The biggest game the Canucks franchise has played since game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup finals did not disappoint on Tuesday night. It wasn’t easy, but the Canucks finally got their revenge over their arch rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. It took good goaltending from Roberto Luongo, a smart defensive corps and a gritty effort by their forwards to edge the Blackhawks, 2-1 in overtime.

While the victory was a great team victory for the Canucks, in many ways game 7 was the Alex Burrows show. Burrows, who up until game 6 had many wondering if he simply didn’t have an extra gear for the speed of the Stanley Cup playoffs (due to his lack of production in the playoffs in his career), was all over the ice. He scored the first goal after a great power move by Ryan Kesler. He took a penalty shot in the 3rd period (which I think if he used his patented forehand-backhand deke, he would have scored). He was the one who gave the puck away at centre ice which lead to Jonathan Toews’ improbable game tying shorthanded goal. He was the one who took the ill-timed penalty in overtime. And of course he was the one that scored the clutch goal in overtime to send the Canucks to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Adjustments

Head coach Alain Vigneault kept his new look lines from game 6 in tact for game 7 and it paid off. The Kesler-Burows-Raymond unit was their best line. While the Sedins struggled with Mikael Samuelsson, the 3rd line (Lapierre-Higgins-Hansen) was a pleasant surprise. The fourth line was a rough and tumble line, and looked capable despite limited minutes. Of course, he also started the right goaltender in game 7: Roberto Luongo.

I noticed a different style of play from the Canucks in game 7. There was a clear direction from the coaching staff to not get too spread out through the neutral zone. Even early in the game, the Canucks were loathed to chase the Blackhawks when one of their defencemen brought the puck up the ice.

Home Ice Advantage

I was a little worried that the pressure of the home crowd might work against the Canucks in game 7 but clearly it didn’t. I was impressed with the constant noise from the home crowd. More importantly, I was impressed that the crowd didn’t sound nervous at all.

The Overtime Power Play

Thank goodness Roberto Luongo was able to stop Patrick Sharp while shorthanded in overtime because otherwise the Canucks would be left to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions. The Canucks played a great game in game 7, but their lack of finish almost allowed the Blackhawks to pull off the upset. Had Sharp scored, Alain Vigneault likely would have been fired and Roberto Luongo’s reputation as a big game choke artist would be solidified. The Sedins (no points in game 7) and Ryan Kesler (no goals in the playoffs) would also be called into question. Every aspect of this franchise would have been unglued, had one more shot gone wrong. But Luongo made the save, the team killed the penalty and Burrows made Chris Campoli pay for a poor clearing attempt and the rest is history.

Where was Gillis?

Were you wondering where Mike Gillis was during the overtime winning goal? Well, he was in the washroom!

History Books

Luckily the Canucks avoided being added to the list of teams to blow a 3-0 series lead, because that would have lived on forever. Instead, for the first time in team history, the Canucks won a game 7 in overtime at home. Of course, the only time they’ve won a game 7 overtime came in Calgary on a breakaway goal by Pavel Bure (kind of ironic that one of the lyrics to Kyprios’ song is “Burrows, looking like Bure”). As far as where this goal will sit compared to the other great goals in team history, well that will all depend on how far this team goes. Congratulations boys, the job is 25% done. And the job only gets tougher.

Before we move on to game 4, here are a few quick hits about game 3:

-The Canucks were great at taking the body while staying out of the box in game 1 and 2, but got away from that in game 3. The Blackhawks power play responded with two power play goals. Giving the Blackhawks power play numerous chances is a recipe for disaster going forward.

-Roberto Luongo was outstanding again, as he was in game 1. He has had a few show stopping saves in this series. Great to see.

-Raffi Torres was probably lucky to not get suspended for his blind side head shot on Brent Seabrook. At least I think so.

-The Sedins had their best game of the series in game 3, notching two points each. Impressive given the fact that Joel Quenneville has an easier time matching up his shutdown defense pair against them at home.

As the Canucks and Blackhawks head into game 4, I have come to the conclusion that the Canucks are just too talented, too deep and too healthy for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks look tired. Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer and maybe even Jonathan Toews are playing hurt. On top of that, they’re playing without the injured Dave Bolland and Tomas Kopecky. The Canucks are without Manny Malhotra, but other than that, they’re as healthy as you could expect at this time of the year.

So do the Blackhawks have a chance? Sure, they have a chance, but not a good one. They might win a game, maybe two, but the writing is on the wall in my mind, barring some kind of unforeseen circumstance.

That hasn’t stopped Jonathan Toews from talking tough though:

They’re a beatable team and we haven’t been able to do that yet… We see weaknesses on their team and we have one more chance to do it and it’s best if we don’t look beyond that game and the road ahead.

What does Henrik Sedin have to say about this? Well, this:

Does he mean our power play, our penalty kill, our five-on-five?

Oh SNAP! You’ve got to love trash talkin’ Sedins. He did add something politically correct after that, but I enjoy the trash talk.

What a wild end to a wild playoffs. These playoffs pretty much had it all. Not one, but two miraculous 3-1 comebacks by the Montreal Canadiens, against the mighty Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins no less. The team that ends up tripping them up was a team that had the best comeback of all, the Philadelphia Flyers, who became the first team in over 30 years to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.

The 2010 playoffs also had a lot of players emerge to take on much larger roles in the playoffs than they had all season. Goaltenders like Brian Boucher, Michael Leighton, Antti Niemi and Jaroslav Halak all proved they belonged. Mike Cammalleri and Joe Pavelski took their games to another level, while role players such as Dustin Byfuglien and Ville Leino became front line players.

In the end, the Chicago Blackhawks were the class of the league. Antti Niemi was good enough in goal, while their depth on defense and in goal proved to be too much for their opponents. They were able to win in a lot of different ways and seemed unaffected by pressure and expectations (including the most lofty of expectations, getting the nod from Canuckz.com!).

The only time I can ever recall an overtime of this kind of magnitude causing this much confusion was Anson Carter’s World Championship goal in 2003. Of course that goal needed a lengthy video review to ultimately figure it out.

And the last time a cup winning goal had a more confused announcer trying to call the game had to have been in 1999 when Brett Hull scored the game winning goal. Bob Cole: “Mike Modanooooo!!! With Dennis Hull…”

Lots has changed from 1999 of course, notably the pictures/video that can be found from something like this! The Chicago Tribune chronicled their wild night from the moment they touched down in Chicago at 4am local time.

Pictured above is Jonathan Toews trying to eat breakfast at a restaurant in Chicago while being mobbed by fans. Apparently through the wonder of Twitter, word spread quickly.

Pretty cool stuff. Now the job for Chicago is to try and keep most of their parts together. Even if they can unload the monster contracts of Cristobal Huet and Brian Campbell, that may be an impossible job. Stay tuned in the offseason for draft coverage and trade/free agency news and rumours. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonyztanti to keep up to date.

With a 8 for 14 prediction rate so far in these playoffs, Canuckz.com has predicted about as accurately as Maggie the Monkey. With that said, we’re pretty stubborn here at Canuckz.com and we’re not giving up. So without further ado, here is the MUCH anticipated Canuckz.com Stanley Cup Final prediction:

The Matchup:

The Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers have a few things in common. They both have goaltenders who nobody thought would be starting goalies at the beginning of this season, nevermind playing well for Stanley Cup finalists. They also have a very strong defense corps, especially their in their top four. Chicago’s Keith, Seabrook, Campbell and Hjalmarsson are probably equaled by Pronger, Timonen, Coburn and Carle for the Flyers. Up front, both teams are lead by young captains, surrounded by a good mix of young and veteran forwards.

Goaltending:

Antti Niemi versus Michael Leighton. Who would have predicted that these two goalies would be squaring off in the Stanley Cup Final before this season started? Amazingly, neither one has been a weakness for their team in these playoffs. I think both goalies will be in for a rude awakening in the finals. Neither goalie has had to face the kind of net presence, bumping and overall chippy play that they’re due to see in this round. The Blackhawks have made Anderson, Luongo and Nabokov look very ordinary, often due to traffic in front. You can bet that the Flyers will be trying much of the same on Niemi, and the types of players to make it happen effectively. As for who has the edge, based on play you’d have to say Leighton, but I believe that his strong play has been more a product of Philly’s defense. The edge goes to neither team, it’s a wash.

Defense:

The way Philadelphia’s defense is playing, I think you have to consider this position a wash also. The difference between now and the regular season has been Chris Pronger. Pronger has really stepped up his game and is playing over 28 minutes a game. He’s also the perfect guy to battle with Chicago’s big strong forwards in front of the net. With that said, Keith and Seabrook might be the best defense pair in the NHL. Philadelphia’s defense also hasn’t had to face a team with a decent offense since they faced New Jersey in round 1.

Forwards:

The edge at the forward position goes to Chicago. Jonathan Toews has been the best player in the playoffs, and is playing alongside the always dangerous Patrick Kane and the red hot Dustin Byfuglien. They’ve rolled through the playoffs nicely, and they still haven’t gotten much production from Marian Hossa. The rest of their forwards are all playing at the top of their game and appear to be very healthy.

As for the Flyers, they’ve now got Jeff Carter back in the lineup, but how healthy is he? He only got 17 minutes of ice time in the last game against Montreal, so things appear to be looking better. Mike Richards, Danny Briere, Claude Giroux and Simon Gagne are carrying the mail for the Flyers forwards, who are good and gritty. They aren’t as deep as the Blackhawks though, and they don’t have as much top end talent, although it’s close.

Coaching:

Both Joel Quenneville and Peter Laviolette come into this series with great resumes. Laviolette has won a Stanley Cup, while Quenneville has been one of the more successful coaches in this decade. It has been said that Quenneville has an easier time winning the matchup game because of his personnel, and I happen to agree with that. He is able to throw Keith and Seabrook on the ice to eat up big minutes, while he has four centres who are excellent defensively. David Bolland is his shutdown centre, but John Madden, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp could all play that role if needed. Laviolette is in a similar situation with his defense, as he has two excellent pairings that eat up huge minutes.

X-Factor:

There are two x-factors are play. The Blackhawks have been good all season, and came close last year. How many times do we see teams lose in the conference final or Stanley Cup final and come back to win the top prize the following season?

The X-Factor for the Flyers is the incredible roll they’re on. This team was the last team to qualify for the playoffs, needing a shootout win against the Rangers on the last day of the season just to squeak in. They’re also the first team in 35 years to come back from a 3-0 deficit, as they did in round 2 against Boston.

Who’s Hot?

The Flyers are hotter than they’ve been all season and have won 8 of their last 9 games. The Blackhawks are rolling also, winning 8 of their last 9 as well. One might give the edge to the Blackhawks, considering they knocked off the Canucks and Sharks, better teams than the Bruins and Canadiens.

Prediction:

Cinderella often makes it to the Stanley Cup Final but never wins it. I don’t think this year will be much different. The Blackhawks are healthier and more battle tested than the Flyers, who have scraped and clawed their way past relatively weak opponents. The Flyers will make it interesting, but ultimately the better team will win. Blackhawks in 6.

It goes without saying that tonight’s pivotal game 6 is the biggest game of the year. If anyone knows what to expect, please let me know, because I can’t figure this team out. They’re down 3-2 in the series but both of their wins were by fairly large margins. They were great at home all year, but have dropped both home games in this series, and looked terrible while doing so. With that said, lets take a look at the ten most important questions heading in to today’s matchup:

1. Will Salo play?

It was assumed that Sami Salo would miss game 6 after testicle-gate, but it looks like he might play! Salo participated in practice this morning (although skating gingerly) and participated in the power play meeting. He’s going to be a game time decision. If he can’t play, look for Lawrence Nycholat to play in his place.

2. Will Kevin Bieksa be good Bieksa or bad Bieksa?

Good Bieksa showed up in game 5, playing steady defensively and contributing offensively. Unfortunately that’s been a rare site this year. Lets hope we see the good Bieksa for the second night in a row.

3. Will Roberto Luongo step up?

He has in all three games in Chicago but didn’t in game 3 and 4. He’ll need to fight to see pucks and will need to keep his composure.
4. Will the Canucks stay disciplined?

Lets hope so because their PK has been brutal in these playoffs.

5. Will the Canucks PK do the job?
They have a playoff worst 67.3% penalty kill percentage.They were 4 for 4 in game 5, which was huge.

6. Whose top scorers will rise to the occasion?

The Sedin twins haven’t dominated a game in a while and Mikael Samuelsson is due also. Burrows had his best game in game 5. Patrick Kane has been quiet of late, which seems like the calm before the storm, while Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp have been great all series long. Those players, among others, will be key to their team’s success.
7. Will Dustin Byfuglien get up to his old tricks?

He will probably interfere with Luongo most of the night, but it’s how Luongo and the Canucks D respond to it that matters. Hopefully the refs actually call him for goalie interference one of these days also.
8. Will the Canucks get traffic in front of Antti Niemi?

Two of the three goals that Niemi let in last game were because of Burrows screening in front, so probably not a bad idea.

9. Who will score the first goal?

Chicago scored first in the last two games at GM Place and if the Canucks could pop the first one in it could calm some nerves and put the pressure on the Hawks. It might also get GM Place to be a bit noisy.

10. How loud will the fans at GM Place be tonight?

It’s been quiet all playoffs long. Time for the fans to step up. Put down your blackberries and your sushi in the club seats and make some noise!!! Hopefully fans will take cheering as a way to make the team play better, not just as a matter of recognizing excellence.

After a long absence (bloggers get caught up in the Olympic hoopla too you know), Canuckz.com is back with a look at the Olympic hockey tournament. Most notably, what’s wrong with Team Canada, and what is head coach Mike Babock going to do about to fix things?

Brodeur vs Luongo

The pundits have spoken, and they are in almost total agreement: Luongo should start the next game. And I have to say, I agree with them. Brodeur looked shaky against the US and couldn’t stone wall the Swiss. He hasn’t been terrible, but he’s been the 2nd best goalie on the ice in the last two games and that’s not good enough. Put Luongo in net against the Germans and ride him the rest of the way.

The Forward Lines

In my mind, there are too many players playing too many minutes right now. They’ve spread the ice time so evenly amongst the forwards that nobody is finding a groove. Sidney Crosby is their star and he should be playing 20+ minutes. They’ve also got to find him a winger (please not Bergeron, thanks).  The San Jose Shark line in my mind is also getting too much respect at the moment. Heatley is scoring, but what has Joe Thornton done? To answer my own question, Thornton has produced one assist. That’s it.

Babcock has to find a way to get Jarome Iginla and Jonathan Toews more involved. They’ve played great and have received minimal ice time.

Here’s what Mike Babcock is expected to go with against Germany:

Staal-Crosby-Iginla

Perry-Getzlaf-Nash

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley

Richards-Toews-Morrow

Bergeron

Defense

By “defense” I mean both team defense and their defensemen. Babcock needs to play his top guys as much as possible and go with 6 defensemen. You can’t play with 7 d-men without throwing everyone’s rhythm off. In the realm of team defense, they need to be blocking a lot more shots. Shot blocking, along with goaltending, was the difference in the game against the US. The US got their shots through at will, while Canada’s point men had a terrible time trying to put pucks on net.

Canada should beat Germany, and if they do, Russia will be waiting for them. It’s the worst case scenario for this team, but it is not an obstacle they are not capable of overcoming.

The speculation about who will make Team Canada ended on Wednesday (Canuckz.com correctly predicted 16 of the 23 players named back in August… is that good?), as GM Steve Yzerman revealed the 2010 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team. As expected, lots of deserving players were left off, but lets start by looking at who made the team:

No real surprises in net. I’m sure Brodeur will be the starter and he’ll be backed-up by Luongo. Fleury won the cup last year, but his stats have never been outstanding.

Goalies

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks)

Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)

Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Are Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger too old? Is Drew Doughty too young? Should the top offensive defenceman in the league (Mike Green) be on this team? What about smooth skating Jay Bouwmeester? The questions on defence are a plenty, but that speaks more to the unbelievable depth they have at the position. My biggest concern lies in the fact that they picked Brent Seabrook ahead of Jay Bouwmeester, who is a better all-around defenceman in my estimation. Seabrook made the team due to his chemistry with Duncan Keith, which I believe is overrated in this regard.

Defence

Dan Boyle (San Jose Sharks)

Drew Doughty (LA Kings)

Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks)

Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks) – Captain

Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers) – Alternate captain

Brent Seabrook (Chicago Blackhawks)

Shea Weber (Nashville Predators)

I generally agree with Yzerman’s picks, except for Patrice Bergeron. To me, he isn’t good enough offensively to be on the team. Nice to see Jonathan Toews on the team, especially if a game goes to a shootout. Amazingly, Eric Staal made the team, despite his poor start to the season. The most disappointed players all have a Tampa Bay connection: Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St Louis and Steven Stamkos. Shane Doan should also feel very disappointed with not being named to the team considering his strong play and international experience. Thank goodness they had the sense to keep Mike Fisher and Jordan Staal off the team.

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)

Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) Alternate captain

Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks)

Dany Heatley (San Jose Sharks)

Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames) Alternate captain

Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks)

Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars)

Rick Nash (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Mike Richards (Philadelphia Flyers)

Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)

Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes)

Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks)

Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)

As always, Team Canada will ice an outstanding team and they could probably ice a second team that would contend for a medal. This edition of Team Canada will and should be considered the gold medal favourites. That is not to say that competition won’t be fierce, because it will. Ultimately, it will probably come down to goaltending (as it often does in hockey) and if Martin Brodeur plays up to par, they should win gold.

Have you seen the big Pepsi marketing campaign asking for Canadians to submit a new cheer for cheering on Team Canada in 2010? Essentially they wanted Canadians (or customers) to come up with a Canadian equivalent to “U-S-A U-S-A!” or “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!!”. Well, it seems as though they’ve come up with a cheer. Canada, get ready for… “Eh-Oh-Canada-Go“.

Hopefully you haven’t leaped up from your computer with excitement and are continuing to read this blog. Seriously though, is that the best they could come up with? No chance in hell that this gets off the ground. It has about the same chance as this cheer sticking:

The cheer they came up with sounds lame, is too long, it doesn’t mean anything, in a nutshell: it’s just brutal.

Not that it ever had a chance. I’d be embarrassed if we used any cheer that originated from a Pepsi marketing campaign. This is one of those ideas that sounds good in a boardroom meeting with the Pepsi marketing staff, but in reality it would never work. So can we just stick with “Go Canada Go” please? It won’t sell as much Pepsi, but it’ll work a hell of a lot better.

Speaking of Team Canada, it’s interesting in seeing how hockey experts are picking much different looking rosters for 2010. Eric Staal and Vincent Lecavalier looked to be locks for the team in the summer. Right now, they look like long shots. How many people were picking Steve Stamkos and Ryan Smyth in the summer? Not many, but they’re being picked by many now. The pick that really seems to be en vogue at the moment is Jonathan Toews, and I just don’t get it. He’ll be a star in the future, but right now how does he supplant guys like Crosby, Getzlaf, Thornton, etc. on a scoring line or a guy like Mike Richards on a checking line? The best reason to have him on the team in my opinion would be because of his shootout prowess.

We won’t have to wait too much longer for the announcement of Team Canada, the decision will come on New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, enjoy the predictions.