The win lifts the Canucks out of the cellar

 

Michail Boncea (HV)

 

With the Vancouver Canucks sneaking a win by Chicago Blackhawks, they not only got out of the cellar but as well it gave players some hope. The Vancouver Canucks played like a team that wanted the win and this is shown by the shots count at the end of the game being 39 to 23 in favor of Vancouver Canucks with most of those shots being good quality ones. While the win gave Vancouver Canucks fans a reason to celebrate specially being the second win in a row, it must be kept in mind that a NHL team needs on average 3 goals or more a game to score in order to have a reasonable chance of winning the Stanley Cup. If a team has 2 or less goals a game on average it will most likely mean that it will not make the playoffs and that’s the situations that the Vancouver Canucks are currently facing. As well it must be kept in mind that Chicago Blackhawks is a team that is suffering from a number of key injuries this season. First goal was scored by Vancouver Canucks Markus Naslund in first period at 2:46 with the assists going to Daniel Sedin and Sami Salo. Second goal of the game was scored by Chicago Blackhawks Tuomo Ruutu in the first period at 10:41 with the assist going to Radim Vrbata. The third and last goal of the game was scored by Vancouver Canucks Josh Green in the second period at 6:47 with the assists going to Patrick Coulombe and Trevor Linden. After the game during the post game interviews Vancouver Canucks Head Coach said “… and we weren’t just throwing the puck to the net. We had grade “A” chances and grade “A” shots” and then he went on to also say “Give Khabibulin credit. He’s an elite goaltender and he made propably 10 unreal saves”.

 

Photo: Nikolai Khabibulin © Michail Boncea (HV)