Canucks Series: 1-0 for the Nucks. Mood = “Oh God…”
April 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Wow. Two posts in a week. You know playoffs are on when….
Last night was the first Canucks/Hawks game. I was pumped. If I had a Nucks flag, I would’ve been waving it all over the house. I managed to miss the first 45 seconds of the game (stupid hunger) and a buddy decided to tell me it was 1 zip Hawks. Fuck you buddy. Don’t ever do that. I wouldn’t do that if your Leafs were in the playoffs. Bitch. I digress.
The Nucks flew out of the gate. I have never seen a more one sided period in a playoff series in my entire life. They were everywhere: laying big hits; moving the puck quickly; peppering Corey Crawford. A sense of peace came over me. These are the President’s Trophy winners, and they were sending an early message; “you don’t scare us anymore.” The building was going crazy as they watched their heroes sit in the Hawks end and blast shot after shot. Bieksa gets the puck at the point and wires one that’s tipped by Higgins. One nothing. Couple of plays later, the Nucks steal the puck and Hansen gets in alone. Two zip. Fist pump. This is going to be easy.
The Hawks coach calls a timeout to calm his team. It works. They finally start to get some shots on Luongo, but he’s on form. With about a minute left in the first, Lu makes a spectacular toe save and once again I go a little nuts, even texting a buddy the ensuing “LUUUUU” call that comes every time he makes a save. Then I see the replay. It was a LOT closer than I thought. Reality sets in. The game isn’t over.
The second period starts and it looks more even. The Hawks hit the post about fifteen-hundred times (ok…4, but still). I wasn’t really pleased with what I was seeing. They weren’t going away. Don’t get me wrong, the Nucks still had their share of chances, and they were playing excellent defense, but it was a much more even game. I don’t like even games when I’m emotionally invested in one of the teams; I like one-sided massacres. The second ended with the score still 2-0. I thanked the Hockey Gods.
It was at about this moment that the commentators reminded me that Vancouver was 38-0-3 when leading going into the third period. I breathed a little easier. The third came and went without incident. The Nucks played fantastic defense and closed the game well. Luongo gets another playoff shut-out. I thanked the Hockey Gods once again, and sacrificed a bug in their honour. On to game 2. I want that massacre.
