Pre-Game Talk: WCSF | Game 6 | Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights | Sep 3 | 6:45PM PST | SPAC

[LordBacon]

I probably won't get much support for this, but I would replace Fantenberg with Juolevi. I know Juolevi only played about 6-7 minutes in the game he played, but his advanced stats were really good -- Fantenberg's advanced stats are brutal. Whoever is paired with Fantenberg just gets swamped in the Canucks end. I know Myers isn't 100% so he has a reason why he hasn't been as good since he came back, but when he's paired with Fantenberg they have seriously long shifts chasing Vegas in their own zone, which won't help Myers to get any healthier. Juolevi will also get more experience for the future.

I really wanna see juolevi, but I’m not against playing Fanta over him.
Its a hard decision to dress a rookie d in an elimination game

 

[lawrence]

the forefathers of the Canucks have came back from a 3-1 deficit more then any other team in NHL history. It is in our bloodlines to do so! It's time to channel this resiliency once again whether it's Demko standing on his head again or another emerging hero that will lead us to a game 6 victory.

Makar just over took Hughes for the rookie Dman playoff scoring record.

I worry about the win more then the playoff record as no one even knew a record was on the line in the first place.

 

[The Vasili Jerry]

I really wanna see juolevi, but I’m not against playing Fanta over him.
Its a hard decision to dress a rookie d in an elimination game

I remember Tanev's first season in the NHL in 2010-2011. He didn't play many games in the regular season but he did pretty well when he came into the playoffs for a few games. I could see Juolevi being similar. I'm just really not a fan of Fanta. My mate who is a Kings fan also tells me how bad he was for the Kings. I guess I just think, "how much worse could Juolevi be?"

 

[VancouverJagger]

I probably won't get much support for this, but I would replace Fantenberg with Juolevi. I know Juolevi only played about 6-7 minutes in the game he played, but his advanced stats were really good -- Fantenberg's advanced stats are brutal. Whoever is paired with Fantenberg just gets swamped in the Canucks end. I know Myers isn't 100% so he has a reason why he hasn't been as good since he came back, but when he's paired with Fantenberg they have seriously long shifts chasing Vegas in their own zone, which won't help Myers to get any healthier. Juolevi will also get more experience for the future.

Yeah I would've probably done that in game 5 - I don't disagree but doubt Green has the type of cahonies to make a change like that in game 6 after a win. Can't say I wouldn't want to see it though.

 

[VanJack]

I remember Tanev's first season in the NHL in 2010-2011. He didn't play many games in the regular season but he did pretty well when he came into the playoffs for a few games. I could see Juolevi being similar. I'm just really not a fan of Fanta. My mate who is a Kings fan also tells me how bad he was for the Kings. I guess I just think, "how much worse could Juolevi be?"

The problem here, is that Fantenberg has actually been one of their better d-men in the last couple of games. I have no idea whether that's a reflection of how bad Tanev and Myers have been. But replacing Fantenberg with Juolevi would be equivalent of running up the white flag. Oli may have looked decent in limited minutes against the Wild, but these swift Vegas forwards would turn him into a pylon in a hurry.

 

[ugghhh]

I remember Tanev's first season in the NHL in 2010-2011. He didn't play many games in the regular season but he did pretty well when he came into the playoffs for a few games. I could see Juolevi being similar. I'm just really not a fan of Fanta. My mate who is a Kings fan also tells me how bad he was for the Kings. I guess I just think, "how much worse could Juolevi be?"

Tanev played ~30 regular season games that year and faired well. It was his first pro season, so that says a lot about how ready he was -- although to be fair we had a ton of injuries on D that season.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Yeah I would've probably done that in game 5 - I don't disagree but doubt Green has the type of cahonies to make a change like that in game 6 after a win. Can't say I wouldn't want to see it though.

I don't know if intentional or not, but please:

Cojones

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Demko’s already long asleep by now. Feeling like I should do the same. Going to be a long wait for puck drop tomorrow.

 

[ugghhh]

This would be plausible if the connection from the defense to the forwards was not so porous. I could buy the turtle structure as planned strategy, rather than a last resort.

As is, nope. This flawed execution more than it is planned strategy.

Yup, we were totally lacking cohesion on both ends of the ice in the first 40 minutes.

We played better in the 3rd (still not great), and we didn't sit back quite as much with the lead, which was nice to see.

 

[David71]

i'm thinking... this one goes to OT and VGK scores a heartbreaker, getting one from smith or marchessault because... because.

NO NO NO. i want the boys to make it to the WCF. that is the goal! forget the cup lol. all the guys are playing with "hidden injuries" but they can do it. thatcher demko will go cam ward 2006 ! I BOLIEVE

 

[David71]

i really really hate the sharks but

I saw those last night oh man. if canucks can pull it off like san jose just did WOW!. vegas would be choke artists for sure 2 yrs in a row..

 

[rea]

Lol nice bindy chop. Coincidentally I randomly was reading about that time period the other day. How the media played such a role in all that.

For those who know, they know

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Frick, would be nice to have that sort of breathing room! Feels like we are going to have to scratch and claw for every inch.

I have no recollection of that series. How did that team go down 3-1 in the first place, if they can dominate like that in G5-7?

the long version is winnipeg was red hot going into the playoffs. at the end of february, they added four young guys to their roster. three were from the olympics, the fourth was rick tabaracci from the farm. in their last eight games, they went 6-0-2 to separate themselves from calgary and take the fourth seed in the smythe.

s0 for first three games of the playoffs, winnipeg was riding this high with the four new guys. rick tabaracci played vezina hockey (2.00 GAA and .932 SV%... in 1992), young keith tkachuk was running around and just mauling our guys, evgeni davydov was darty and scored a couple big goals, igor ulanov was big and scary.

the turning point was at the end of the first period. vancouver is up 1-0 on a bure goal. then with something like four seconds left in the period, sandlak tips a bure powerplay point shot from far out and it goes in. in a lidstrom/cloutier-esque way, it deflated the jets. we opened the second period with four more goals, tabaracci was pulled after the third one, with us up 5-0. that game was awesome. we forechecked winnipeg to death and phil housley was basically passing it directly to our guys on the breakout so they wouldn't hit him. ulanov was a complete and total pylon. i don't have a clear memory of it but i'm pretty sure bure also laid a big hit on tkachuk.

in game six, winnipeg puts tabaracci back in instead of going to essensa (who was a vezina finalist that year) and bure scores a hat trick. in game seven, the clutchest of all canucks, geoff courtnall, scores a natural hat trick. tabaracci never starts for anyone ever again.

okay so i went back and watched this game on youtube tonight.



i got some things not quite right. that sandlak goal wasn't exactly as i remembered. it was with four seconds left and on the PP, but what actually happened is bure broke his stick on the point shot and it was kind of sputtering towards the goal and sandlak backhands it in. kind of a fluke.

then thirty seconds into the second, babych of all people goes in all alone on tabaracci and he's hooked from behind so he fans on the shot and as tabaracci goes down he takes a second swing at it and slides it five hole. also a bit of a fluke.

so two semi-lucky goals broke tabaracci, who had been phenomenal up to sandlak's last second goal. the canucks outshot winnipeg 18 to 7 in the first.

another potential turning point: midway through the first, with the game still scoreless, sandlak charges from across the ice to hit davydov right into the cameraman and leaves him bleeding all over the place (and probably concussed).

also, if bure did get tkachuk with a big sneaky cheap hit, which i swear i remember, it wasn't in this game. he was targeted though. tkachuk got a penalty in the first gooning him, darrin shannon also got a penalty for mauling him, and mike eagles was on him all game. but twice this game bure just dummied eagles with huge hits, picking up a charging minor the second time.

but you know who did go at tkachuk? mr. trevor linden. ironic because there was one crazy poster who for years tried to pin the juolevi pick on linden saying linden was still mad about tkachuk clowning him so he didn't draft his son. which of course is nuts because linden owned tkachuk in the playoffs multiple times. but so in the second, linden hits housley on a late whistle, then tkachuk cross checks linden from behind. robert dirk comes in to take care of business and tkachuk is jawing at dirk on the bench telling him they'll settle it later, before the refs give him a 10 minute misconduct and send him to the dressing room. late in the third, dirk is tied up with troy murray and tkachuk gives him the old cowardly messier elbow. in the ensuing melee, with tkachuk hiding behind the ref, linden grabs him and they fight to the ice as a dogpile starts. you can see linden throwing wild punches in the scrum.

weird to see tkachuk so thin. also, those canucks are even bigger than i remember. such big bruising forwards: momesso, sandlak, fergus, linden... adams was bigger than i remember and skating between him and linden, ronning looks like an ant. nedved, who is a tall guy, looks like a twig next to his linemates sandlak and fergus. the defence was gigantic too: dirk, randy gregg, babych, and the trio of lumme, lidster, and plavsic seem big for the time. and this is with diduck and murzyn out of the lineup.

the weirdest thing was plavsic on the number one PP unit. the first unit was courtnall - ronning - linden - babych - plavsic. the second unit was adams - larionov - sandlak, with lumme and bure on the points.

and robert kron, man if he hadn't had to be traded for craven, we all would have loved him. he only played fourth line and PK minutes but he was like a bigger, stronger motte with hands, or jannik hansen with a bit more talent.

The early 90s Canucks were actually a really, really strong team that did quite well in the regular season, but had a reputation for being playoff underachievers at that time. They were certainly capable of turning it on and being amongst the best in the game, but in '92 and '93 they had way more trouble than they should have with Winnipeg and then bowed out to Edmonton and Los Angeles in 6 games apiece.

Conversely, in '94, they underachieved in the regular season before pulling everything together in the playoffs for that incredible run.

i still think '93 was the best and deepest pat quinn-era team.

that was the series keith tkachuk appeared as a rookie basically out of nowhere and shot out of a cannon and gave them a new look out of the gate. at the same time bure was not scoring early in the series. we took some time to rally.

what i recall is we keyed on and crushed housley until he stopped going into corners and started getting rid of the puck quickly and things then did a dramatic 180. i also want to say there was a specific tsn turning point goal where housley bailed on a puck and we scored but i don't recall it clearly enough. it might also have been ulanov.

there was more to it than that involving some clutch work by the canucks and some craziness with ulanov

housley wasn't very noticeable in this game, at least not in a bad way. the game where housley completely fell apart and was practically lying on the ice for five goals was game six:



...which also happens to be my second favourite canucks game of all time (after game five of the '94 finals), even though i haven't seen the full thing since the night it happened.

there's a play in game six where ulanov is in the corner and housley is bolting up the ice and ulanov passes it right to bure, who is between them. bure takes a second to load his wrister like he's toying with tabaracci then roofs it completely alone in the slot.

also john paddock's hitler haircut and moustache also weirded me out. why?

EDIT: and one last thought: bure in this game was the same age as petey is now (...well to be precise, the same age as petey was in december, when it was an appropriate time to be playing hockey)

 

[supercanuck]

okay so i went back and watched this game on youtube tonight.



i got some things not quite right. that sandlak goal wasn't exactly as i remembered. it was with four seconds left and on the PP, but what actually happened is bure broke his stick on the point shot and it was kind of sputtering towards the goal and sandlak backhands it in. kind of a fluke.

then thirty seconds into the second, babych of all people goes in all alone on tabaracci and he's hooked from behind so he fans on the shot and as tabaracci goes down he takes a second swing at it and slides it five hole. also a bit of a fluke.

so two semi-lucky goals broke tabaracci, who had been phenomenal up to sandlak's last second goal. the canucks outshot winnipeg 18 to 7 in the first.

another potential turning point: midway through the first, with the game still scoreless, sandlak charges from across the ice to hit davydov right into the cameraman and leaves him bleeding all over the place (and probably concussed).

also, if bure did get tkachuk with a big sneaky cheap hit, which i swear i remember, it wasn't in this game. he was targeted though. tkachuk got a penalty in the first gooning him, darrin shannon also got a penalty for mauling him, and mike eagles was on him all game. but twice this game bure just dummied eagles with huge hits, picking up a charging minor the second time.

but you know who did go at tkachuk? mr. trevor linden. ironic because there was one crazy poster who for years tried to pin the juolevi pick on linden saying linden was still mad about tkachuk clowning him so he didn't draft his son. which of course is nuts because linden owned tkachuk in the playoffs multiple times. but so in the second, linden hits housley on a late whistle, then tkachuk cross checks linden from behind. robert dirk comes in to take care of business and tkachuk is jawing at dirk on the bench telling him they'll settle it later, before the refs give him a 10 minute misconduct and send him to the dressing room. late in the third, dirk is tied up with troy murray and tkachuk gives him the old cowardly messier elbow. in the ensuing melee, with tkachuk hiding behind the ref, linden grabs him and they fight to the ice as a dogpile starts. you can see linden throwing wild punches in the scrum.

weird to see tkachuk so thin. also, those canucks are even bigger than i remember. such big bruising forwards: momesso, sandlak, fergus, linden... adams was bigger than i remember and skating between him and linden, ronning looks like an ant. nedved, who is a tall guy, looks like a twig next to his linemates sandlak and fergus. the defence was gigantic too: dirk, randy gregg, babych, and the trio of lumme, lidster, and plavsic seem big for the time. and this is with diduck and murzyn out of the lineup.

the weirdest thing was plavsic on the number one PP unit. the first unit was courtnall - ronning - linden - babych - plavsic. the second unit was adams - larionov - sandlak, with lumme and bure on the points.

and robert kron, man if he hadn't had to be traded for craven, we all would have loved him. he only played fourth line and PK minutes but he was like a bigger, stronger motte with hands, or jannik hansen with a bit more talent.



i still think '93 was the best and deepest pat quinn-era team.



housley wasn't very noticeable in this game, at least not in a bad way. the game where housley completely fell apart and was practically lying on the ice for five goals was game six:



...which also happens to be my second favourite canucks game of all time (after game five of the '94 finals), even though i haven't seen the full thing since the night it happened.

there's a play in game six where ulanov is in the corner and housley is bolting up the ice and ulanov passes it right to bure, who is between them. bure takes a second to load his wrister like he's toying with tabaracci then roofs it completely alone in the slot.

also john paddock's hitler haircut and moustache also weirded me out. why?

EDIT: and one last thought: bure in this game was the same age as petey is now (...well to be precise, the same age as petey was in december, when it was an appropriate time to be playing hockey)

This is awesome! Thanks.

 

[krutovsdonut]

great recap, of a great underrated series. i had a good friend who was a jets fan and we watched games together. jets at that time were kind of a benchmark or nemesis for where we were vs wanting to be. they always had our number so that series was huge in terms of confirming we were finally a good team. the thing about those canucks is we had to climb over the jets, flames, kings and oilers to be good. each one was a huge struggle.

i recall the sandlak hitting the guy into the cameraman as being like a cartoon where there is a delayed reaction by the player before he crumpled. i misremember it as ulanov though.