Slow Canucks may make speedy exit
CALGARY — It wasn’t goaltending. It wasn’t the loss of Alex Burrows or Brad Richardson. And it wasn’t the insertion of Linden Vey and Brandon McMillan. It was about speed and the lack of it. The Vancouver Canucks are on the cusp of a long summer of second-guessing from a disgruntled fan base if a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday in Game 4 of the Western quarter-final is followed by a season-ending setback Thursday at Rogers Arena. It would punt them to the sidelines in five quick games.
“In the second period, we tried to trade chances with them and they were dangerous,” said Henrik Sedin, who scored on a first-period power play. “... We had a power play in the second were our execution was far from good enough. That’s where we have to step up and make plays and we’re not doing that. You get momentum on the power play, you can change a game. That didn’t happen.”
The Canucks can’t simply find another gear because they don’t have one. The youthful Flames have overdrive and a trio of plays exposed everything that can’t be fixed fast or in free agency. There was a 3-on-2 in which the defence got involved and finished with T.J. Brodie wiring a blast that went off a net-charging Sam Bennett and past Eddie Lack to make it 3-1. It would usher in Ryan Miller in the second and he would face a 3-on-1 as Mason Raymond rang a shot off the post. And just when the Canucks had a chance to start a long climb back on a power play, Joe Colborne outraced everybody and tied up the puck along the end boards with three Canucks trying to pry it from him.
There was a third-period push. Willie Desjardins put Radim Vrbata back with the Sedins because Jannik Hansen turned to stone once again when aligned with the twins. But the best development was Miller. He stopped Jiri Hudler and Matt Stajan with tough saves in the third to keep hope alive. He should start Thursday and will have to do something Lack couldn’t do Tuesday — steal a game to stay alive.