Game 7

They live! They live!



Trevor Linden and the Sedins wake up for game 7 - Vancouver wins 4-1 to advance:



I had the over-under at 2.2 and considering there were 2 empty-netters the 3 other goals were pretty much par-for-the-course in this series. Vancouver was playing their usual meek offensive style and after Joel Lundqvist scored in the first period it honestly looked like the Canucks wouldn't score again until October. Strangely enough they carried much of the play in the second period and when Henrik Sedin scored late in the second - the 'nucks first goal since last Tuesday in game 4 - GM Place erupted as if Nathan Lafayette had finally shot that puck 1 inch to the left...

Mr. Canuck - Trevor Linden - scored the winner seven minutes into the third on the power play. Jokes aside, Linden has played in nine game 7s and now has 12 points (including both Canucks' goals in game 7 of the '94 finals against the New York Rangers). After that the Canucks had to weather a few chances including a ridiculous save by Roberto Luongo off of Stu Barnes with 10 minutes left...although if Henrik hadn't played Jeff Halpern like a complete pussy behind the net Dallas never would have had retained puck possession. Jesus, you don't even have to clobber the guy but enough with the gym-class poke checks.

Lots of penalties in the third, and referee Rob Shick got a little gutless on his diving call against Linden, which was bogus. I understand what he was trying to do as it was getting chippy; Eric Lindros clearly tripped Linden (Lindros in particular was ratcheting up his borderline play as the game went on; that's pretty much been his career m.o.) but Shick probably didn't want to cause a riot on the Dallas bench with another call. I get it, but it still sucks. In fact, I don't get the diving penalty at all. If it's a dive....it's a dive, and that should be the only penalty. If the initial penalty is/was legitimate....then it's not a dive. I think it's a complete cop-out for the refs.


Of course let's not kid ourselves: the real reason Vancouver pulled it out was because they wore the throwbacks. NICE.