Tag Archives: stanley cup playoffs

Rivermen won’t play in Peoria, so Canucks’ new AHL farm team likely to land in Utica, N.Y.

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

It’s not a front-burner issue for the Vancouver Canucks — not with the uncertain fate of the coaching staff after the NHL club was swept in first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs — but that back-burner issue of relocating the franchise’s new AHL club is heating up.

A source has indicated Utica, N.Y., is the front-runner to be named home to the Peoria Rivermen, who were purchased by the Canucks from the St. Louis Blues on April 18.

Canucks general manager Mike Gillis had explored keeping the club in Peoria, Ill., but the city was seeking an agreement that would allow the money-losing club ($400,000 US last season) to operate at a break-even budget.

Another option was striking a territorial arrangement with the Abbotsford Heat to operate a league rival at Rogers Arena — a tough sell to the Fraser Valley Sports and Entertainment Group and AHL — but Utica was always somewhere on the radar.

The...

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Rangers rebound to top Capitals 4-3, tie series 2-2

Posted on May 9, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

NEW YORK — Dan Girardi and Derek Stepan scored third-period goals for the New York Rangers, who squandered a two-goal lead and then held on to get even in the best-of-seven playoff series with a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Girardi ripped a shot from above the left circle, off a feed from Derick Brassard, to give the Rangers the lead again with a power-play goal 59 seconds into the third. The advantage was created by Jason Chimera‘s interference penalty at the end of the second.

Stepan made it 4-2 at 6:02, scoring into a wide-open net at the end of a give-and-go play in front with Carl Hagelin, who had a goal and two assists.

Game 5 will be back in Washington on Friday before the series returns to Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The home team has...

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Ducks grab 3-2 OT win over Wings to lead series 3-2

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Nick Bonino scored 1:54 into overtime, and the Anaheim Ducks moved to the brink of the second round with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Defenceman Ben Lovejoy took the puck behind the Detroit net and fed it in front. Bonino scored for the Ducks, who took a 3-2 series lead.

Game 6 is Friday night at Joe Louis Arena, where the Ducks will attempt to close out just their second playoff series victory since winning the Stanley Cup in 2007.

Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson scored for the Red Wings, who had two brief leads. Jimmy Howard stopped 31 shots.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf tied it, Kyle Palmieri also scored, and Jonas Hiller made 29 saves in Anaheim’s first victory in three overtime games in the series.

Bonino has scored his first three career playoff goals in each of Anaheim’s three victories in this series. He ended up in front of...

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Kings take charge with 3-2 OT win over Blues

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

ST. LOUIS — Slava Voynov scored on an odd-man rush eight minutes into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues for the third straight time, 3-2 Wednesday night.

The win put the defending Stanley Cup champions on the verge of surviving the first round, leading 3-2 heading to Game 6 in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Alex Pietrangelo scored on a wrist shot from the point with 44.1 seconds remaining in regulation and goalie Brian Elliott off for an extra attacker. That forced overtime for the second time in the series, and was the third goal in the final minute of the third period in the series.

The Kings’ Justin Williams scored in the final minute of a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1, also in St. Louis. The Blues had a 2-0 series lead after Barret Jackman scored in the final minute of Game 2.

All five games have been decided by one goal, the only first-round...

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Krejci completes hat trick in OT to beat Leafs 4-3

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

TORONTO — David Krejci scored his third goal of the night at 13:06 of overtime Wednesday to give the Boston Bruins a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and a commanding 3-1 lead in their playoff series.

Krejci beat James Reimer with a shot from the faceoff circle after coming down the left wing.

The Leafs now face a potentially decisive Game 5 on Friday in Boston, where history and the Bruins are against them.

The Bruins are 15-2 when leading a best-of-seven series 3-1. And Toronto is 2-12-1 in its last 15 games in Boston.

Goalies Tuukka Rask and Reimer were both busy in an end-to-end overtime, with Toronto’s Matt Frattin hitting Rask’s goalpost some six minutes in.

Reimer’s wife and mother were in the stands, often unable to watch for the tension.

Joffrey Lupul, Cody Franson and Clarke MacArthur scored for Toronto.

Patrice Bergeron added a single for Boston, with captain Zdeno Chara collecting four assists.

Krejci now has five goals and five...

Canucks swept out of playoffs by Sharks, with likely sweeping changes to come

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. — There’s no need to embellish how bad the Vancouver Canucks have been in the playoffs since reaching the Stanley Cup Final two years ago.

They have now lost 10 of their last 11 playoff games and for the second straight year have made an early first-round exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This time they were swept.

The San Jose Sharks beat the Canucks 4-3 in overtime Tuesday night at the HP Pavilion to take the series 4-0.

Patrick Marleau scored at 13:18 of overtime, tapping in a loose puck in the Vancouver crease, to give the Sharks the win.

A first-round sweep figures to lead to sweeping changes, both on and off the ice, for the Canucks.

• PHOTOS: Canucks fall to Sharks in overtime

The jobs of head coach Alain Vigneault and his staff are most certainly on the line and general manager Mike Gillis is going to face some uncomfortable questions from ownership over the team's...

End of an era for this Canucks team

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

They were, arguably, the most extraordinary Vancouver Canucks’ teams in the four-decade-plus history of the NHL franchise.

But the Canucks might be looking at an ordinary future.

Questions will be asked after Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks — the Sharks sweeping aside the Canucks in four straight games.

A collective cringe was felt by Canuck fans across the province when the OT winner went in, with some taking to social media to vent their frustration.

“Gutted ... long summer ahead. Time to rebuild and rehab,” wrote Amy Bosch on Twitter.

“I’m not going to blame to refs like some hockey casual, the Canucks weren’t the better team and that’s why they lost. Time for an overhaul,” wrote@NickyNasty.

“I can’t believe the Canucks are out. So heartbroken.” tweeted Nim Bedi.

It’s the second straight year the Canucks have lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs — and a team that was one game from its first championship 23 months...

Canucks: Raymond not alone in the crosshairs

Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE — When approached before the Stanley Cup playoffs for perspective on his post-season struggles, Mason Raymond initially recoiled.

He believed the reporter only sought out the Vancouver Canucks winger when there was indifference in his play or uncertainty about his future.

In the past, queries were directed at Raymond’s career-threatening back injury, a playoff goal drought that has reached seven goals in 54 career games — the last one coming May 18, 2011 — and his playing future as an unrestricted free agent.

Outside of regaining his health, other concerns remain relevant as the Canucks attempt tonight to avoid being swept by the Sharks in the first-round playoff series.

San Jose leads 3-0.

Raymond gets targeted because he has blazing speed and an underrated wrist shot, but hasn’t scored in 11 games and has but one goal in the last 17.

He’s not alone.

Everybody is in the crosshairs and you’d need a shotgun blast to spread enough shrapnel to hit the...

Canucks Nation, process this: Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Hockey coaches will tell you it’s all about the process. Except in the playoffs, when it’s all about wins.

But since the Vancouver Canucks don’t have any of those, let’s look a little at the process that is leading them to a second straight first-round elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was a very poor sign Friday night that with their National Hockey League season hinging on preventing the San Jose Sharks from sweeping two games in Vancouver, the Canucks couldn’t hold a lead in the final minute of the third period and lost 3-2 in overtime. A very bad sign.

It was not a good sign that the Canucks wasted a mighty, inspired final 30 minutes from Ryan Kesler, who scored twice in the third period and played with the physical abandon and head-to-the-net determination rare among teammates.

It was not a good sign that on the winning goal in OT, Kevin Bieksa, second among Canuck defencemen in NHL...

Iain MacIntyre: Canucks Nation, process this — signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Hockey coaches will tell you it’s all about the process. Except in the playoffs, when it’s all about wins.

But since the Vancouver Canucks don’t have any of those, let’s look a little at the process that is leading them to a second straight first-round elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was not a good sign that on the winning goal in OT, Kevin Bieksa, second among Canuck defencemen in NHL...

Iain MacIntyre: Canucks coming up short in game of grinding giants

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — A month after the Vancouver Canucks tried to acquire Raffi Torres and Ryane Clowe at the National Hockey League trading deadline, we found out why.

Well, it was more a confirmation than a discovery Wednesday because there really was nothing new about the Canucks’ 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the teams’ opening game of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Canucks didn’t do enough to force their way to the net and create havoc and second and third scoring chances. Vancouver scored one greasy goal, which is rarely enough in the playoffs.

Size matters. And the Canucks don’t have much of it among their top nine forwards — the guys whose minutes decide games.

With largely the same lineup, the Canucks are 1-7 in playoff games since getting within a victory of claiming the Stanley Cup two years ago. Alas, that lone win came during a first-round loss to the Los Angeles Kings last year, rather than in...

Canucks coming up short in game of grinding giants

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — A month after the Vancouver Canucks tried to acquire Raffi Torres and Ryane Clowe at the National Hockey League trading deadline, we found out why.

The Canucks didn’t do enough to force their way to the net and create havoc and second and third scoring chances. Vancouver scored one greasy goal, which is rarely enough in the playoffs.

Size matters. And the Canucks don’t have much of it among their top nine forwards — the guys whose minutes decide games.

Canucks to start Roberto Luongo in Game 2 vs. Sharks; lines get a shakeup

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — There was no need Thursday to wait for an announcement on the Vancouver Canucks' starting netminder for Game 2 Friday of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

When Cory Schneider failed to appear for a full team practice, and minor-league goalie Joe Cannata did, it quickly became evident that Roberto Luongo would again be the man for Game 2 against the San Jose Sharks (7 p.m., TSN, Team 1040). The Canucks trail the best-of-seven series 1-0 after dropping Wednesday's curtain-raiser 3-1.

The question now, of course, is whether Schneider will be back at all in the series. It seems apparent he has suffered some sort of his setback to his mysterious “body” injury — is it a groin? — after skating for four days and practising with the team for three.

“You can interpret what you want at this time,” Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault stated cryptically. “Cory is day-to-day.”

Luongo, who is either sworn to secrecy or truly doesn't know, had...

Canucks have concerns on defence

Posted on April 29, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — It wasn’t the big shot or the right-handedness that the Vancouver Canucks missed most after Sami Salo left as a free agent last summer. And it sure wasn’t his medical record. What the Canucks missed was Salo’s reliability, poise and ability to calm those around him.

Exhibit A is Alex Edler. The National Hockey League team’s most talented defenceman, shepherded by Salo in Vancouver, was erratic for most of the 48-game season as he adjusted to new blue-line partners and the periodic switch to the right side from his natural position on the left.

Without Salo to lean on, Edler looked less sure of himself and made a lot of mistakes.

That’s partly why another Western Conference coach, when asked during the season for his thumbnail assessment of the Canucks, said he really liked the team when its forwards controlled the puck but thought Vancouver vulnerable when its defence had it and was pressed. To some degree, every NHL team...