Game 4-- Ducks 3 , Canucks 2 (OT)

The Vancouver Canucks blew a 2 goal lead to lose to the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in OT. The Ducks now have a 3-1 series lead in their Western Conference Semifinal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ugh.

What I find so frustrating, ignoring the Canucks' so-terrible-it's-not-funny PP, is how difficult it is for them to get the puck out of our zone. I guess some credit has to go to the Ducks' fore-checkers, because there has to be some reason the Canucks keep giving them puck in the defensive zone. The game commentators frequently mentioned how great the Canucks defense was because they blocked a lot of shots. True. But perhaps they wouldn't have to block so many if they were able to clear the zone.

While the Ducks were able to maintain constant, sustained pressure in our zone, the Canucks were only able to manage brief periods of pressure in the opposite end. The Sedins were pretty silent, and have been quiet for most of the playoffs, in my opinion. Plus, I think they're kind of pitiful defensively. Naslund has finally stepped up the past couple games, and Linden had another impressive performance. Linden has a history of playing his best hockey in the playoffs. Morrison scored his first(!) goal of the playoffs, and generated a few scoring chances.

I had hopes that Vancouver finally had the final piece required to make a serious run for the Stanley Cup when we acquired Luongo. But from watching this series it's obvious the Canucks need more experience on defense in addition to Mitchell. It's probably a combination of lack of experience and/or skill overall in our defense. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember hearing that Bieska is one of the better Canucks D-men, along with Salo. But Bieska along with Green were two of the worst Canucks at clearing our zone, I thought--too many short chips or short cutesy passes that resulted in turnovers. And a mistake by Salo gave Selanne the tieing goal.

Another thing that needs to be fixed, in my opinion, is that Vancouver is pretty much a one offensive line team, with the Sedin brothers. In the playoffs they've been mostly shut down, and while some players like Linden have actually stepped up their play, we still need more offense. I'm getting flashbacks to when the Morrison-Naslund-Bertuzzi line was one of, if not the best, scoring lines in the league, but were also shut down in the playoffs and Vancouver bowed out early.

If it sounds like I'm writing off the Canucks, well... I won't say never, and teams have come back down 3-1 before, and the Canucks have done it before (as well as having it done to them), but I think it looks pretty grim.