For the second time in the playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks scored in overtime to advance to the next round. In round 1 Alex Burrows scored a giant goal against the Chicago Blackhawks to advance to the second round.
Well tonight the Canucks had another opportunity to advance and this time they're going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the third time in team history; first since 1994. It took a huge goal from Ryan Kesler with 15 seconds to go to tie the game at 2. This put the game in overtime which was the first overtime game in the third round of the playoffs for the East and for the West. The first overtime was highly uneventful as was the beginning of the second overtime. The refs were letting the game go on and didn't cal a penalty once in the extra frames. Then came the goal.
WARNING: This may be the strangest overtime goal since...well since last year's Patrick Kane goal. But this was still uniquely strange.
Edler tries to put the puck deep into the zone from the blue line. The camera tries to follow the puck into the zone but the puck isn't seen on camera. Then out of nowhere the announcer yells "scores!" even though there wasn't even a shot to be seen. Literally you cannot see any sign of a scoring opportunity yet the puck wound up in the net.
Upon looking at the replay you see everything you needed to know. Original concerns that the puck hit the netting above the glass (something shown by the San Jose' players) were refuted as you saw the puck hit a stanchion in the glass and redirected directly to an open Kevin Bieksa at the point. Bieksa let it rip. Boom goal. But a few more funny things about the goal. First off, Bieksa didn't get all of his strength on the shot and it fluttered in on Niemi. And speaking of Niemi, he looked so clueless as to where the puck was and was surely surprised when he learned the puck went in. Niemi played great for San Jose' down the stretch and goals like this (crazy and wild bounces) are known to happen in the playoffs ESPECIALLY in overtime.
One last thing I want to address. It is a strange tradition in the NHL when the captain of a team is given either the Prince of Wales (winner of the Eastern Conference) or the Campbell (winner of the Western Conference) trophy and he doesn't touch it. It is believed that this isn't the real trophy you want to touch and if you don't touch it, you will win the Stanley Cup. Well in 1982 when the Canucks first made it to the finals, they picked up the trophy and skated around with it. In 1994 when they made it for the second time, they not only picked it up, they broke it. The lid fell off of the top. (video can't be found right now...). Well what did they do this year? They kept their distance. Captain Henrik Sedin didn't even consider touching it for a second.
This year the Canucks are planning on winning the Stanley Cup and they will do anything to make that happen.
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