The game may have started out evenly between Vancouver and San Jose in Game 2, but it ended with the Sharks getting outworked again and ending up in a 2-0 hole in the series. It was an all-around dominating effort from the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 that saw them beat San Jose 7-3.
Once again the game would start out evenly as the teams traded goals in the first period, one that would wind up with the game being tied at 2-2 after the first. Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau would score for San Jose to begin and end the period, but between those tallies, Vancouver would get goals from Daniel Sedin and Raffi Torres. For Sedin, it would be the first of two goals on the night.
In Game 1 of this series, San Jose wore down in the third period but tonight, the slow legs came out halfway into the second period and it would be Kevin Bieksa who got the Canucks ahead scoring a beautiful breakaway goal.
Bieksa wouldn’t see his night go quietly the rest of the way as late in the second period and the Sharks obviously starting to sag a bit in their efforts, Patrick Marleau would grab Bieksa and drop the gloves in a rare display of pugilism by Marleau and a fight Bieksa would happily accept. Bieksa would finish up the night with a Gordie Howe hat trick after his goal, fight, and assist on Chris Higgins’ power play goal in the third.
Just moments after that fight would end, however, Sharks physical forward Ben Eager would make his first negative contribution of the game when he would smoke Daniel Sedin from behind on a hit he was fortunate to only get a two-minute minor for boarding on. While Sedin wasn’t hurt on the play the officials didn’t toss Eager from the game for the terrible hit. As the game went on to the third period, the Sharks might’ve wished they had.
In the third, Vancouver would rattle off four straight goals including two power play goals, one thanks to another Eager penalty for tripping Mason Raymond as Eager kicked Raymond’s feet out from under him from behind. Vancouver finished the game going 3-7 on the power play and after their four goal third period binge held a 7-2 lead highlighted by the Canucks’ work cycling the puck leading to a goal from defenseman Aaron Rome.
Eager’s night wasn’t totally over though as the hulking forward would manage to score a late goal off a nice feed from Joe Pavelski. What Eager did after the goal, however, proved to be yet another reason why he’s more trouble than he’s worth to have in the Sharks lineup as he celebrated with arms raised in the air as if a champion of the world as his goal made it 7-3 with 2:33 left to play in the game.
Tallying up Eager’s night: one goal, five minor penalties, one ten-minute misconduct, 20 penalty minutes, and one major detriment to his own team. Even Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo (28 saves) told Versus’ Darren Pang after the game that in spite of Eager running him over to score late, he’s OK with him being out there because it means he’ll take penalties.
For San Jose the penalties were a major problem. You can’t give up power play chances to the Canucks all game long especially when you end up looking lost in your defensive end of the ice while the Sedins are working their puck magic all through the zone. Eager was bad with his antics, but for the whole of the game San Jose just didn’t compete the right way. What started off hopeful in the first period turned in the second and wound up ultimately being a beat down in the third. The Sharks have a lot of things to get figured out when they head home for Game 3 on Friday night.
Vancouver, on the other hand, looked like a team destined to make the Stanley Cup finals save for one glaring exception: Their penalty kill. San Jose converted on both of their power play opportunities in the first period and it gave them the openings they needed to put fear into Vancouver. The Canucks will have to tighten that part of their game up. To their credit, they didn’t take any penalties tonight while the Sharks went out of their way to try and goad them into further nonsense. As the game got further out of hand, San Jose kept trying and the Canucks kept refusing - a smart, savvy move by Vancouver to not give them the satisfaction.
It’s not over for San Jose by any means, but their list of things to get fixed in Game 3 at home grew a lot longer tonight. The Sedins have too much room to work, the Sharks defense isn’t nearly physical enough to keep them nervous, and the Sharks aren’t getting top performances from most anyone. Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau were the only ever-present guys tonight and with the amount of talent there they need the others to play better and quickly.
Dave Strader and Brian Engblom from Versus recap Game 2:
Here are all the highlights from tonight’s action: