‘Wings Frustrate Canucks; Rypien Strikes Again

The Canucks skaters were looking to rebound against the Red Wings last night following a terrible performance against the St. Louis Blues two nights earlier, and they did just that. The Canucks skated circles around the Red Wings for the majority of the game last night, forcing Jimmy Howard to stand tall in net and stop 31 of 32 on the way to his second straight victory for the ‘Wings. After dominating most of the first period, a terrible goaltender interference call on Alex Burrows was the break the Red Wings were looking for. Just when the Canucks’ looked like they had killed off the power play with ease, a sharp pass and tip in by Thomas Holmstrom gave Detroit the lead. The Canucks began the second period just like the first, smothering the ‘Wings with numerous scoring chances but were only able to slip one past Howard off a lucky deflection from Mason Raymond’s skate. Missed opportunities will haunt the Canucks after last night; numerous shifts were spent in the Red Wing zone ending in a missed shot or a poor finish. Henrik Sedin’s chance off of an impressive Alex Edler 4 on 3 rush stands out as one of many scoring chances the Canucks failed the cash in on. Sedin had the upper third of the net available as Howard was caught slightly out of position sliding across to track the Edler pass, but Henrik’s shot found Jimmy Howards gear like far too many of the Canucks’ chances last night.

The Red Wing’s traditional puck possession style wasn’t in full effect last night, as the Canucks dominated the majority of the play, however the Red Wing’s ability to break a game open and bury the chances they get was obvious last night. Both ‘Detroit goals last night came against the flow of the play and demonstrated the finishing ability of the talented Red Wing’s forwards on a night where the Canucks couldn’t seem to buy a goal. The first sign of life for the ‘Wings in the third period would be all they needed as Henrik Zetterberg dashed into the Canucks zone and pulled a forehand-backhand move on Luongo to give his team the lead. The Red Wings never turned back after Zetterberg’s go ahead tally, limiting the frustrated Canucks’ skaters to 6 shots in the 3^rd period. A late rally attempt by the Canucks came up short after Niklas Kronwall banked a clearing attempt all the way down the ice into the empty Canucks cage.

Roberto Luongo’s returned from injury smoothly last night, he looked sharp in net showing no affects of a hairline rib fracture or the flu that had sidelined him since the Canuck’s last game against the ‘Wings on October 27^th. Hopefully another solid game from Luongo will put headlines like this to rest. Daniel Sedin remains in Vancouver for treatment on a broken foot that still caused pain when he tried to skate on it last week. His finishing touch is desperately needed as the Canucks seemed to do everything right but put the puck in the net last night.

Finally, Rick Rypien again re-confirmed that he is indeed one of, if not the best pound for pound fighter in the NHL. It wasn’t an absolute beat down, as Brad May also showed he still has something left in the tank, but Rypien remained composed after taking a big right hand from May and responded by switching to his deadly left hand, dropping bombs on the 37 year old. Rypien gets the decision in this one easy, putting Brad May into a full jersey and finishing him with what looked like a Right Left Right combination followed by a series of Lefts that brought May to the ice and the referees in to break it. Rypien gets huge points not just for beating May down, but for taking a punch like a champ, most wouldn’t have survived the early big right from Brad May. To steal Chi Mcbride’s speech from Annapolis “Mike Tyson once said, every fighter has a plan until they get hit”. Here is the fight, in all its glory.