54:27 in the game (second only to Zubov of the Stars). He finished the night with a +1 rating, 2 shots, 1 hit, and 6 blocked shots. Oh, and he also had 8 of the 14 minutes of penalties called against the Canucks, 6 of which were in the first period. I think we have to break down Bieksa’s playoff debut into two segments: Regulation and overtime. During most of regulation – especially in the first period – he was not the best. Granted he’s playing with an injured foot/ankle which seemed to hamper his speed a bit, and I think is why he took at least 2 of his penalties. He just couldn’t build up the speed to get back into position in time. He seemed a little nervous and shaky with his passing early on also. I think especially considering how much ice time he had in the game, there was more positive than there was negative in his performance. He seemed to tighten up his play in the overtime. Although he wasn’t anything close to the offensive/playmaking threat that I’m used to seeing, his defensive play did improve in the last half of the game. As such, I’ll grade his playoff debut as “good”.
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