Vancouver, British Columbia – The Vancouver Canucks appear to be, at best, just an average team this season. No-name players saturate their roster, especially the forward lines, and the Canucks probably won’t supply the eventual Norris Trophy winner. Thing is, on many nights in the NHL now, average is good enough for victory.
Especially when your big-name goalie is on his game, as Roberto Luongo was for Vancouver on Saturday night in the Canucks’ 2-1 victory over the Avalanche at General Motors Place.
Colorado lost the game and might have lost its own name goalie for a little while. Starter Jose Theodore left after the first period with a hip-flexor injury. He does not believe it’s serious, but had a slightly concerned look on his face after the game.
“I felt a tweak, and it locked my back. Usually it goes away, but it was (still) right there and I just tried to fight through the first period,” Theodore said. “It’s the first time it’s really been my hips. I’ve pulled my groin before, but this is the first time for hips. Hopefully, it’s something that’s more day to day.”
Luongo beat the Avs after losing three times previously to Colorado this season. The loss finished a Northwest Division road trip in which the Avs lost two of three games and failed in their bid to get two games above .500 for the first time since Nov. 4.
After John-Michael Liles scored early in the third period to finally solve Luongo and tie it 1-1, the Canucks went on the power play with 14:02 left in the third and got a tip-in goal from Taylor Pyatt with 12:24 left. The Avs’ penalty-killing unit was brutal, failing to clear two pucks and spending the entire 1:38 in their zone, chasing the puck around.
“We had a couple, three times to get it out,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “That was definitely the key goal and turning point of the game. Our penalty killing has probably been a sore spot for us right now, and we’ve got to get better.”
Luongo stopped all 31 shots the Avs put on him through the first two periods, while Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin scored a late second-period power-play goal against relief goalie Peter Budaj.
While the Avs put a lot of shots (41) on Luongo, they had neither the accuracy of Thursday’s win in Edmonton nor, it seemed, the requisite amount of passion behind them. Many of Colorado’s shots seemed perfunctory, especially on three straight unsuccessful power plays in the second period.
“A goalie like that, he’s going to stop the shots he sees. Maybe we could have put a little more traffic in front of him,” Avs winger Ian Laperriere said. “Our special teams weren’t good enough tonight. Those are what decide a lot of games in the league now, and we’ve got to be better.”
The Canucks’ power play looked just as bad, especially on a second period 5-on-3 situation for 49 seconds in which they did nothing against Budaj. But, with two seconds left on the Avs’ second penalty, a hooking minor to Ken Klee, Sedin grabbed a loose rebound following a Sami Salo point shot and put it between the pads of Budaj, at 14:32.
Pyatt’s tiebreaking power-play goal came after Brad Richardson was called for hooking. After the goal, Joe Sakic put his team down another man with a holding violation, stalling a comeback bid, then took another tripping penalty with 1:14 left to pretty much wipe out all hope.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
