Canucks stick up for Cloutier
'You can't blame Clouts for all those goals,' says Linden
Gary Mason, Vancouver Sun
CANADA.COM
Dan Cloutier left via a back door without talking to reporters. Which told you all you needed to know about the Vancouver Canucks goaltender's performance in Wednesday's 5-1 National Hockey League playoff loss to the Minnesota Wild.
While most of his teammates stayed and faced the music after the game, the goalie did not. Which makes a person wonder -- if Cloutier can't handle a few questions after a poor playoff outing, how equipped is he to deal with the heat of a relentless Minnesota attack that figures to continue in Game 7 tonight in Vancouver?
"Danny will be fine," said winger Todd Bertuzzi, jumping to his teammate's defence. "He's a big boy. He can bounce back from tonight and he will. He's the reason we're in these playoffs to begin with so he'll be fine."
"You can't blame Clouts for all those goals," said Trevor Linden. "I mean, a few were on the power play and they're just burying every great chance they get. You have to give them credit."
Heading into the game, Cloutier was once again under the spotlight. His performance in Game 5 in which he was pulled after allowing six goals left many wondering how he would answer the bell Wednesday in the Western Conference semifinal series. Which Cloutier would show up? The one who arguably won Game 4 for Vancouver here or the masked man who showed up Monday in Vancouver.
While Cloutier has had several solid outings during these playoffs his numbers were abysmal. His goals against average was 3.02 and his save percentage was a lowly .881 -- the worst by far of any netminder still in the playoffs.
However, if there was one thing for Canucks fans to cling to it was Cloutier's history -- he usually followed up bad games with good ones.
Before the game, Canucks goalie coach Ian Clark said one of the keys to Cloutier's performance Wednesday would be trying not to "over compensate" for his outing in Game 5. Goalies coming off bad games often try and do too much in the next one -- over-playing shots in the process -- because they are so anxious to atone for their spotty play in the previous game.
Instead, Clark wanted Cloutier to focus on his fundamentals, the basic elements of the position that he built his game around all season.
For the most part, Cloutier had done a good job of adjusting to the low volume of shots he was getting in this series. Goalies who don't get many shots during games often complain of getting cold, which often makes it harder to focus on the few shots they do get. In the first period Wednesday, Cloutier only faced four and one of those almost slipped between his legs.
But in the second the onslaught began. By the time the game was over he would allow five goals on only 23 Minnesota shots. Not great at all.
"This is a continuation of his journey as a goaltender and as his experience builds up for him he'll get better," Clark said before the game. "I told Dan before this series began it wouldn't be a series where you're going to make your numbers better."