Sweep Revenge

After defeating the St. Louis Blues four games to nothing in front of their own crowd in Missouri during the 2009 Playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks were served a dish of humility Tuesday.

David Perron scores his third goal of the game (Luongo in relief of Raycroft) - AP Photo/Tom Gannam

Andrew Raycroft got the start in goal and was 4-1 and had a 1.60 GAA (goals against average) coming into the contest.  “Obviously it was a tough period,” said Raycroft.  “Four goals in eight minutes is not good enough.”  But the blame didn’t lay solely at his feet.  The team, fresh from a three day respite, wasn’t ready for the motivated St. Louis Blues.  “We wanted to be good early,” stated Blues coach Andy Murray, who pushed his club hard after they took consecutive minor penalties in the 2nd period.  “Tonight we were good early.”

Alain Vigneault, on the other hand, was understandably less impressed with his team.  “They beat us to loose pucks, they were the better team 1-on-1, and they had the better scoring chances obviously.  They played real well.  That team came out real hard… They had some quality chances and they buried them.”

Alex Burrows dumps Barret Jackman during first period action. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

Andy McDonald opened the scoring 18 seconds into the game, beating Raycroft with a wrist shot following a Brad Boyes drop pass.  The trio of Boyes, McDonald and Perron combined for 10 points on the night.  “It’s always good to get a goal, and it’s even better to get two, and even better to get three,” said hat-trick netter David Perron.  “The most important thing was we got a lot of shots.  We got some goals, finally, so it felt good.”

Cam Janssen drops 'em with Tanner Glass. BJ Crombeen and Kevin Bieksa had two scraps also.

Henrik Sedin would spoil Chris Mason’s shutout bid early in the third period, with a backhand that trickled over the goal line, Mason getting a large chunk of the shot.  Ryan Kesler had set a pick behind the net, delaying Mason’s scramble back out front.  But that was a much offense as the Canucks could muster, in what seemed like a very similar contest to the one played in Anaheim a couple of weeks earlier.

Notes: Daniel Sedin practiced and skated with the club earlier in the day, but did not play.  Out with a broken left foot since Oct.10, he could resume play Thursday in Detroit.