Sedin’s Need To Rise To The Occasion
Added on Jun 09, 2011 by J Merrill in
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The Vancouver Canucks have a way of painting themselves into corners, and games 3 and 4 were no exception. The good news is that they are tied 2 games a piece with the Bruins, and the bad news is they were outscored 12-1 in the past 120 minutes of Hockey. The Canucks looked better in game 4 than they did in game 3, but they ended up with the same problem. They aren’t scoring goals. Having award winning goal scorers is a great thing when they are scoring, but the fact of the matter is that the Sedin twins have been next to silent in the Stanley Cup Finals.
You can’t take anything away from the efforts of Tim Thomas, even though he can be his own worst enemy, but Henrik Sedin and his brother Daniel need to get the offense going. In game 4 they were held collectively to 4 shots, and of course Thomas made sure they didn’t score in his 4-0 shut out. If the Sedin twins are being smothered, they need to get the puck to the guys on their line that are open, and shoot when they get the chance. The Twins have a tendency to get really fancy with the puck, but the one thing we know is that Thomas plays far out and gives up rebounds. The Sedin’s are a combined minus-3 in four games and mustered a mere six shots in the two losses at TD Garden. To beat the Bruins they will need to contribute, and as team leaders they can not get frustrated as the team needs them to keep their cool.
There is also the matter of the sub par performances by Roberto Gluon as giving up the lions share of 12 goals is a hard thing to deflect, but Kevin Bieksa told the media not to fall into the trap. The way they lost the last two games were ugly, and to single anyone out isn’t right. Bieksa said “We have one goal in two games, so I don’t know how you hang that on just three guys. It’s the whole team. You can say the first three lines and all of our defensemen. We chip in by committee. Sure they are great players, the twins and Burr, and we rely on them a lot, but at this time of the year you need contributions from everyone.” As far as the Sedin’s were concerned Bieksa pointed out that they are playing against two of the best defensemen in the league. He concluded “They’re making stuff happen and battling as hard as they can. Yeah they’re playing against two pretty good defensemen and they need to chip in, but so does everybody else.”
Henrik Sedin pointed out that they handled themselves much better in game 4, and that they played a lot more aggressive, but they need to figure out Thomas. He said “Our last game wasn’t good enough, but tonight I thought we had enough chances. We have to solve Thomas. That’s the thing. We have to keep working hard. We need bounces. We’re looking forward to the next game. We still have home-ice and that’s good for us.”
Coach Alain Vigneault said that its not time to panic, and that its all about regrouping and playing at home. He said he can tell when his team is trying and when his team is loafing, and that there is no question that they are fired up to be where they are. “They’re fired up. They’re playing for the Stanley Cup, They spent a lot of time in the other team’s end tonight with no results to show at the end. But it’s not from lack of effort, not from lack of playing the right way. (The Bruins) did a good job. You got to give that team credit. They’re playing a smart game.”
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