Blues vs Canucks

[MissVelvetDress_75]

*sticks head in thread only to comment on how much of a putz Chizip is*

CHIZIP!!

 

[Flag Pole Pear]

i stuck by them the whole time! ive been here right since the beginning!

i just wish brandon reid would score, imagine what that would do to his confidence. not that hes lacking in any, but he needs to be rewarded on the score sheet a bit more for his solid play. im glad crawford likes him too. whats not to like??

i CANNOT wait for game 7. should be a dandy. getting the first goal will be key, as always!

 

[Mirrorball Girl]

Yay Vancouver!!!!

 

[cujo]

To Detroit fans...

Do not boo another team just because we're out of the playoffs... be more worried about the stability of the team, and the financial status of free agents and fogies...

 

[pax]

The Blues will triumph, guided by the broken but not beaten spirit of Al MacInnis, hovering over warmups like the dead grandfather in Family Circus cartoons.

Hey Michael and Pearberry, if the Blues win, can we still be friends?

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Hey pax, of course we can still be friends!

Everyone - for game 7, just watch the Canucks come out to 'Where The Streets Have No Name' before the anthems. The crowd will be going nuts!! The Canucks have used a looping version of 'Streets' without the vocal since last year's playoffs. With the fans at GM Place waiving all those white pom-poms to Edge's guitar, it will be a ball of energy. I know it will be a tough game to win, but I can't wait!!!

It's pretty funny how some people didn't give the Canucks a chance when they were down 3-1. Everyone was saying it would be over in 5. I didn't understand why. This team didn't get 104 points this year for nothing; this team didn't win 10 in a row, and later go undefeated in 14 for nothing. They are a young team, and they're learning on the go. It's so exciting to see!

 

[Chizip]

dont shoot your wad too early, the blues are still gonna win

 

[cujo]

This team didn't get 104 points this year for nothing; this team didn't win 10 in a row, and later go undefeated in 14 for nothing. They are a young team, and they're learning on the go.

I've got it figured out... you're Markus Naslund aren't you?

 

[Michael Griffiths]

i appreciate your homerism, and that is what a good fan is supposed to have. if we were down 3-1 i'd be saying the same things. but the fact is the Canucks choke under pressure. That was evident in the late season collapse, as it was last night in what was as close to a must win game as you can have. The way the Canucks are talking they sound like a defeated team, I highly doubt they will even win game 5.

 

[cujo]

Don't count your chickens before they hatch Michael... the Canucks are sitting well right now, but don't forget the Blues X-factor:

(I'm sorry, I'm not a huge Blues fan, so I can't fill that blank in).

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Hey, whose counting chickens? I said game 7 would be tough game to win. I'm simply pointing out one of the many times Chizip has stuck his foot in his mouth throughout this entire series, that's all. And I'm having fun doing it - whether or not Vancouver wins game 7.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

nhl referees are a freakin joke

Ah, one of the few times I've agreed with you, but wait, we can't blame the refs now, correct? Tonight I thought the Canucks didn't just have to beat the Blues, but also the men in stripes.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

As for the positives, though, Branden Reid is a SUPERSTAR in the making. I mean, that one move he made to the backhand, almost putting it over WasGood when it was 3-1? Are you kidding me?! He looked like a veteran out there during the 2nd and 3rd periods. Crawford was using him in crucial situations, too. Nice they have faith in him as well. I agree, Gickies, a goal would have been so great for his confidence. Hopefully he bags one next game.

 

[Chizip]

i made my prediction before i knew half of the team would go down with the flu. i still say the canucks choke under pressure, and you will realize this when they lose game 7. all the pressure is now on the canucks, they wont be able to handle it. sucks for you sucker.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

You're too much, Chizip You're a good guy though. If the Blues win, I will sincerely be quite happy for you. You are a diehard. I honestly don't think they will beat the Canucks now, though. The Canucks could have caved tonight, because all the pressure was on them. It was a must win. But they went up 4-1. Same scenario last game. A choker team doesn't do that.

By the way, Chizip, St. Louis may have never lost after being down 3 games to 1, but here's a little interesting fact about Vancouver: they have come back from 3-1 defecits to win twice in the past 10 years, and Trevor Linden was integral in both of those comebacks. Oh, another thing: the last time Vancouver won a game 7 was against St. Louis, in '95. Linden was a part of that team as well.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Re: the flu - I had to laugh at what the St. Louis media has written. They said that the Blues were obviously not suffering that much from the flu, as all effects mysteriously vanished in the 3rd period. Too bad it took them that long to learn how to suck it up. Concerning injuries, Vancouver has a ton of them right now, as well. That's part of the playoffs though.

 

[Chizip]

the canucks had nothing to lose that past couple games, really nobody thought they could win, everyone was off the badnwagon. well now they return to vancouver and everyone expects them to win, and nobody expects the blues to win. the canucks wont be able to handle it and blow it like they blew the division.

and yes i was at that game 7, guess who was in net? cu-choke. he let in a long ass goal that cost us the game. we dont have cu-choke to screw us this time, just the flu. but i still see a victory for the blues, since we have never lost a series after being up 3-1, and we havent lost 3 in a row all year . Things are looking good for us, I would hate to be a canucks fan!!!

 

[Michael Griffiths]

So you say the Canucks had to play a must win game twice in a row, otherwise would be heading to the golf course, but there was no pressure. Riiggghhht. Now *that* is funny.

 

[Chizip]

yea, the st louis media says we really arent suffering from the flu

Blues hope home is cure for what ails them
By Derrick Goold St. Louis Post-Dispatch
updated: 04/19/2003 10:47 PM

If the Blues need any additional motivation for ending this taxing Western Conference quarterfinal against Vancouver Sunday night in Game 6 at Savvis Center, they need look no further than their beds.

Because if there's anything this road-weary, flu-riddled hockey club needs, it's a few moments at home. Or, they could find themselves homebound by Wednesday.

"It's not good," said center Doug Weight. "We've got some tired guys. Something like (the flu) is, I'm not going to say catastrophic, but a word close to that. I think it affects your team. And unfortunately your psyche a little bit."

Because of the flu, Alexander Khavanov left Game 5 after one shift and Chris Pronger struggled through his 17 1/2 minutes of ice time. About a half dozen other Blues, including Pavol Demitra and Martin Rucinsky, played through the virus. They were lethargic or ineffective.

Meanwhile, Vancouver finally got production from its top scorers and defensemen in a 5-3 victory Friday that sent the series back to St. Louis for Game 6.

The Blues lead the series 3-2 and can clinch with a win.

But the flu bug bit the team at a bad time.

"It's amazing some of the stuff that has happened to us," said Keith Tkachuk, who returned from a family emergency to play Dec. 10 in New Jersey, the same game six players missed because of flu. That night 10 players tried to play while ill. "It's frustrating. But we've battled through a lot of stuff this year. And we've battled through our guys being sick."

Despite the virus, there is good news.

Blues saddled with the flu told coaches they felt better Saturday morning before the team's charter flight to St. Louis. At least one Blue with the flu had had an IV, and most were told to drink a lot of fluids. Goaltender Chris Osgood told team officials he felt "fine" Saturday morning after apparently injuring his groin stopping a Todd Bertuzzi breakaway Friday night. He was slow getting up from each of his following saves.

He is expected to start tonight.

Center Petr Cajanek continued to skate while the team was in Vancouver and he could possibly return tonight. Cajanek, the center who unlocks the Blues' best three-line attack, has been out since taking a skin-splitting check to the eye March 23.

"We had a lot of guys sick ... hurt, banged up," Tkachuk said. "That's playoff hockey."

It's also exactly as Vancouver coach Marc Crawford eerily predicted.

After his team's morning skate Friday, Crawford pointed out how the Blues were leaning on four defensemen. He said rookie Barret Jackman and Pronger could buckle handling the spare minutes opened up by Al MacInnis' injury. There is also the physical toll of this increasingly caustic series.

Crawford must have logged the Blues' recent travels. The Blues' 6-0 victory in Game 1 "stole" home-ice advantage from Vancouver, but did so in theory only. Vancouver still had the advantage because of the distance the Blues had to go for Game 5. Of the 13 nights before Saturday, the Blues had been home for three and in a plane for two nights and two days.

Traveling across two time zones wears a team down.

Pitch in the flu, the punishment and MacInnis' injury ...

"They've been going with four defensemen and that will be an advantage for us as the series goes along," Crawford said. "It will start to wear on them. And if we can keep (wearing on) them, it will be beneficial to us."

It was on Friday.

The Canucks scored more goals in Game 5 than they had in the four previous games combined. Bertuzzi, a bear around the net throughout the game, ended a 10-game goal-less drought with his first of the series. His was also the first of three consecutive by Bertuzzi and his linemates, Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund. That top line had just one goal in the four previous games.

"The top line? Who's that?" Weight said when asked about the Canuck trio's production, something he'd been instrumental in bottling at the start of the series. Naslund, Bertuzzi, Morrison? Yeah?"

But it was more than just those three. Goaltender Dan Cloutier had his best game of the series. And the defense for the first time in the series contributed offensively as it had done so evenly in the regular season. Canuck defensemen had seven points in Game 5.

Another game like that and the Blues will be back on the plane tonight, racing dawn to Vancouver. A win means more than advancing; it means home, sweet home.

The Blues cannot afford for this flu to linger.

"I wouldn't say I bounced back pretty quick," said Scott Mellanby, who fought off the flu while missing Game 4. "I was in bed a couple days. The last few days I was in bed and really couldn't eat. ... The point I'm making is that it wasn't quick. It was a few days. Hopefully, it's just a couple days (for the others) and they'll all be back."

Said coach Joel Quenneville: "You don't want to play any more games than you have to. You want to eliminate anybody whenever you can."

 

[Michael Griffiths]

That article is two days old now. I was talking about one I read that was written tonight, after the game. Besides, it's no excuse. If they can work the powerplay as effectively as they did in the 3rd period, sorry, but there's no excuse whatsoever.

 

[Chizip]

there was no pressure on those games because people expected them to lose the series anyway. now people expect them to win the series and expect the blues to lose, so the pressure has switched sides. it will be fun to watch the canucks buckle under all of this pressure.

 

[Chizip]

well tonight was a different story, im not blaming the flu for tonight.

we played with our heads up our asses the whole second period. it was inexcusable, i was disgusted.

we blew it tonight, but at least we have tuesday for redemption.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I still don't know where you're getting this "people expect the Canucks to win now" mentality. Everything I've read states its pretty much a toss up, and I would second that. So would most hockey fans. And, no, sorry, I don't buy your argument that the Canucks had no pressure on them because no one expected them to win. They knew that if they made one mistake in games 5 or 6 it could cost them the series. Professional athletes make their own pressure for the most part. It's not like it suddenly doesn't matter anymore if they win the series when some bandwagoners jump off.

 

[Chizip]

people expect them to iwn now because they have "momentum," and they are playing at "home."

its just a shame they are gonna "lose."

oh wait, no it's not a "shame."

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Oh, you mean like the Blues had momentum going into game 5 but couldn't squeek one out under pressure?

 

[Flag Pole Pear]

michael, all the pressure is on the blues. they were the ones with the 3-1 lead, and for them to blow it would be humiliating. you can ask the blues players all about it on wednesday morning...

 

[Angel]

No, I think it's the sudden mad rush of Canuck fans back to the bandwagon - hey, Angel and Bear?

How dare you! I can easily and confidentally say that I am a WAY bigger Canucks fan that you Michael. I have been watching this team since the late 70's. Yeah that's right, since I was a little kid so shut your mouth about bandwagon crap. If you are wondering why I haven't been posting this weekend it's called I WAS ON VACATION!! And my comments about the game on Wed. were rightly so. I am not a fan that is afraid to say my team sucks when they do indeed suck. I watched Friday's game and they kicked ass. The Canucks we have been watching all season were back with a vengance but they still get way too comfortable and shouldn't let in all those goals.

Bandwagon fan. You have no idea how much that comment pisses me off. Who was there in 94' game six of the final series against the Rangers?! Huh Michael? That's right ME. Back when you were still following around Gretzky like a dog in heat.

I did not see last night's game as I was on the ferry returning from my VACATION so I can't comment on their play... but again, they let a three goal lead end up to only one. Not cool.
No the series isn't over, but the Canucks haven't won yet. Tomorrow nights game is going to be a nail biter.

Apology please Michael.

... and Chizip... suck it up that your team isn't the powerhouse you thought they were. Flu or no flu it's hockey and they need to be tough. Leave it to the Blue's fans though, to make excuses why one of the top teams of the season tied up the series. Afterall... if the Blues hadn't gotten the flu... *Whatever.

 

[Flag Pole Pear]

ya, it sure didnt look like they had the flu in the third periods of the last two games?

 

[Michael Griffiths]

Originally posted by Angel in the "Canucks late season free-fall" thread
Have you even been watching the games? Vancouver's done.

That's what I was referring to! It wasn't because you hadn't been posting. It was because of the things you were saying! But seriously, Angel, I'm only ribbing you. It's just a little fan comradary. I know you've been a fan for a long time! And yes, even when I was following Gretzky around like "a dog in heat"! Also, I do apologize if I did offended you. I didn't mean it in that way. That's why I winked after I said it. I know you never *really* doubted this team's ability to come back.

 

[Chizip]

wow, look at all the canucks fans bickering. internal fighting is a sign of weakness. looks like the blues will be able to coast to victory in vancouver.