Vancouver Moves On

The Vancouver Canucks went in to Rogers Arena last night knowing if they won, they would move on to their first Stanley Cup since 1994. They did just that. The Vancouver Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks by a score of 3-2 in a double over time thriller. The last time the Canucks made the Stanley Cup Finals they were sent on a double over time victory by the hands of Greg Adams. Ironically, it had been 17 years last night since Adams sent the Canucks to the Finals. This time it would be Kevin Bieksa who would propel the Canucks to another Stanley Cup Finals. Despite Bieksa's overtime conversion, it was Luongo who carried the team to the Finals. Last night Luongo made a stunning 54 saves, which includes 16 in the first over time period. "He was great. He turned away everything," Ryan Kesler said. "After he let that one in in the third, he shut the door after that. He really battled hard and gave us a chance to win."(Fox News) Luongo was sharp from the start making one of the best saves of the night just 1:40 into the game. The scoring was opened up by Alexandre Burrows 8:02 into the first on a tic-tac-toe passing play that featured who else, but the Sedin twins. Dan Boyle evened things up on a shot from the point through a screen mid way through the second that found its way through Luongo. It was only fitting that the game was tied heading into the third period. The Vancouver faithful were not pleased just 00:24 into the third when Devin Setoguchi converted on a flukey 2 on 0 goal. In an attempt to prevent the odd man rush, Luongo aggressively skated out of the net, but to no avail. Pavelski slid the puck over to Setoguchi with ease who slid the puck into an open net. Down by one in the third, the Canucks were relentless on offense, but they could not solve Niemi. With just under a minute to play the Sharks seemingly iced the puck, which brought an offensive face off for the Canucks. The icing, however, was heavily contested by the Sharks who explained it had hit a Canucks forward prior to leaving the zone. Upon further review, the Sharks were proven correct, but the call had been made. The Canucks managed to generate a shot from the half wall that managed to squeak through Niemi setting off a huge celebration. The next Vancouver goal would come in double over time after an awkward bounce off the glass. The puck was dumped in off the glass, but hit a seam and bounced to the open Kevin Bieksa. Bieksa fired the puck from the point past the unsuspecting Niemi. Although the Canucks found themselves in that position due to a missed call and a lucky bounce, they found a way to get the job done. Patrick Marleau couldn't have been more right when he said, " An inch here or there and we get a break, but it went the other way tonight." Hockey is a game of inches and the inches happened to fall the Canucks way last night. The Canucks will face either the Boston Bruins or the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Finals.