Canucks 1st playoff loss 3-6

Well.. a few thoughts on tonight's game:

The wave of puck luck and injury dodging looks like it's over for the Canucks. Salo didn't play tonight's game - but I don't think that was a game tipper. The Canucks didn't quite fall.. rather, the Blackhawks finally understood how to play against them; they were aggresive on the check, didn't let the cycling start and got in the crease in a big way. I winced everytime Ohlund and Byfuglien came into contact, not to mention Byfuglien's bowling of Luongo. I did notice some weak goals for Luongo and I wanted to shake Ryan Johnson for taking it to the extreme when it was a 5-3 game late in the 3rd. Ryan, we need you for the long run! Take care of yourself for God's sake!

Canucks in 4! Who would have thunk?

OH MY GOD. Who is this team that's posing as our beloved Vancouver Canucks?

I know we've been doing the whole winning bit all season but it feels so abnormal. I'm ecstatic. I'm in shock. I'm actually dreaming of making the 3rd round. Don't wake me if I'm dreaming..

I thoroughly enjoyed the last game against the Blues though. An exciting comeback attempt from the Blues with a little bit of a soft goal to end it at the end of the 1st OT. =S

My fav players didn't let me down: Mattias Ohlund, Ryan Johnson - SOOO PROUD of you guys! Excellent play for Round 1! Hope you get over your cold soon, Mattias.

Have I mentioned yet that I'm so happy to hear Jim Hughson's voice again? *sigh*

Here's the winning goal:

Game 4 tomorrow!

Well, I obviously haven't been at a computer long enough to make a post for awhile.

The Canucks are up 3-0 in the series. Mats Sundin is injured with a mysterious lower body injury and missed game 3 and is questionable for game 4. Jannik Hansen came into the lineup (yay!) and Ryan Kesler was moved to the third line. Mattias Ohlund had the first Canucks goal which came at a good time as we were down 1 and the Blues had their feet over us.

Here's a swedish article from January that pretty much says everything we already knew - nothing is happening but Ohlund will command big money if the Canucks don't re-sign him and he goes into free agency..

Mattias Öhlund kräver högre lön - kan lämna Vancouver i sommar

VANCOUVER. Mattias Öhlund är Vancouvers bäste back.
Men efter elva säsonger i Canucks kan det här vara hans sista månader i klubben.
Förhandlingarna om ett nytt kontrakt har nämligen strandat.
- Nu har det gått så långt att det lockar att testa marknaden som unrestricted free agent i sommar, säger Öhlund till HockeyExpressen.se.

Han tjänar den här säsongen 28 miljoner kronor och vill ha ett rejält lönelyft i sitt nästa NHL-kontrakt.
Hans marknadsvärde lär ligga kring 40-52 miljoner kronor.
"Ligger stilla just nu"

Öhlund är Canucks trotjänare i försvaret. Han sliter i alla uppställningar - förstafemman, box play och power play.
Något som hans agenter J.P Barry och Claes Elefalk påtalat under förhandlingarna med Vancouvers nye klubbdirektör, Mike Gillis.
Själv säger Öhlund nu när halva säsongen gått:
- Vi har inte förhandlat speciellt mycket senaste tiden, den där biten ligger stilla just nu. Men Canucks måste väl fatta någon form av beslut om min framtid ganska snart.
Canucks riskerar bli utan pengar

Vad han syftar på är trading deadline den 3 mars.
Om klubben inte lyckas skriva ett nytt kontrakt med sin svenske backklippa före sommaren riskerar man att förlora honom till något annat NHL-lag utan ersättning 1juli.
Problemet för Canucks är att Öhlund har en klausul om "no-trade" i sitt nuvarande kontrakt.
Det innebär att man inte kan byta bort honom utan hans medgivande.
Stannar i NHL

Och sedan landslagskompisen Mats Sundin anslutit till laget har Öhlund inga tankar på att flytta på sig.
- Då ska det vara till något verkligt speciellt lag, men som jag ser det i dag vill jag avsluta säsongen här i Vancouver.
Några tankar på att som 32-åring packa ihop och flytta hem till Sverige för gott i sommar har han inte.
- Nej, jag vill fortsätta i NHL i några år till.
- Helst här i Vancouver, men kommer vi inte överens är jag beredd att flytta på mig i sommar.

Av Gunnar Nordström

A closeup of Mattias Ohlund's playoff beard

Hahaha! A whole new post just for this picture! *grin*

Game 4: Van Wins! Goals: Ohlund, Linden

Josh Green was back in the lineup in today's game but he must not have had too much time on the ice because I didn't notice him all that much. Today's game was all about, well, first, Ohlund's sweet goal in the third, and then Trevor.. Wooo, Trevor! And Willie Mitchell's great stint as a goalie in his timely rescue of the puck before it edged over the goal line.

Mattias Ohlund: 2 playoff goals

In other games: Minnesota won their game against Anaheim: 4:1.

Game 3 was a stressful... WIN!

Story on game 3. "Pysie" I guess is Pyatt's nickname. So Pyatt won the game winner which was so fast, we needed the replay to see it. Yay! Here's a pic of Pyatt that I liked a lot. Shmooshed!