Miller bails out teammates in 3rd
Midway through the third period, the Canucks pulled a page out of the Green Bay Packers playbook.
The one titled “How to close out games.” It should have been under the “how not to” section.
The Canucks got conservative. They got slow. They played like their internal clocks were doing nothing but counting down the seconds to triple zero. And they nearly got buried.
Lucky for them, their goalie is on one of the great sweltery streaks in team history. Ryan Miller breathes pure fire. Maybe not, but he sure is making stopping pucks look easy these days.
Good thing, because it was the only way the Canucks were going to hang on to that 2-1 win.
When Nick Bjugstad trotted by Kevin Bieksa on a third-period power play, he was in alone. He made a slick move, unleashed a good shot and still didn’t come close to scoring a goal.
The Florida Panthers never really did until they pulled their goalie at the end.
It doesn’t seem that long ago Miller looked like a goalie fighting the game. He seemed unsure of his technique and his defencemen. He was winning games, sure. But he wasn’t looking good doing it. He looks nothing like that goalie right now.
To start Monday he snagged a Jimmy Hayes cannon out of the air like a toddler had just thrown him a Nerf Ball.
It helped him out-duel Roberto Luongo, who made a string of excellent saves, too, but not until his team was down 2-0. The Panthers did finally score, ending Miller’s shutout streak at 200 minutes and 45 seconds.
“I initially saw (the puck) on (Brandon Pirri’s) tape, but as guys shifted positions, he delayed and shot it back across,” Miller said. “I didn’t see the release very well.”
That’s about the only way he was going to get beat.