THREE STARS
ONE – Zack Kassian, Canucks. Big winger turning into blue chipper. One goal in regulation, shootout winner, three shots, four hits.
TWO – Cory Schneider, Canucks. Red-head bounces back with 34 saves in regulation and OT and then four more in shootout.
THREE – Alex Tanguay, Flames. One goal, one shootout goal, five shots.
PIVOTAL POINT: With the Canucks leading 2-1 in the second period, Jason Garrison was doubled-teamed along the wall, lost the puck and wound up taking a slashing penalty that led to a Kevin Bieksa penalty, followed by an Alex Edler penalty, followed by Mikael Backlund’s power-play goal that tied the game and eventually led to the shootout.
BY THE NUMBERS: Manny Malhotra was at his faceoff best, going 9-for-10. Henrik Sedin had a tough night, however, and finished 10-for-25. Matt Stajan was 10-for-17 for the Flames as the teams finished even on the draw at 29-29… Canucks out-hit the Flames 30-15. Max Lapierre led with seven… Although not all 18,910 seats appeared full, the Canucks apparently sold all 18,910 tickets as they announced their 410th consecutive sellout.
DID YOU NOTICE? When Mason Raymond netted the Canucks’ second goal at 8:20 of the middle period, the shots on goal were 25-9 in Vancouver’s favour. By the time overtime ended, the shots were even at 36-36. In other words, the Flames outshot the Canucks 27-11 during the second half of the game. Conditioning, anyone?
SAVE OF THE NIGHT: With the score still 0-0 late in the first period, a fully extended Canuck netminder Cory Schneider managed to get his right toe on what appeared to be an open net for Flames captain Jarome Iginla. He then stopped Tanguay on the rebound.
FACE IN THE CROWD: Ladysmith’s very own Pamela Anderson attended Wednesday’s game and, amazingly, the in-house camera managed to locate her and she made it on the big screen twice. She smiled both times, too. Applause followed.
BEST MISS OF THE NIGHT: Canuck defenceman Alex Edler, who scored in each of the first two games, tried to deflect a Jay Bouwmeester point shot out of harm’s way but nearly deflected it into his own net, the puck hitting the post behind Cory Schneider and staying out.
IN THE PRESS BOX: The Canucks’ healthy scratches Wednesday were centre Andrew Ebbett and defencemen Andrew Alberts and Cam Barker. The Flames scratched blueliner Chris Butler while new centre Jiri Hudler missed his third straight game due to the death of his father in the Czech Republic. Fellow Czech Roman Cervanka (blood clot) and defenceman Anton Babchuk (shoulder) were also out of the Flames lineup. Calgary returned forward Roman Horak to the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat.
