Canucks Put 5 Behind Brodeur, Beat Devils.

The Canucks didn’t waste any time helping out their own star goaltender’s bid for a starting spot on the Team Canada Olympic team.

Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo are widely regarded as the two top Canadian goaltenders heading into the selection of the Canadian Olympic National Team. The hype heading into last night’s game in New Jersey was the goaltending duel between Brodeur and Luongo, general consensus in the Canadian Hockey world gives a slight edge to Brodeur, and early in the game Wednesday it seemed like it was Brodeur’s spot to lose.

After a cagey five minutes of hockey, Alex Burrows broke open the scoring at 6:33 with a tip in front of Brodeur. Creating traffic in front of Brodeur was a key for the Canucks, minutes after Burrows opened the scoring Mikael Samuelsson positioned himself in front of Brodeur and Sami Salo blasted home his first of the season. Another few minutes after Salo made it a two goal lead, Daniel Sedin broke into the Devils’ zone and blasted a slapshot past Brodeur, a shot that both Brodeur and spectators know he should have stopped.

If the Canucks forwards were doing their best to make Brodeur look bad, the Vancouver defence seemed to want Luongo look good, allowing Devil’s forwards to break in on Luongo with ease. Two poor defensive efforts from Shane O’Brien kept Luongo busy, allowing Niclas Bergfors to break in and get one back for the Devils. The Devils wouldn’t stop there, a breakdown in front of Roberto Luongo and a couple of failed clearing attempts allowed Travis Zajac to pull the Devils within one, another goal I would bet the goaltender would like to have back. The first period ended with the shots 9-4 in favour of the Canucks, giving Brodeur and Luongo .666 and .500 save percentages respectively, surely not the start either of them were looking for.

The second period gave fans and potential scouts what they were looking for; both teams found their defensive shape and were able to minimize scoring chances. Both Brodeur and Luongo looked like Olympic calibre goaltenders, especially Luongo who made a great kick save in tight on Zach Parise, followed by a snow angel to cover the goal. After an exciting first period, the game looked like it would settle into the war of attrition that was expected before puck drop.

Down a goal, the Devils were forced to press the Canucks in the third period. The Canucks took full advantage of the aggressive Devils; Alex Edler made a heads up pass to Ryan Kesler who circled the faceoff dot and returned a pass back to Edler, who smartly got the puck on net, putting it past Brodeur thanks to a deflection off a Devil defender.  Minutes later, Kevin Bieksa made a smart defensive play and broke out of the zone, recognizing a 2 on 1, and feathered a beautful pass to Jannik Hansen, who buried the pass behind Brodeur, who didn’t have much chance on the play. The Devils continued to press while down three goals, creating a short 5 on 3 opportunity, however great penalty killing from the Canucks was enough to hold the lead. Alex Burrows especially stood out on the kill, blocking a huge point shot early and eventually clearing the puck later out of the zone late in his shift to finish the man advantage, and end any chance of a New Jersey comeback.

In a duel between two Olympic goaltenders, not many would have expected a 5-2 game, especially considering the two teams reputation as defensive minded clubs; however the Canucks especially came through and played smart hockey against a talented goaltender, creating traffic in front of Brodeur and taking advantage of odd man rushes to finish Devils. Roberto Luongo also came through in the last forty minutes of the game, stopping 22 shots to close out the victory. There is no doubt Brodeur and Luongo will be the two top goalies for Team Canada barring injury (Canadian Fans, knock on wood please), but this game shouldn’t carry to much weight in deciding who gets the starting job for Canada. I wouldn’t be surprised if Luongo and Brodeur both get a start or two in the preliminary rounds of the Olympic tournament, where one of them will have to stand out in order to solidify a starting role in the medal rounds. One game cannot decide who starts for Canada; however give Luongo a point for out duelling Brodeur this time.