Much like Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, this matchup was a tale of vengeance so action-packed that it had to be split into two volumes, one on Friday, the net on Saturday. And like Kill Bill, all the good stuff happened in the first one. Pass it to Bulis proudly presents Canucks VS Flames: Willie’s Revenge (Part 1).
INT. ROGERS ARENA - EVENING
All the goals!
All the saves!
All the injuries!
Everything happened. Everything happened when I watched this game.
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The excitement came quick. 78 seconds quick to be precise. The Flames opened the scoring on their very first shot. Mikael Backlund dished it from the corner to Michael Frolik in front. Frolik beats Ryan Miller blocker-side and we’re looking at 1-0. Those of us watching Stecher closely on the play were treated to a Simpsons Flashback, as he tripped over the faceoff circle and coughed up the puck. Seconds later, he got nutmegged on the centering pass to Frolik, who buried it easily. I’m not sure exactly, but I think I heard some eerie children singing a haunting tune from the rafters:
Ring around the D-zone
Defence is the keystone
Stecher, Stecher
You can’t fall down!
- It was a bit of a weak start by Miller. But then he made up for it with 43 saves in a row. 43! In a row! That’s almost three times as many as Brian Elliott faced, and he let in four of ‘em! If you missed the game, basically think of all the different types of saves a goalie can make… then rest assured that Miller did that. He was the well-deserved First Star of the game. #30 on the ice, #1 in my heart.
- The rest of the period (and game, in fact) was all goals, penalties and crippling injuries. Alexander Edler and Anton Rodin took shots in the foot and arm respectively and went to the locker room, though they each returned shortly. Ben Hutton took a shot to the hand and couldn’t hold his stick anymore. Brandon Sutter blocked a shot with his foot and had to be pushed off the ice by Nikita Tryamkin. I mean, sure the Canucks helped Miller by blocking 15+ shots, but at what cost? Chris Tanev took a slapshot to the back and was out for the rest of the game. It was pretty much this, but in a real sport.
- Calgary continued pouring on the momentum by slashing Jayson Megna and taking a penalty for it. This spelled bad news for Vancouver, as they were 0-6 for power plays against Calgary, compared to the Flames leading the league in shorthanded goals. And it only took about a minute for Lance Bouma to bury the PK goal, but it was waved off due to Stajan’s Incidental Contact with Ryan Miller. FYI, “Incidental Contact” was the name of my grade 8 school dance. In both cases, the advances were shut down.
- Halfway through the first period, Jack Skille heard a little voice in the ether. Could it be… Michael Chaput?? It could! It could be Michael Chaput! Chaput made a heads-up interception outside the blue line, then brought it in with Skille trailing in the middle. Skille skillefully faked a shot, then served it up to Chaput on a skillet and the Quebecer had no trouble beating Elliott from the slot.
- It seemed like Loui Eriksson was jealous of all the scoring, because two and a half minutes later he took it in from the red line, considered passing to Sutter, but then thought, “Nah, I’ll just do it myself.” He inadvertently banked it off a sprawling Tyler Wotherspoon and it skipped over Elliott’s shoulder. But hey, a goal is a goal. Just like a pizza is a well-balanced meal. You can contest it all you want, but at the end of the day it’s got all four food groups + delicious.
- As a fan, the first period was hockey heaven. But as a writer, definitely hockey hell.
- Simply put, the second period was the Ryan Miller show. Big pad save on Sean Monahan! Huge glove save on Dennis Wideman! Giant blocker save on Deryk Engelland! All three plays had the Flames calling the VPD to report that they’d been robbed.
- The end of the second period saw Calgary taking a dumb penalty for Too Many Men on the Ice. Vancouver had one of their strongest power plays in recent memory, particularly at the hands of Bo Horvat. He made a great move to bamboozle the defnece, then fought hard in front of the net, putting a backhander off Elliott’s pads, and then fought even harder to go after his rebound. This tenacity paid off, as he was able to spot Markus Granlund and feed him a golden cross-ice pass for Granlund’s first of the game.
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During the second intermission, Irfaan Gaffar interviewed Luca Sbisa, who was none too impressed with Vancouver’s showing. When asked what he thought of his team’s play so far, he responded, “To be honest, this second, not too much… We’re not playing as five… We’re lucky that we’re up still… The first five [minutes of the third period] I think are going to be key.” And indeed they were. Calgary came out with a flurry in the opening minutes, but were shut down when Tryamkin decided they were shut down. I’ll present two scenarios and you can choose which to believe:
Nikita Tryamkin knocked down a Flames’ clearing attempt, narrowly keeping it the blue line, then took a diving wrist shot that Granlund tipped to catch Elliott sliding out of position.
OR
Nikita Tryamkin scooped up all of the Calgary Flames (like a bear gathering apples), and devoured them hungrily. Then, with nobody to defend against him, Granlund skated in for the easy empty-netter.
Pictured: Nikita Tryamkin assisting Markus Granlund for Vancouver’s fourth goal.
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Up 4-1, the Canucks began to feel bad for Calgary and decided to sharpen their penalty killing skillz. Henrik Sedin took two minutes for Hooking. And as soon as he returned to the ice, Edler took a nice Slash out of Johnny Gaudreau. And with 2:50 left in the game, Chaput went away for Tripping up Kris Versteeg. Calgary ended up scoring on the ensuing power play, but, like, barely. A shot bounced off of Backlund’s foot and onto Frolik’s stick for the easy tap-in.
The Michael-Michael combination ended up scoring in the first two minutes and the last two minutes of the game. Coincidence… or witchcraft? I wish Glen Gulutzan would’ve let Ferland play with them for a shift so they could have three Mikes on the same line, but he was like, “Nu-uh!” And I was like, “Yuh-huh!” And he was all, “No way, José!” And I decided to be the bigger man because Vancouver had walked away with the win. True story.
