Linden pulls Canucks even with Wild
Canadian Press
12/7/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - The Vancouver Canucks showed plenty of patience Saturday night but almost ran out of time before Trevor Linden gave them a 1-1 tie with the Minnesota Wild.
"It was one of those nights," said Linden, whose seventh goal of the season came with only 2:58 remaining. "It was kind of a test of your patience.
"But we did a lot of good things early in the game. We tried to establish a forecheck but they got the first goal which is big against these guys."
Christoph Brandner, who returned to the Wild lineup after missing two games with the flu, gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with his club's first shot on goal.
But Linden finally solved the hot goaltending of Dwayne Roloson, who sparkled in a 33-save effort.
Mattias Ohlund's centring pass deflected across the crease off teammate Magnus Arvedson. Linden missed the puck with his first swipe but spun around to put it in the net off Roloson's leg.
"I couldn't get my stick on it when it went past me the first time but I managed to get it the second time," said Linden, the only Canucks player to score in a lacklustre 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
"We just had to stay with it, as frustrating as it was at times. It didn't seem too much was going our way and Roloson was playing really well."
The Canucks had a 9-0 edge in shots on goal when Brandner beat Vancouver netminder Johan Hedberg at 6:57 of the first period.
Wes Walz dodged Brendan Morrison's check behind the Vancouver net and fed Brandner, who had got past Canuck defender Bryan Allen.
"It was like every other game against them," said Bertuzzi, whose club lost a seven-game second-round playoff series to the Wild last spring. "You have to grind out the 60 (minutes) and we were fortunate enough to get a goal by Trevor.
"But credit to us, we worked hard and stayed with our game plan. They don't give a lot but you have to stay patient, not get under each other's skin and just realize it has to be this way or you won't be successful."
The Wild have only one win and two ties in their last eight games while the Canucks have two wins and two ties in their last seven outings.
However, Saturday's tie lifted Vancouver into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings who lost 5-2 in Toronto.
It was the sixth straight game that the Wild's offence had produced only one goal for a netminder to work with.
"You try not to worry about it," said Roloson, who blanked the Canucks 1-0 on Nov. 11. "I've got to worry about stopping the puck. If I worry about other things, they end up scoring on me."
Roloson said his club was expecting a tough opening period against the Canucks after Vancouver's effort against Calgary.
"We just tried to weather the storm and do whatever it takes to get by the first five or six minutes. Chistoph got us a great goal, we were able to relax a little bit and go on from there."
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire praised his club's effort after a 2-1 loss Friday to Calgary.
"We knew if we played like that tonight we had no chance to get any points," Lemaire said.
It was also Minnesota's first point in five tries in back-to-back games this season.
Notes: With top scorer Markus Naslund out with a groin injury, Arvedson played with Morrison and Bertuzzi ... Naslund had played 199 consecutive games before leaving after the second period in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames ... The game had two of the league's top three ironmen as the second-ranked Morrison played in his 293rd consecutive game and Laaksonen of the Wild played his 278th ... Canucks GM Brian Burke says the club has applied to the NHL to play host to the 2006 or 2007 entry draft ... The last time the draft was held here was in 1990 and it drew a crowd of 32,000 at B.C. Place Stadium ... Vancouver continue its five-game homestand Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Cheers,
Aquaman