CANUCKS END RED WINGS’ HOME STREAK
Daniel Sedin ties it up with 15.4 seconds left in regulation; Burrows seals the deal in shootout
The greatest home- ice winning streak in National Hockey League history was ended Thursday by a team that may prove to be the best the Vancouver Canucks have had.
Yes, they are that good. The Detroit Red Wings, too, but we mean the Canucks.
In a building where no visiting team had won since Nov. 3, the Canucks rallied twice in the third period, tied it with 15.4 seconds remaining in regulation time and won 4- 3 in a shootout when Vancouver winger Alex Burrows used his favourite move to beat goalie Jimmy Howard with a backhand deke that extinguished Detroit’s record winning streak at 23 games.
The win at Joe Louis Arena nudged the Canucks within a point of the Red Wings atop the National Hockey League standings and also within a point of the franchise- record 117- point pace Vancouver had a year ago when it won the Presidents’ Trophy.
And these Canucks are closing fast on those ones, going 11- 1- 3 in its last 15 games. They have more experience, more scoring depth, more grit.
Like Vancouver’s win last month in Boston in the Stanley Cup rematch, the tremendous expectations for this game were somehow still surpassed.
“It was awesome,” Canuck captain Henrik Sedin said. “That team over there, they really invite you to play good hockey. There’s no cheap shots, nothing like that. You play good hockey, go up and down the ice, there’s scoring chances, hits — everything I think you want in hockey. And the atmosphere tonight, with everything that was on the line, it was fun.”
It was memorable. That’s not often said about Game 61 of an 82- game regular season.
“Game 61, usually ... they don’t mean that much,” Daniel Sedin said. “This was a special game for us. During the game, you don’t really think about [ winning streaks] and those kind of things. But when it got to a shootout, then you realize you have a chance to do it. Most importantly, we played a good road game against the top team in this league. It was a gutsy performance by a lot of players.”
Especially so for the Sedins and Burrows.
Sputtering for a month and criticized whenever the Canucks lose a big game in which they are scoreless, the Sedin twins were wonderful, and so was their stepbrother Burrows.
Daniel scored twice, including the tying goal late in the third period when he blasted a 40- footer through Burrows’ screen after Henrik passed blindly from behind the net and found his brother unchecked above the circles.
Apparently, the Red Wings didn’t expect the Canucks’ top scorer — Danny has 28 goals — to be hanging out by the blueline.
“We have a set- up for six guys against five guys,” Burrows said of the extra attacker when goalie Roberto Luongo is on the bench. “We have some plays we like to run. But, Hanky, I don’t know how he found Danny wide open, but he turned and put it right on his tape.”
Asked how he knew without looking that his brother would be in such an unlikely spot, Henrik smiled and tapped the back of his head. So maybe there is something to twin telepathy after all.
The Red Wings should have been in their heads by then.
Vancouver rookie Cody Hodgson had just made it 2- 2 with 6: 34 remaining, banking a centring pass in off Detroit defenceman Niklas Kronwall, when the he and teammates gave the goal right back 20 seconds later.
Speedy checker Justin Abdelkader, whose pass allowed new Red Wing Kyle Quincey to put his team ahead 2- 1 earlier in the final period, overpowered Hodgson and goalie Roberto Luongo to force a loose puck over the goal- line after Darren Helm had scooped it against the post.
That should have been the game — home win No. 24 in a row for the Red Wings, the best team in the NHL.
“We’re an experienced group,” Canuck coach Alain Vigneault said. “Our guys, from start to finish, they give it their best. We knew going into the third, it was going to be hard for both teams. When they scored, we just kept playing. And in overtime, we just kept playing.
“There were momentum shifts, there were great saves, there were quality chances and we found a way to get it done in a shootout.”
Luongo stopped Jiri Hudler and Todd Bertuzzi in the shootout and Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg shot wide. Howard made saves against Canucks Alex Edler and David Booth before Burrows roofed his backhand.
Against a seriously lopsided run in play, Red Wing Darren Helm opened the scoring at 11: 16 of the first period by shooting on a 2- on- 1 caused by Kevin Bieksa’s turnover. The Canucks, who outshot the Wings 17- 5 in the opening 20 minutes, trailed until 13: 34 of the middle period when Daniel, with body position on defender Ian White, guided the puck around Howard after Edler’s point shot was deflected by Henrik to his brother.
It was a pretty good game to that point. It was a breathtaking one afterwards.
“Regardless of the circumstances — the streak, whatever — we beat the top team in the league,” veteran Canuck Manny Malhotra said when asked what it all meant. “The team that’s at the top of the chart, we beat them. And we did it playing the right way. For us, it’s more of a confidence- booster knowing we can play right to end and come back against an outstanding opponent. That’s the confidence we build. Besides that, we put no emphasis on streaks and history.”
The rest of us will have to remember for them.