SB Nation - Cory Schneider

Wingless Ducks Pay Canucks A Visit

Sean Zandberg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:00:23 -0000

Ducks (12-13-7) vs Canucks (19-14-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: TSN

THE OPPOSITION: Battle of California, Anaheim Calling

You probably know this already, but Kyle Wellwood will be a healthy scratch against the Ducks. Alain Vigneault stated that he wants to ice a grittier team against the Ducks. So Darcy Hordichuk will most likely draw in. Wellwood said after practice on Tuesday that he isn't surprised he's riding the pine because he didn't have a great game against the Kings and was on the ice for their lone goal. Wellwood only played 9:38 and was a -1. I wonder where the Canucks' patience level is with him. Time is running out for the pint-sized slumping center.

The Canucks are looking to win 4 in a row for the first time this season. They seem to have found their groove back. Their home record is now a stellar 13-4-0. They have outscored their opponents 11-6 in the last 3 wins. Speaking of the number zero, their zero points in the overtime loss section continues to be an eyesore. They sit in 10th spot in the West while being 5 games above 500. Dallas, who has 10 overtime-shootout losses, sits in 9th.

More after the jump..

Detroit, who sits in 8th spot, 1 point ahead of the Canucks, has 5 OTL's. The Canucks' 104 goals for ranks them 3rd in the West. Their somewhat impressive 85 goals against ranks them 3rd best in the West. Their 19 wins ties them with San Jose, Colorado, Calgary, Nashville and Phoenix. That is a 6-way tie for most wins in the Conference. It's frustrating to look at, but it is what it is. They just have to continually plug away and get into the playoff hunt. These wins are going to count for something (like a tie breaker perhaps) towards the end of the season.

Speaking of madness: the Ducks' 12-13-7 record puts them at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, only 8 points out of a playoff spot. They have won 2 of their last 3 games after losing 5 straight. They have had 4 days off since beating Columbus 3-1 on the 12th.

Despite losing Teemu Selanne (broken hand) and Joffrey Lupul (back issues) recently, the Ducks may be turning a corner. They are finally getting scoring from the second line (sound familiar?), and at lot of that has to do with some guy named Dan Sexton, the Ducks' undrafted free agent signing who they recently called up due to the Selanne injury. He and Koivu are clicking. Sexton has 4 goals and 1 assist in his last 4 games. Koivu has 2 goals and 3 assists. Bobby Ryan has 1 goal and 4 assists. These guy have carried the Ducks over the past few games, as the top line has cooled off.

Jonas Hiller, who stopped 35 of 36 shots against the Blue Jackets last game, may get the start for the Ducks. However, he has been anything but stellar this season.

Corey (Canuck-Killer) Perry has 4 goals and 12 points in his last 5 games against the Canucks.

The last time the Canucks played the Ducks was October 30th in Anaheim: a 7-2 loss as poor Andrew Raycroft and Cory Schneider were hung out to dry. The Canucks had built an early 2-0 lead in that game and then completely crumpled. Time to make amends for that travesty!

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Ducks 16th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 8th, Ducks 25th

5 on 5: Canucks 3rd, Ducks 16th

POWER PLAY: Canucks 2nd, Ducks 4th (uh-oh)

PENALTY KILL: Canucks 21st, Ducks 24th

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 12th, Ducks 22nd

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Ducks 27th

FACE OFF PERCENTAGE: Canucks 11th, Ducks 22nd

If you are new here, some of us predict the scores, winning team and winning goal scorer each Canucks game. The leaderboard is on the left sidebar on the main page. Bragging rights! And I got 'em so far!

DD or JDD? Doppelgänger Dilemma

Bruce McCurdy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:34:36 -0000

More photos » by Jeff McIntosh - AP

Devan Dubnyk

Browse more photos »

Lowetide asked me an interesting question the other day: if I were building an expansion team, which one of Edmonton's young goalies might I pick: Deslauriers or Dubnyk? Let's rephrase it slightly to put an Oilers spin on the query: if there were an imaginary expansion draft, which one should we protect?

While there's hopefully no expansion to worry about, the Oilers will essentially face such a choice next summer/fall, or pay a premium to put it off. For now there is no hard overlap between the two, but that day is coming fast. Dubnyk is two years younger than Deslauriers and pretty much Exactly two years behind him on the career curve. In fact the two have a whole lot in common:

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (JDD) was born on May 15, 1984, the day of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals (Oilers 7, Islanders 2 :)). A long stringbean at 6'4, 200, he was drafted 31st overall in 2002, the first pick of the second round, acquired in the Jochen Hecht trade. (Pick #36, Jarret Stoll, also came courtesy of what turned out to be a pretty good trade.) He was the fourth goalie of his draft class to be chosen. The top 5 were #2 Kari Lehtonen, #25 Cam Ward, #29 Hannu Toivunen, #31 JDD, #34 Tobias Stephen. JDD appears to be a solid third in this group, behind Ward and the injury-plagued Lehtonen but ahead of the other two who fired and fell back.

Devan Dubnyk (DD) was born on May 4, 1986, when the hockey world was still trying to come to grips with Steve Smith's own goal. A longer stringbean at 6''5, 194, he was drafted 14th overall in 2004. He was the second goalie of his draft class to be chosen. The top 5 were #6 Al Montoya, #14 DD, #17 Marek Schwarz, #26 Cory Schneider, #37 David Shantz. A much less proven fivesome, befitting their younger age. Dubnyk is the fourth to get a cup o' coffee, but none have played as many as 500 minutes in the show. DD clearly ranks ahead of Schwarz and Shantz, and it's a toss-up among the others, with Schneider having the best hype. That said, today DD is the only one of the five in the NHL.

At a glance DD and JDD are mirror images of each other with Dubnyk being the longer, stringbeanier, right-handed one with the slightly higher draft pedigree and the slightly less-bumpy career curve.

Both broke into major junior in 2001-02 so let's start there after the jump:

	JDD				DD
Season	League	GP	Sv%	Season	League	GP	Sv%
2001-02	QMJHL	51	0.900	2001-02	WHL	3	0.838
2002-03	QMJHL	49	0.888	2002-03	WHL	26	0.907
2003-04	QMJHL	50	0.916	2003-04	WHL	44	0.917
2004-05	AHL	22	0.888	2004-05	WHL	65	0.912
	ECHL	11	0.940
2005-06	AHL	13	0.897	2005-06	WHL	54	0.912
	ECHL	6	0.899
2006-07	AHL	40	0.908	2006-07	ECHL	43	0.921
					AHL	4	0.855
2007-08	AHL	57	0.912	2007-08	AHL	33	0.904
2008-09	NHL	10	0.901	2008-09	AHL	62	0.906
2008-09	AHL	5	0.906
2009-10	NHL	6	0.920	2009-10	AHL	18	0.924

Dubnyk was the hotter shot, played in the Dub as a call-up at age 15 and a backup at 16. By 17, however, both were starters (44+ GP) in Major Junior. So let's reorganize our data there, recognize that Dubnyk is two years (less 11 days) younger, and match up their seasons by hockey age.

	JDD				DD
Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%	Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%
17	QMJHL	51	0.900	17	WHL	44	0.917
18	QMJHL	49	0.888	18	WHL	65	0.912
19	QMJHL	50	0.916	19	WHL	54	0.912
20	AHL/ECHL	33	0.911	20	ECHL/AHL	47	0.918
21	AHL/ECHL	19	0.898	21	AHL	33	0.904
22	AHL	40	0.908	22	AHL	62	0.906
23	AHL	57	0.912	23	AHL	18	0.924
24	NHL/AHL	15	0.902
25	NHL	6	0.920

There are a lot more similarities than differences on those career curves. Thanks to the Oilers' inexplicable decision to suspend AHL operations for two seasons, JDD's development was more retarded -- using the word carefully -- than was DD's. Deslauriers was on the outside looking in especially in his 21-year-old season, whereas Dubnyk was still in junior that 2005-06 season, then got an everyday gig in the ECHL the next year which didn't hurt him a bit. By his own 21-year-old season he was backing up JDD in Springfield, and getting a reasonable split (37%) of the ice time, over which the Oilers had finally regained control. As a result DD has substantially more games in the lower league, all in one season, whereas JDD spent parts of two seasons in the ECHL and spent a little more time on the bench at whatever level. Thus even though Dubnyk has just begun his 23-year-old season, his pro experience is already a little greater than JDD's was at the end of his equivalent season. To summarize:

	JDD				DD
Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%	Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%
17-19	Major Jr.	150	0.908	17-19	Major Jr.	163	0.914
20-23	Minor Pro	149	0.909	20-23	Minor Pro	160	0.911

So Dubnyk appears to have a slight edge, with a little more experience at both levels and a slightly greater Sv%. While far from perfect, Sv% is the best single measure we have of goaltender performance. It seems probable that quality of team will affect that Sv%. The two only played on the same team for one full season (2007-08 in Springfield) and little pieces of a couple of others. JDD has the better Pts% ("winning percentage") of the two, .511 to .475 in their last 3 years of junior, .507 to .447 in their first 4 years of pro. Some would argue that JDD is therefore more of a winner; others would counter that DD played on worse teams and if anything that makes his superior Sv% that much more impressive.

Beyond that are the non-save effects, the "soft skills" which are so difficult to measure. I’m talking about game management skills, rebound control, puck retrieval and distribution. At the NHL level I estimate these skills or lack thereof might be the equivalent of a bump in a goalie’s Sv% by as much as ± .005. I’ve seen enough of JDD to lump him in the group I call "chaos goalies"; he better be a good stopper, cuz a sweeper he is not. We know less about this aspect of DD's game; what do the scouting reports say? If he’s a "control goalie" that’s another arrow in his quiver; if on the other hand he’s much worse than JDD, he won’t be able to play in this league.

For now Dubnyk faces two realities. He may be a little further than Deslauriers at the same point in his career, but in real time he’s two years behind. JDD has the 16 games of NHL experience, and the 90 games on the bench and all that accrues to that; he’s the NHLer. DD is where JDD was two years ago, called up for a cup of coffee but not guaranteed to even get a game. Last night we saw the two together in the NHL line-up for the first time, but come game time JDD responded to the challenge in a big way, posting a 36-save shutout. He wants to keep Dubnyk on the bench. (That said, if Khabibulin needs a few more days I personally would like to see the two split the upcoming back-to-back games.)

The other reality is that the club has committed to Nikolai Khabibulin who theoretically will be the starting goalie for the next 2.7 ± 1 years. If the idea – or should I say the ideal – is to gradually grow a youngster into the starting role à la Warren Moon and Tom Wilkinson, the timing may actually work in Dubnyk’s favour. JDD will enter his UFA years in 2011; Dubnyk is eligible to do so in 2013, just as Khabibulin’s hefty pact expires. If Dubnyk blossoms, the Oilers will be in position to pay him then.

Still, there’s precious little to choose between the two long stringbeans. By next fall Dubnyk will be in the exact same position that JDD was last year, out of options and needing to clear waivers. In JDD’s case we saw the undesirable result: a three-headed monster in the crease and a lack of roster flexibility elsewhere. As things shape up now, Oilers will face the exact same situation next fall.

In a perfect world, the organization will reach a decision over the summer or by the end of training camp. In a perfect world, they will deal one of the youngsters for an asset that will help the club elsewhere. And in a perfect world, they will make the right choice of which one to keep. My distant early guess is that will be Devan Dubnyk.

So How Those Other Guys Doing?

Yankee Canuck — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:10:54 -0000

These. Long. Breaks. Between. Hockey. Games. SUCK.

So much so I caught myself watching other games and seeing some old faces in new places. Curious what's up with some former 'Nuckers out there? Take a spin with me then.

Mattias Ohlund - Ah, 'old Matty. Maybe his departure is why Edler sucks so far. Baby bear missing papa bear perhaps? Six points in 17 games (only one PP point) doesn't leave much to be desired for Ohlund though. He did blow up Kessel, that was good for a laugh. His new baby bear - Victor Hedman - has five points in 20 games. Ohlund has been nursing a lower body injury the past few games which perhaps means more ice time for...

Lukas Krajicek - Poor Luke. Once projected to be very much what Blastoff is for the Canucks now, he was deemed expendable for SOB last year and, though he had some injury problems, finished up as the second best scoring defenseman for Tampa. I don't know where he is on the depth chart now, but he's only played 12 games this year, has a single point and somehow has 19 PIMs. If it makes him feel any better, SOB has only played 17 games, has no points and 32 PIMs. Everyone collectively sigh in 3...2...1...

Taylor Pyatt - Old pretty eyes took his act down south to Phoenix, upsetting female fans...everywhere? However, he's only getting a shade over 13 minutes a game (close to a minute and a half off his average TOI last year) and - in 18 games - only has three points. He has been getting a decent amount of time on the PK so he's still got that working for him. OK fine, here puck bunnies, don't say we're not looking out for you and your squeeeeee's. And as long as we're in the desert let's go find...

Jason LaBarbera - Our metalhead back-up from last season is 1-3 behind a rather stellar Ilya Bryzgalov. Many of us didn't want to see Barbie go, but consider Raycroft has more wins, a better GAA (2.19 to 2.66) and a better S% (.916 to .907). So Vancouver did pretty well on this end so far, but we remain confident that Barbie has better musical sensibilities and, at nearly 70 lbs heavier than Raycroft, could probably use him as a tooth pick if he was so inclined.

Mats Sundin - He's doing this. Over and over and over again. Yup, feel bad about yourself. It's cool.

Curtis Sanford - The Sandman basically went from Manitoba to Hamilton of the AHL and is now backstopping the Bulldogs. Just for comparison, Sanford has a better GAA (1.78) and a better S% (.934) than Cory Schneider, though the red had has more wins. And he looks strange without the fan helmet. Or, you know, in general.

Jason Jaffray - When Vancouver went through their hilarious string of injuries last month, it would have been nice to call up Jaffray. The former Moose standout has only played one game for the Flames so far and had no points. But down in Abbotsford he's doing just fine with nine goals which is good enough for fifth best in the AHL (note: both Shirokov and former Canuck Jeff Cowan also have nine goals).

Ossi Vaananen - Ossssssssi! The vowel master wasn't given a second thought by Gillis, so instead he followed his (money) nose to the KHL where he's playing with HC Dynamo Minsk where he has two points and is -7 in 26 games. Yikes. But nevertheless, he'll also be the #1 waiver wire pick up in our hearts (no offense Kris Beech).

Rob Davison - Remember him? Me neither. But his 23 game campaign with Vancouver has been followed up by starting with AHL's Lowell Devils where he has eight points in 16 games. Not bad at all, but I suspect he's a long shot to make the Devil's (NHL) roster and may be destined for Europe at the end of the year.

...and, sure, while we're at it let's kick ourselves and check out the WCE...

Brendan Morrison - As Sean noted, B-mo is like a slightly more expensive Wellwood who, in contrast, has a spine, drive and points in the double digits. Fifth on the Caps in points in fact. Pudge is tied for 18th on Vancouver. Fuck.

But, all in all, couldn't happen to a better guy. Go B-mo go.

Todd Bertuzzi - Let's see: Bert has the lowest shooting percentage on the Wings, leads Red Wings forwards in giveaways (18) and has nine points in 22 games. To quote one commentator from the A2Y crowd: "I can’t possibly imagine that there isn’t a single other healthy player out there that couldn’t fill or exceed Bertuzzsi’s current role." Wow.

Markus Naslund - He's at Sean's house, baking fluffy, fresh muffins daily before Sean goes to work. And Sean could NOT be happier!

Why Can't Vancouver Win On The Road?

Yankee Canuck — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:52:10 -0000

Vancouver is a laughable 3-7 on the road. Their last four away games (Anaheim, Minnesota, Dallas and St. Louis) were all match-up's against slumping teams and three of the opponents (Anaheim, Dallas and St. Louis) responded by blowing up Vancouver. Dallas didn't dominate on the scoreboard as much as they dominated the game's shot quality and time of possession. Regardless, poor Cory Schneider never had a prayer.

So what gives? They couldn't win at home last year and now they can't win on the road? There's no chance they'll survive their epic travel schedule bookending the Olympics if they can't right some of these wrongs soon. And of course we can fault the injuries for some of this, but Luongo or Daniel themselves can't atone for the failure of an entire NHL roster.

What's the problem?

I wanted to look at some of the trends with these road games, see if anything jumped out at me. But with all the injuries, defensemen playing as forwards, etc., it makes it a bit tougher to look at the individual level. Plus I'm too fucking angry at what was a completely embarrassing performance last evening (seriously, every player plus AV should have trouble looking in the mirror today). So I pulled together some basic numbers for every road game Vancouver has played so far. If you're interested, you can download and muck around with them. It's a small sample obviously but on the face of it here are the trends:

Goals For/Goals Against

The graph above shows a break down of goals per period for Vancouver and their respective opponents while on the road. Vancouver's first period totals are abysmal (5GF, 13GA), the second is no better (6GF, 14GA) and the third they finally get on the right side (9GF, 8GA). We've all said it before and it pains me to repeat that the Canucks just love to start slow. They never come out in the first period and produce. They get their killer instinct later in the game. That doesn't mean they don't play well, it just means their system - for whatever reason - sucks in the first 20 minutes. In six of the road games Vancouver has given up the first goal and only once - the Chicago game - did they come back to win.

Shots For/Shots Against

Vancouver has the same shots over the first two periods (100) while limiting their opponents to 98 and 93 respectively. In the third the differential widens to 116 SOG for Vancouver and 89 for their opponent. That stands to reason: in the majority of these games Vancouver is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the opposing netminder while the opposition is trying to hold the lead.

During the third period of the 7-2 joke loss to Anaheim, the Canucks had 22 shots to the Ducks 12, but Anaheim still scored three goals that period while Vancouver added none. So while it was nice to hear Vancouver was outshooting their opponents very early on in the season, it doesn't mean they are quality chances. I didn't have time to look into the types of shots and what situations they were taken in, so there's more to be explored here (check out some of Gabe's work on shooting with the lead and shots by game state if you're interested).

I'm not convinced quantity beats quality in this respect; the defense loves taking a great deal of shots from poor angles and the forwards (Bernier and Sammy spring to mind) often take an outside shot rather than risk skating in a bit more for a better angle and/or another passing lane. Conversely, maybe our defense gives away too many quality chances in high percentage areas (in the slot, down low, when the goalie is sleeping, etc). Something needs to explain why the shots are coming, but the goals (as evident above) are not. Is it because of penalties?

Penalties

If you're like me, you looked at this chart and sighed deeply. All of those Sedin interference calls. The Bieksa mistakes. The "oops!" delay of game type calls. Those certainly add up. To be fair, the third period numbers for Vancouver (76) and the opposition (62) are skewed badly because Vancouver lost their composure at the end of the Blues game. So if we ignore the PIMs from the third period of last night's game, we get this:

Looks a bit better, but also underscores their lack of discipline. The Canucks are the 6th highest penalized team in the league. They have three of the top ten most penalized defenseman in the game, including Bieksa who leads the league (wrestling that title away from last year's PIM D champion SOB who is fifth!). Amazingly, Vancouver has only surrendered three PP goals in their PIM-happy first periods and two of those were from Calgary in the season opener. But it begs the bigger question of why are they so heavily penalized, particularly in the first period? Is it because of the injuries, adjusting to new linemates and the poor decisions that are made as a result? I don't know.

In regards to the losses to Anaheim, Dallas and St. Louis, it sure seems that starting a road game with a far greater emphasis on getting the lead with disciplined play wouldn't be a bad idea to try. Maybe a seminar on quality chances and better shot decision is in order (call Gretzky, I think he's free). Or, if that's out of the question, than AV needs to drill into their heads to play like they are always behind by one goal since they seem to tighten up in those circumstances.

And if all of this is out of the question, than may I suggest simply forfeiting? You'll save your paying fans a great deal of anguish to not watch 60 minutes when your own players aren't interested in showing up for the first ten.

Canucks/Stars Recap

Yankee Canuck — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:12:02 -0000

Every Dallas player had a shot, lead by Morrow who had 8 shots on his own. Here's the shot report.

The story of the night was Cory Schneider, our rookie phenom goalie who faced an inhuman 47 shots. No need to review the game any further than that.

Red is the man. Bow to him.

Stargazing: Dallas defeats Vancouver, Schneider 2-1

Brad G — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:00:26 -0000

by Tim Sharp - AP

about 1 month ago: Dallas Stars goalie Marty Turco (35) is congratulated by teammates Trevor Daley (6), Karlis Skrastins (37) and Brad Richards (91) as Vancouver Canucks' Alexandre Burrows (14) skates by at the end of their NHL hockey game Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, in Dallas. Dallas won the game 2-1. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

View full size photo »

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and Texas Stars news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.

A Western Canadian team, with a backup net minder comes to the American Airlines Center. Dallas carries the vast majority of the play, pummeling the aforementioned goaltender with 40 or more shots, but only manages two pucks behind him. Late in the game, a penalty for delay of game is called and the visitors go on the power play. Stop me if you've heard this one before. The Stars have. Only this time, the end was more to their liking.

This time, the defense stood tall on the penalty kill. This time, the Stars struck first, and were able to push it to a two goal lead. This time, Marty Turco was even better than he was on Wednesday, and we get to enjoy a win, rather than try to find the elusive answers to questions we just finished asking the other day.

Cory Schneider stopped 45 of 47 pucks in a valiant effort. His only other appearance this season was a third period last week against Anaheim, where he allowed three goals on twelve shots. There were some reservations from Canucks faithful and media, but the young man frustrated Dallas for much of the night. Give him a ton of credit.

That the Stars managed only two goals again at home does not strike me as a huge concern right now. The club was tenacious, energetic, and focused. The scoring chances were abundant. It's frustrating to run into hot goaltending in consecutive games when you pummel the net with so many shots, but after talk early in the season of slow starts at home, these last two contests are an encouraging sign.

Let's take a look at quotes, and reaction to the 2-1 victory.

The Vancouver Sun, telling it like is:

Minor-league Canuck callup Cory Schneider, a surprise starter instead of sizzling Andrew Raycroft, conjured a 45-save performance so brilliant the Canucks had a chance to beat the Dallas Stars when they could have lost by a touchdown.

Outshot 42-18 and outrun for 45 minutes by a fresher, faster Dallas team, Vancouver lost 2-1 when its power play failed on two late chances during a third-period surge.

Nearly all Canuck players said the game wasn’t as lopsided as it seemed, that they survived all the Stars’ pressure and played an inspired third. But really, Vancouver got what it deserved and only Schneider kept it from being worse.

Follow the jump for more news and notes on the Stars win at home on Friday night...

Mike Heika had some good notes from the game:

Good points included Turco (who had to be big right out of the gate and then very late), Brad Richards, who is looking more like the leader of this team every game, and really the whole roster. Karlis Skrastins had four blocked shots and was huge on the late penalty kill. Mike Modano won some key faceoffs, including going 4-for-5 in the third period. Brenden Morrow had a career-high eight shots on goal, and the game-winning goal. Loui Eriksson had three takeaways, set up Richards' goal and drew the penalty for the game-winning goal. Brian Sutherby, Tom Wandell and Fabian Brunnstrom continue to improve.

I couldn't agree more about Brad Richards. (Who didn't even have an "A" on his chest last night, I don't think). I know they've got a lot of "A's" in that locker room, but Brad Richards is really playing the part this week. He was vocal after the game on Wednesday, and came up with yet another huge play last night to open the scoring.

Dallas won, despite of the loss of their top goal scorer, James Neal. Says ESPN Dallas...

Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford said forward James Neal will not make the trip to Minnesota for Saturday's game. Neal missed Friday's game with a pulled groin and the club wants to give him another game to rest things. Forward Krys Barch is also not going to Minnesota. He hurt his back while reaching for a puck in Thursday's practice. He was a healthy scratch on Friday.

Dallas has four days off after Saturday's game, so Neal could skate next week and possibly play Thursday in San Jose.

Vancouver was the more injured of the two parties last night, missing Sedin and Demitra. Schneider made sure they didn't exactly miss the injured Luongo.

Alain Vigneault gave credit where credit was due:

"They were the quicker and more effective team in the first two periods," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "We had one player fresh and that was our goaltender. He had a great outing and gave us a chance to stay in it."

Dallas enjoyed a 40-16 advantage in shots after two periods, but instead of cruising to a blowout win, the Stars led by a single goal.

They finally got the insurance they needed when Mikael Samuelsson took a tripping penalty early in the third and Morrow struck from close-in at 3:50 for a power-play goal.

Brenden Morrow's game high 8 shots on goal resulted in the game winner, but he and Jamie Benn could have 3 or 4 more between the two of them if not for the brilliance of Schneider. By the way, every single Dallas Star registered at least one shot on goal.

Both teams had apparent goals disallowed, including this one in the third period that confused many when it got a lengthy review:

Once again, the Canucks came storming back right away and nearly cut the deficit in half just 29 seconds later. On a similar play to the disallowed Stars goal in the second period, Alex Burrows stepped out from behind the net at the right post and jammed the puck under a diving Turco. The whistle appeared to blow just as the puck emerged from under Turco’s pads at the left post and Sedin quickly popped it in. A video review upheld the call.

"I’m confused but I didn’t really get an explanation," Turco said. "They blew the whistle, but to my understanding, if the intent to blow the whistle is there, it’s not even reviewable. It was underneath me, squirted all the way through my pads and their guy pushing my leg in the net forced the puck to go in and that’s where the whistle comes in. The right call was certainly made."

The Stars broadcast crew seemed to agree with Marty on that one. There are many who would like to see more explanation from the league on some of these calls, either by the referee immediately following the review, or something released by the league after the game; But the NHL, as with the punishments for hip checks last month, sometimes prefers to keep its reasoning to itself. Oh well.

Richard Durrett says the name of the game was special teams last night:

"It was nice for a power play goal to go in," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "We looked more comfortable on the power play. Still, I think there's another level of execution we've got to get too. When the pinpoint, cross-ice passes connect for goals, it will get even better."

The penalty kill wasn't even needed until midway through the third period. The Stars took their only two penalties of the game back-to-back. In fact, there was a slight overlap as the Canucks got 18 seconds of two-man advantage time. Still, the Stars did a nice job, starting with the goalie.

"The most important penalty killer was our best guy tonight -- Marty Turco," Crawford said.

Dallas is 3 for their last 18 power play opportunities. The man advantage, and the faceoffs (41% against Vancouver) are still...areas of interest, we'll say. As is the "prevent defense" the Stars have employed to milk home their one goal leads. What happened to "safe is death"?

No time to rest. Minnesota tonight at 7:00pm.

Highlights:

Dallas Stars Hammer Away in 2-1 Win over Vancouver

Brandon Worley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:12:55 -0000

More photos » by Tim Sharp - AP

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Same game plan, nearly the same execution, different result. The Dallas Stars once again put as many pucks on net as possible as they outlast the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 at home. With goals from Brad Richards and Brenden Morrow, the Stars somehow scored just twice while putting 47 official shots on net. Cory Schneider was big in net for the Canucks, but the Stars eventually found a way to solve the young goaltender.

Marty Turco was once again great for the Stars, including a near-brilliant third period. The Stars relaxed a bit after getting a 2-0 lead and the Canucks roared back with 17 shots in the final frame. Turco made several toe and tip of the glove saves, but it was enough for one of his best performances of the season.

Video highlights & breakdown after the jump.

Quantity over quality? In the last three games the Dallas Stars are averaging 39 shots per game, yet are scoring just 2.0 goals per game. It's obvious that the Stars gameplan has been to funnel pucks to the net and crash the crease on every opportunity and they are doing that exceptionally well. The Stars have absolutely peppered opposing goaltenders this season and are averaging more shots per game than they ever have. Overall their goals per game are up as well, but these last few games have been extremely frustrating.

The issue seems to be a combination of great goaltending and a sudden lack of confidence in shot selection. The Stars have had two straight games where it seems they've thrown everything including the kitchen sink at the goalie, with barely any return. At first the Stars were stymied by great goaltending, but as the game wears on the shot selection goes down and the puck is just flung at the net. The mantra "just keep shooting, one is eventually going to go in" has worked somewhat, but you'd like to see the Stars be better rewarded for their dominance on the ice.

Against a team like Vancouver, who on this night played it very safe and constantly retreated into a forest around the net, this sort of plan isn't exactly the best way to beat them (although it worked). Despite 47 shots, there were rarely any second-chance opportunities; the goalie was absorbing a lot of easy shots to the chest and the defense protected the area in front extremely well. Earlier in the season we've heard opposing goaltenders say how easy it was to play the Stars, who shot a lot but did it from far out and in open shooting lanes. This hasn't exactly been the case the past two games but the tendency is still there.

Cory Schneider is a large goalie and usually the book says to get them moving laterally across the crease. The Stars put a lot of pucks on net but it was mostly in a very linear fashion; go straight at net, put puck on net and crash the net. The Stars were rarely settling and moving the puck crisply from one side to the next and their 'vertical passing game', while great to finally see, was not the sort of plays that beat Schneider. The two goals Dallas scored came off passes that moved horizontally.

Ideally what you'd like to see is a combination of the two styles. The Stars have shown an amazing ability to dominate the ice for long stretches and really put fast pressure on the opposition, but yet they've only scored four goals on 87 shots the past two games. The goaltending gets a lot of credit as well, but perhaps at some point the Stars need to relax, and just make some nice passes. It's what has worked on the goals they did score.

Mike Ribeiro, you are officially in a slump. In his last four games, Ribeiro has one goal and two assists and is a minus-5. Last night he had five shots on net, including one from point blank range that he shot straight into Schneider's glove from about five feet away. Perhaps most telling about his frustrations was the breakaway chance; he fumbled the puck (to be fair it was late in the period) a bit, but seemed unable to decide what move he was going to make with it. In the end, he just sort of 'pushed' it on net. I have confidence that he's going to come around, but does it appear that perhaps Ribeiro isn't exactly comfortable in this new system? He's always liked to slow the play down a bit, lull the defense to sleep and strike quickly. Hopefully it's just temporary, he'll find his rhythm and we'll get back the magical Ribeiro we all know and love.

I'm just nitpicking. I've harped on this team a bit the past few days, but overall this team is really playing well. Save for a lapse of about two minutes against Calgary, the Stars have dominated the ice in each of the last two games. Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen are getting their legs back under them and Brad Richards has never looked better.

Marty Turco is also playing some great hockey right now and he is oozing with confidence. After a somewhat shaky start, Turco is now top ten in the NHL in both GAA and save percentage. It's been one hell of a turnaround for him and it feels damn good to have the old Turco back.

DBD's Thee Stars of the Game:

Cory Schneider, Vancouver: Made several incredible stops (including a series of amazing saves on Jamie Benn) and put on the best performance of his career.

Fabian Brunnstrom, Dallas: What? Him? Brenden Morrow and Brad Richards are deserving of this spot, but Brunnstrom had his best game of the season and is regaining confidence each night. He showed tenacity and some actual physicality and is generating scoring chances nightly.

Marty Turco, Dallas: Stood tall in a crazed third period. His nonchalant glove save of a tipped shot on the ice was...incredible. Let's not forget his big pad stack just seconds into the game either against Ryan Kesler.

A Lone Star Friday

Yankee Canuck — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:14:56 -0000

Little known fact: Turco and Hordichuk are phenomenal dance partners.

View full size photo »

2:15 PM ET Update: Botchford (who you really should follow on Twitter) just reported that Cory Schneider will get the start in net tonight. And it also sounds like Neal is indeed out for Dallas.

***********************

Another gutsy performance from the duct tape B squad last night, with particular accolades finally due for the fourth line. If you remember Vancouver's last loss to Calgary, noted puck master Brian McGratton made Vancouver's sleepy defense and fourth liners pay for their soft coverage in letting him drive hard to the net. Last night, Blackout and crew finally got to practice that script: when James Sheppard made an awful clearing attempt in his own zone, it ended up on Hordichuk's stick who rifled a rocket past Backstrom. It was Blackout's first shot of the season (he ended up with 2 SOG last night, so his shooting percentage is a finely-tuned .500) and first goal in 50 games.

In the second game in his second campaign with the Orca, Mr. Petting Zoo potted a goal that, as Sean said, was very lucky and one Backstrom likely would have had if he was playing on top of his game. Nevertheless, it was the old adage of "put the puck on net" that worked and it turned into a huge goal to pad the lead by two and help end Backstrom's night a period early.

And Johnson? As Mike Russo noted, "Guy is taken off on a stretcher nine days ago, and he has an assist, wins 7 of 9 draws and blocks five shots." Not bad for a guy who doesn't belong in the NHL, eh?

So on a night when the team's best line (Kesler's) finished a combined -5, they found another group of heroes. And, once again, Raycroft played a strong game in net for his fourth win of the year. And best news of all: unless they're being coy, no one was injured. I'm as shocked as you are.

If the rumors are true, then it's likely that both Luongo and happy fists Hansen will slot in for Tuesday's game against the Blues. That means tonight - as they head into Big D to visit with their old coach and the rest of the Stars - could be the last time we'll see the B squad together. Based on the way they are playing, that may not be a good thing. As broken as they are with injuries, their game sure doesn't look broke so why fix it?

At any rate, the Canucks may grab a small break tonight if James Neal, the Stars' leading scorer, can't make it tonight because of a sore groin. The Stars may grab a small break if SOB returns from his suspension and AV decides to let him play again.

Dallas has lost three straight, including 2OTLs, and would probably love to blow up on Vancouver. They're only two points behind the Canucks and, with the exception of Neal, are finally healthy and getting contributions from a number of guys, including Richards, Morrow, Ribeiro and Eriksson. They are also getting Mike Modano back after an extended rib injury. In his first game back on Wednesday, the 39 year old center had roughly 15 minutes and some ample PP time, so expect more of him too. Turco is 4-2-4 with a .913 SV% and a 2.33 GAA.

A good preview is available from Andrew's Star Page which shows some side by side comparisons between the two. Good to see Vancouver has the edge in face-off wins so far (51.3% to 48.1%). Maybe Pudge will be the hero on the stat sheet right there.

As usual, more updates will be posted as we get them. If you see anything, throw them in the comments. For more on the Dallas side of things, do stroll on over to Defending Big D.

Game 15 Preview: Avalanche at Canucks

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:53:30 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	8:30 MT / 10:30 ET	Vancouver Canucks
10-2-2	November 1st, 2009	7-7-0
22 pts	GM Place	14 pts
1st in West	Vancouver, BC	9th in West

The crazy road trip is almost over; lets just hope the duct tape will hold the wheels on the bus for one more game. After tonight, the Avalanche will trudge home after paying 11 out of 13 games on the road. Obviously, they've done very, very well (8-2-2). There are signs, though, that this wonderful run is not going to be permanent. The Avs have started to slip a bit offensively. Scoring is down to 10th, the powerplay is down to 11th. Those are not terrible numbers (especially compared to what we've been forced to root for in recent years), but they are no longer upper-echelon numbers. Perhaps most telling, the Avalanche are 28th in the league in shots. We've seen a lot of timely goals during the first month of the season (18 different players have at least a goal), but timely goals only take you so far. This team needs to become a consistent threat offensively before I can start thinking about them as a playoff-calibre club.

Defensively, I have few worries, especially as long as #41 is between the pipes. Craig Anderson will start his 15th game tonight. Out of 63 NHL goalies to have played so far this year, he's the only one to get every start for his club. Joe Sacco has ridden him hard, and Anderson has certainly responded. "Responded" is a severe understatement, actually. Craig Anderson kicked all sorts of ass in October. Better?

Speaking of kicking ass in October, the gang here wants to thank all of you for helping us set another traffic record in October. We just barely missed 50,000 hits but still topped the previous high of 41,000 by a wide margin. Our October traffic was almost 4 times what we did last October (and we thought those numbers were the balls at the time). I don't think we get a trophy or a medal or anything cool like that (or, if we do, Joe's keeping them to himself), but it's great to see tangible and quantifyable evidence that this is the biggest and best Avalanche community on the World Wide Wolski. At that's because of the input of all of you. As of today, MHH has 749 members and 97,000 comments and we've seen a welcome influx of new commenters lately. I know I speak for all of us here at MHH when I say that those numbers are as humbling as they are staggering. And now, back to our regularly scheduled preview which we'll join in progress...

I think it's pretty well documented that the Avalanche are banged up (again). The Canucks are hurting as well, with Roberto Luongo, Daniel Sedin, Pavol Demitra, Kyle Wellwood and a few others currently on the shelf. With Luongo out, the Avs will face either Andrew Raycroft or Cory Schneider between the pipes. Not that Luongo ever looks great against the Avs...

The key to the game will probably boil down to staying out of the penalty box. The Canuckleheads can't score at even strength (21st 5 on 5). But their powerplay is deadly (2nd). Christian Ehroff has 7 powerplay assists and has that PP humming in a way we thought Kyle Quincey was going to do after a few games this year (Quincey has still been very good, but his god-like lustre has started to wear off a little). If the Avalanche can avoid taking penalties, they should have a good chance to pick up their 11th win. Take stupid penalties and it could be a long night.

Speaking of long nights, the ridiculous 10pm eastern start (on a SUNDAY???) is too late for this old man. I'll try to watch as much of the game as I can, but won't be up to do a recap. Go Avs!

Colorado			Vancouver
22	1st	Points	15th	14
3.14	10th	GF/G	19th	2.64
25.6	28th	S/G	7th	27.9
2.07	2nd	GA/G	18th	2.93
34.1	27th	SA/G	8th	32.3
22.2	11th	PP%	2nd	27.9
87.1	2nd	PK%	23rd	76.4
45.3	30th	FO%	10th	51.1
12.4	11th	PIM/G	13th	12.6
13 pts	Wolski	Top Scorer	H Sedin	16 pts

Avalanche vs Canucks coverage

Nucks Misconduct

Vancouver Moose Return Home To Face Avalanche

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:55:11 -0000

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Canucks PPV (dammit) Ah well, I'm committed.

THE ENEMY: Mile High Hockey and Jerseys and Hockey Love and Jibblescribbits. The latter 2 blogs I have been in contact with since well before the SBN days. Good guys.

Update: 1:03 PM PST: Andrew Raycroft will face his former team tonight.

Update: 12:44 PM PST: There is a good chance that Kyle Wellwood will return tonight, according to the Vancouver Sun. He practiced on line 3 with Steve Bernier and Tanner Glass. The Sun also reports that Darcy Hordichuk will play on line 4 with Rick Rypien and Mario Bliznak. Apparently, the healthy scratches are Mathieu Schneider(?) and Shane O'Brien.

Daniel Sedin update! Finally! He had his cast removed and will be walking around in a walking boot for a week.

Update: 11:37 AM PST: The Avalanche are 7-1-1 in their last 9 games at GM Place. (CBC)

Not-so Update: 12:15 AM PST: What’s your favorite band? And best concert you’ve seen live? (Kathy L, Vancouver, BC)

I’d have to say Britney Spears in 2001 was one of the concerts I really liked going to. Yes, it was great. The best band out there I’d like to say, I really like U2. -Burrows

Burrows, say it isn't so! My god!

Update: 11:33 PM PST: The glass is half full. Geez uh..thanks Detroit for beating the Flames 3-1. With 2 games in hand, the Flames are only 1 point ahead of Vancouver. The Canucks remain 1 point out of a playoff spot.

*********************

It's awfully hard to be optimistic about the Canucks' chances against the Western Conference's best team, led by the NHL's current best goalie. So much is going wrong for the Canucks and right for the Avalanche.

Colorado lost it's first game in regulation in over 3 weeks to the Sharks the last game they played. They were terribly outshot (46-25) but Craig Anderson played well enough to give them a chance. For that reason, Anderson will start his 15th straight game tonight.

Anderson's stats are mind-numbing.

As soon as he arrived in Florida in 2006, his stats have been consistently awesome, no matter how many games he played. He was always stuck behind a #1 goalie regardless. Not anymore. Take a look at his game-by-game stats from this season. Note:

-the Avalanche allow a horde of shots against in every game, but Anderson answers the bell.

-only twice has his save percentage dropped below .903

-the guy is a freak. How much longer can he continue at this torrid pace? Jibblescribbits weighs in on that issue, and it's hardly arguable, IMO.

The Avalanche have quite a balanced attack, with Wojtek Wolski being the standout with 8 goals 13 points in 14 games. Willie, go out there and take care of that guy.

They just suck at defence.

The Canucks were saying that they would continue their stifling defence that they showed in the 2-1 win over the Kings when they played the Ducks the next night. They started off on the right foot, even with 8 defencemen dressed, but completely crumpled in the final 55 minutes of that game. Blame the back-to-back fatigue factor and Ryan Kesler will say "bullshit". Even with injuries to so many key guys, the team wouldn't allow any excuses. Bottom line is it plays a fucking role in what we're seeing out there.

So what can we expect from out beaten up Canucks Sunday night? They are so full of surprises aren't they? It's enough to destroy your faith/liver. I say: expect the unexpected. That's my heart talking. My head says the Avs have the superior advantage to take this one.

The Canucks have to contain the Avalanche's speed. In their 3-0 loss to Colorado in game 2 of the season they didn't do that, and we were wondering where in the hell their ~~defence~~ collective brains went. They also need scoring from more guys. C'mon lines 1 and 2, step it up!

Got to get off to a good start this week, as the Canucks play 4 games in the next 6 nights against Colorado, Rangers, Minnesota and Dallas. The latter 2 games are back-to-back. Oh yippee!

I / we will provide all the updates during the day, as you know there are going to be a ~~few~~ shitload of those.

I'm a little torn on who should start in goal for the Canucks. Both goalies were hung out to dry against the Ducks, but I thought Cory Schneider looked more sharp than Raycroft did. Discuss.

(By the way, a big hat tip to Couch Coach, a member of the CDC Forums, who created the original Johnny Canuck image. You sir are a fine artist!)

Poll

Who should get the start in goal for the Canucks tonight?

Andrew Raycroft

46 votes

Cory Schneider

33 votes

John Garrett, get your ass out there

46 votes

125 votes | Poll has closed