Cloutier's play a positive
Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun
CANADA.COM
The St. Louis Blues have been playing a game of musical goalies all season. Even with Chris (Not So Good) Osgood arriving at the trading deadline to stop-the merry-go-round, the prospect of having a superior goalie in the first round of the playoffs is one of the heartening developments the Canucks took away from their deflating 2-0 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings Sunday.
You could have scribbled a little happy face on the bleakness after Dan Cloutier kept his team in a game which remained scoreless until 14:05 of the third period, when the Kings' Mikko Eloranta beat Cloutier from a scramble after the Canucks' defence got caught in a fire drill. Had the game's earlier form held true until the end of the third, the tie would have been enough for the Canucks to nail down their first division title in 10 seasons.
That anticipated result blew up when Eric Belanger iced the Kings' win into an empty net with 43 seconds remaining. By that time, however, Cloutier had identified himself as physically ready and playoff tough. Apparently, the rust from a three-week layoff due to a knee injury has been scrubbed off.
"Dan is one player who, I think, played as well as he could have played," said Canucks' coach Marc Crawford. "We were really pleased with him. So, if you're looking for positives to take out of this game, that definitely is one."
Though the Kings had nothing to shoot for, and the Canucks had everything to play for, Los Angeles gained momentum and began to buzz Cloutier constantly after a slow start. Ravaged by injuries all season -- 13 players were missing from the lineup -- the Kings nonetheless forced Cloutier to make 24 saves, even though they weren't exactly the description of a finesse-oriented team. Only one of L.A.'s skaters -- Zigmund Palffy -- has managed more than 16 goals this season.
While his teammates faced media enquiries over the chocking situation, Cloutier was one Canuck who played with accountability.
"I wasn't surprised by the way L.A. played at all," Cloutier said. "They played with a lot of pride."
Which begs the question: Why did the Canucks play so surprisingly flat?
Vancouver scored only four goals in their final three games of the season and went their final four periods without a goal.
"I still think we played well," Cloutier maintained.
"We had a lot of chances. It just didn't seem like we could get the shots off, pucks were rolling off sticks. The chances were there. I feel very comfortable the way my team has been playing the last couple of weeks. Sure, there was a lot riding on the line for some guys [Art Ross and Maurice Richard Trophy for teammate Markus Naslund]. But I wasn't thinking about those sort of things."
With the Blues on the playoff horizon, the Canucks find themselves in the unfamiliar situation of enjoying an advantage in goal, at least statistically.
For the past two playoffs, the Canucks faced world-class goalies Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek in the first round.
Needless to say, Osgood, who continues to live down to modest expectations since he was picked up March 11 from the Islanders, doesn't inspire the same amount of fear in opposition shooters. His flat-lining goals against average and save percentage, however, probably strike fear in St. Louis.