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Power play and fortunate calls help Vancouver beat Chicago 4-3

Vancouver Canucks v Phoenix Coyotes

of the Vancouver Canucks of the Phoenix Coyotes during the NHL game at Jobing.com Arena on February 2, 2011 in Glendale, Arizona.

Christian Petersen

Whenever the Canucks and Blackhawks meet, it’s almost like a shock therapy session for Vancouver and their fans. They’re there to relive a nightmare they’ve experienced the last two seasons in the playoffs when the Blackhawks have eliminated the Canucks in virtually embarrassing ease. When they meet up in the regular season, their match-ups often function as a cruel reminder of the fate Vancouver has met the last two years.

Tonight, the Canucks opted to fight back. Vancouver jumped out to a first period lead on Christian Ehrhoff’s goal but when the second rolled around, it seemed like the same story was about to unfold as Jonathan Toews and Nick Boynton scored to put Chicago up 2-1. Vancouver bounced back though as Mikael Samuelsson scored late in the period to make it 2-2 as the teams headed to the third.

In the third, Dave Bolland would put Chicago up 3-2 with a rebound goal at 7:47 but the Canucks fortitude would shine through again less than three minutes later as Henrik Sedin scored on the power play as he and his brother Daniel Sedin worked some puck magic to even things up. Daniel would ice the game six minutes later with a goal of his own to put Vancouver ahead for good. Vancouver was able to beat Marty Turco who made 28 saves in the loss.

The game wouldn’t be without controversy though. Dave Bolland had a goal wiped away in the first period as the referees felt he interfered with Roberto Luongo and disallowed what was believed to be the game’s first goal. Compounding that, Ehrhoff’s goal in the first appeared to exit the zone before being brought back in leading to the goal. Replays show that while the call was close, the puck did cross the blue line making the play offsides. The call was missed and Vancouver got a goal. Chicago got their own shots in as well as Marty Turco got a cheap shot in on Ryan Kesler using his stick to chop Kesler in the groin, sending him off to the bench for a spell to catch his breath.

All that aside, the game came down to the power play as Chicago finished 0-5 with the man advantage including a 47 second span of 5-on-3 action. The Canucks capitalized on two of their power play chances and Roberto Luongo cashed in with a stellar performance stopping 42 shots. If this win is an example of what the Canucks can do this year and their mental block against Chicago is gone, life in the Western Conference is going to be really tough for the other 14 teams.