GM1 Bruins 4 @ Giants 5 (OT)

[Beaner]

Well that was an exciting game. The score really flatters the Bruins tonight as they got outplayed in every single aspect of the game tonight, except for goal-tending, as Tyson Sexsmith had an extremely shakey night, letting in 4 goals on 7 shots. Meanwhile Archibald was standing on his head all night long making great save after great save to somehow manage to keep his team int he game and get them into overtime.

Bruins had absolutely no answer to the Giants fore-check tonight, as the giants continually man-handled the Bruins along the boards. Bruins did do a fantastic job of blocking shots and collapsing in front of their own net, but they rreally did apply little to no pressure offensively.

NOTES
Archibald and Sexsmith got the starts
Esposito for the Bruins was a scratch tonight.
Hunt (Knee), Toigo (Shoulder), Cunningham, Kane and Manning were the Giants scratches
Mikkelson left the game late int he second after blocking a shot that hit him high either in the head or shoulder area.
Archibald took a high slapper off the shoulder/ Mask int he first, for a minute it looked like he may be done for the night, but he got back up and continued playing well.
Lineker left for a bit at the end of the third after being checked from Rabbit, but retunred in OT.
Neufeld took over for Sexsmith after goal #4.
Shots 44-10 Giants
PP's Giants 2/5, Bruins 3/6

GOALS
1. CWK Smuk, (1) (Lineker), 1:04 (PP) 5-4, Lineker dumps the puck in and Sexsmith misplays it behind the net as it squirts right out front and Smuk jumps on it and puts it into the open cage.
1. VAN Machacek, (1) (Franson, Bliznak), 3:48 (PP) 5-4, Machacek gets 1 wack at a puck in close, and then another wack and it goes 5-hole thru Archibald.
1. CWK Aspenlind, (1) (Moller, Santorelli), 5:27 (PP) 5-4, Aspenlid carries the puck right across the Giants zone and just lets go a soft wrister that goes top shelf far side past Sexsmith. I dont think Sexsmith even saw it.
2. VAN Rabbit, (1) (Lucic, Repik), 8:49 On the rush, Repik feeds a pass fromt he half boards across to Rabbit who bvuries it past the diving Archibald.
2. CWK Petkau, (1) (Aspenlind, Santorelli), 9:08 (PP) 5-4 Off the faceoff from blue line, puck goes to Petkau who completely undresses the Giant check and he goes in all alone and beats Sexsmith blocker side.
2. CWK Santorelli, (1) (Moller, Petkau), 18:56 The feed from behind the net comes right to Santorelli all alone in the slot and he pots it in low stick side.
3. VAN Machacek, (2) , 3:12 Machacek steals the puck behind the net, and comes with the wrap-around and beats Archibald 5-hole again. Archibald was playing with a defenders stick at the time.
3. VAN Bliznak, (1) , 15:03 (SH/PS) Bliznak comes in slow, Archibald comes way out to challenge, and Bliznak puts a couple moves on him and manages to slide the puck under Archibald, and into the net.
OT. VAN Blum, (1) (McArdle, Franson), 5:41 (PP) 5-4, Blum cheats in from his point position and Mcardle wires a pass right to his stick and its up and over the diving Archibald for the game winner.

FISTICUFFS
Boutieller vs Wuchteral
After a big collision near the bruins bench, Wuchteral throws a glove punched and soon these 2 are at. Looked like both got some shots in, but to be honest I dont remember much of the fight. Wuchteral got an extra 2 for roughing.

OFFICIATING
Herman and Hrycuik tonight. And except for 2 calls they did a fine job. The checking from behind call on Rabbit was crap. The arm of the back official only went up well after it was apparent that Lineker was hurt. The play continued with Giants possession for about 10-15 secs. A brutal call that the crowd was only more than happy to point out. The other brutal call was the Bliznak Penalty shot. It was a clear trip and worthy of 2, but no way that was worthy of a PS. Bliznak neither had control of the puck and was barely past his man. 2 very bad calls, that otherwise was a very well called game.

OVERALL
Sexsmith needs to wake up. A bad night for him tonight, its going to happen but he has to better. Look for Sexsmith to play a lot better tomorrow and for Don to start him. The bronx cheer he was getting from the crowd tonight was well earned. 4 goals on 7 shots just does not cut it.

The Bruins need to do something to generate some pressure in the Giants zone. They got 4 goals tonight but they hardly deserved them. Bruins had great effort in their own end of the ice, but they need to make the Giants do some of their own defending if they want to win.

3 STARS
1. VAN - 20 Mario Bliznak
2. VAN - 15 Spencer Machacek
3. VAN - 7 Jonathon Blum

Archibald was the #1 star tonight and was robbed. I believe Joey made the picks tonight, a little disappointed that Archibald wasn't recognized for his stellar play.

Machacek was fabulous tonight. His best game of the year.

[rinkrat]

OVERALL
Sexsmith needs to wake up. A bad night for him tonight, its going to happen but he has to better. Look for Sexsmith to play a lot better tomorrow and for Don to start him. The bronx cheer he was getting from the crowd tonight was well earned. 4 goals on 7 shots just does not cut it.

Must've been due to one of his teammates saying mean things to him again. :confused:

[Knuckles Muldoon]

Very one-sided as the Giants really played well, despite the scoreboard. It really should have been about 8-1 as the Giants had a lot of great chances in the first period but just missed the net a number of times on top of the 16 that hit the net. The only reason the Bruins were kept in the game was the poor tending by Sexsmith. He just plain fumbled the ball tonight. I have no idea what he was thinking out there. I would have pulled him after the third goal. Archibald was outstanding for the Wack. The Bruins inability to muster much offense was very apparent. When Santorelli-Moller-Aspenlind are out there, the Giants play a little more cautiously, but when any other line is out, the Giants go on the attack relentlessly, knowing that the other Bruin lines just can't score. Petkau is a good sniper, but he's stuck on a line with two guys who don't know what to do with the puck. Machacek was The Man Of The Match™. It was certainly his best game of the season. He and Archibald should have been the first two stars without doubt. The Bruins probably blew their best chance to steal a game. If they can't hold a 4-2 lead in the third, they're not likely to win at all. And I'll agree that the penalty-shot was a pretty shaky call, the Giants caught a break on that one. Bliznak certainly looked confident burying that one, though.
Very disappointed with the size of the crowd. 8,100? That's awful. I can't figure out how mean-nothing games late in the season can draw 12,000, but then the playoffs start and we get 8,100. Can't figure that out at all.
Now the question remains: Who should start in net tomorrow? I think they almost have to go back with Sexy, but another bad outing could have serious repercussions moving forward. And any word on Mikk?

[Beaner]

You have to put Sexsmith back in there. Hes the #1.

Another poor game though, and Neufeld may just get the next start.

[rinkrat]

Don Hay said Phil (aka Mikk) had a swollen jaw.Not broken though. Nasty shot he took in the bean.
On the first goal,I thought it was a ring around,dump in that hit a seam in the boards and came straight out in front,while Sexy went behind the net. What did you guys/gals see?
I thought it was a real fun game to watch in general,pretty entertaining.

[dondo]

A very odd game to be sure. Once again the Giants allowed the Bruins to get ahead but this time it was mostly shoddy goaltending and not being out-played. A strange game, with the much vaunted Giants PK looking positively anemic and usually steady Sexsmith looking unsure, shaky and just not there.

Good to get the in and I don't think we'll see another game like it this series or frankly in the playoffs.

Giants may have out-played the Bruins, but the puck was bouncing all over their sticks and they couldn't really get some great shots off. Archie was full value tonight, but other than a few really nice saves he had to be just good not great. The passes we made that connected nicely were usually in the back of the net.

my take on things:

Giants vs Bruins: Game One - Giants 5-4 OT (http://www.vancouvergiantshq.com/March_23rd_GiantsbkOutlastbkBruins_105.html)


Giants Outlast Bruins
Vancouver 5 Chilliwack 4 OT

The Giants have been hyped to sweep the Bruins and although its still possible it won’t happen with a start like they had tonight. The G-Men dodged a bullet tonight as they had some bad luck and some horrific goaltending as they fell apart in some of the strongest aspects of their game; namely their PK and defensive game. Vancouver left just enough holes for the Bruins to find the twine. Although the Giants held the visitors to just 10 shots all night, every one of those shots could arguably have been considered a genuine scoring chance. The Bruins opened the scoring on the PP after an incredibly soft, nigh invisible roughing penalty was called just 18 seconds into the contest when a dump in took a bad bounce and out in front of the net. The Giants got that back on a PP of their own when Spencer Machacek got one on the doorstep. The Bruins got that one back on yet another PP just two minutes after that, fluttering one past Sexsmith. My buddy started calling the refs the Mary Kay twins for all the make-up calls. Three weak penalty calls, three weak goals - not a very auspicious way to start a playoff series. Wacey Rabbit tied it up mid-second, but the Bruins got another open look and although Sexsmith caught a piece with his shoulder it jumped over the shoulder and into the net. 3 goals. 4 shots. Chilliwack padded that lead as the second was winding down, with a beautiful feed from behind the net to Mark Santorelli standing in the slot. 4 goals. 7 shots. Sexsmith was pulled in favour of Neufeld.

Early in the third period Machacek worked the puck down low and then scored on the wraparound, lifting the frustrated and bemused crowd to their feet and tilting the ice the Giants way. With just five minutes to go the Giants got a SH breakaway and Mario Bliznak was hauled down when the Bruin player took a swipe at the puck and got all skates. Herman awarded a penalty shot. Bliznak who had never taken a penalty shot during the season deftly avoided Archibald’s poke check and slid a cheeky backhand past the netminder to tie the game. The Giants brought all pressure to bear in the OT wearing down the visitors, drawing a penalty and getting the game winning goal in the process. Jonny Blum on the PP sneaking in. The crowd erupted. Relieved. Out of breath. Hoarse. Thankful.

The crowd was sparser than I thought it would be with just 8200 showing up for the first game of the playoffs. All teams in the dub played tonight, there were a few upsets around the league and it looked like the game unfolding on the Pacific Coliseum ice might have been one of them. The Bruins opened the scoring 1:04 into the opening stanza on the PP. A dump-in along the glass caught something and bounced out in front of the goal, recently vacated by Sexsmith who had gone behind the net to play the puck which never arrived. Cody Smuk said thank you very much and potted the goal over a sprawled Tyson trying to get back into his net. The Giants got that one back a couple of minutes later, on the PP. Spencer Machacek standing on the doorstep slipped a rebound between the wickets on Archibald, who was robbed of a star facing 44 shots and being the only thing keeping his team in the game. Another two minutes another PP, and yet another really weak call. Josh Aspenlind spun in the high slot and fluttered a wrist shot past Sexsmith who saw the puck too late. Weak goal.

Wacey Rabbit got the Giants back to even midway through the second. Michal Repik spun along the side boards and fed a beauty pass to Rabbit in the slot. Rabbit one-timed the puck past Archibald, tying the game at twos. Ken Petkau found himself alone in the slot after undressing a Giants defenseman on the PP. Petkau threw a quick shot at Sexsmith who did not look set and was not out far enough to the challenge the shot properly. The puck climbed Sexsmith’s shoulder and tickled the twine, putting the team from the valley back up by one. The Bruins padded that lead as time was ticking down in the middle stanza. Petkau set up Oscar Moller behind the net, after grinding the puck off the boards. Moller fed the slot with a quick tape-to-tape pass. Mark Santorelli doesn’t miss often and with such a crisp feed he had no problem blasting it past Sexsmith who had allowed his 4th goal on only 7 shots. Sexsmith was pulled in favour of Neufeld. Neufeld faced only three shots the rest of the game and turned away all of them. The crowd was vicious mock cheering every save either Sexsmith or even Neufeld made.

Machacek tallied his second of the night off of some great individual work behind the net. Machacek wheeled and dealed and came out for the wraparound slipping the puck five-hole on Archibald. Just as the Giants were gaining momentum the refs called yet another questionable penalty as Wacey Rabbit ran Craig Lineker into the corner boards in the Bruins zone. From the fans point of view it was a clean hit (happened right in front of me and Lineker turned to the boards as he was being hit not before). Angry chants of *bullsh*t* rang throughout the arena as the crowd berated the ref for such a call as the arm only came up after it appeared that Lineker was injured. The Giants got their revenge though as they were awarded a penalty shot when Bliznak was hauled down on the breakaway while short-handed, on the very same PP. The tension was so thick that you might have been able to walk upon it. Bliznak, a Vancouver Canucks draft pick, had never taken a penalty shot throughout the season and the pressure he must have felt might have crushed a lesser player, but he was calm and cool coming toward the net. Alex Archibald tried a poke-check, but Bliznak smoothly moved from forehand to backhand and slipped it past the committed netminder to tie the games at fours.

The Giants made the come-back complete when they scored the game winner in OT, a real OT with a full break between periods, freshly zambonied ice and five on five hockey. The G-Men came out hard and pressed aggressively and tenaciously in the Bruin zone. The Bruins were forced to ice the puck twice and as a result were dog-tired when Glennie took a tripping minor hauling down Rabbit in the corner. As the PP was ticking down the Giants gained solid possession in the Bruins zone. Kenndal McArdle made a sweet cross-ice pass finding a wide-open pinching Jonny Blum who rifled the puck into the open side of the net. The crowd exploded and they were on their feet, pounding on the glass and overjoyed to come away with the win after such a nail-biting game.

Michael Wuchterl dropped the gloves with Kevin Boutilier and got the worst of the battle. The Giants out played the Bruins by a large margin, but the hunger for loose pucks and the physical component were mostly Bruin territory. The G-Men are going to need to bring a more physical game to fore for the rest of the series and combine their skill set with good old fashioned hard work. Sexsmith had a very rough night and it was not the kind of game I ever expect to see Sexsmith play again. The refs were too busy calling soft equalisation penalties to allow any real flow to the game and as a result adversely affected the play. Very poor officiating for a playoff game, and merely average for a regular season game, but this is not a regular season tilt and the sooner Herman and Hrycuik get that into their heads the better the games will be. The Giants and Bruins mix it up again tomorrow night ( Saturday, March 24, 2007) at the Coliseum. Puck drops at 7:00pm PDT.

Three Stars
1 – Alex Archibald .. erm I mean Mario Bliznak (what?)
2 – Spencer Machacek
3 – Jonathon Blum

[N.W. Bruin]

I couldn't believe the penalty to Rabbit and than he topped it with the Bliznak penalty shot. Mario didn't have much control. It was worth two minutes in the box only. That said when Bliznak lined up for the PS I said I couldn't think of a possible worse guy to be taking the shot. He proved me wrong.

As for Sexsmith well he has to come up with big saves though I can't blame them for the four goals. First one the puck bounced crazy like in front of the net (it did seem to hit something behind the net). Aspenlind's goal he was screened from what I could tell. And where was the defence on Petkau splitting the two defenders and than Santorelli being left alone to come into the slot.

[Swando]

I think that a lot of the corporate sponsors did not pick up the play-off package. Giants knew that there was only going to be 8+ as they shut off the upper west side . A lot of empty corporate seats in front of me.

I personally think that Sexsmith's tending is a bit over rated. Point in fact..look at Slade last year...and this year... he could not get a decent pro tryout in the off season or a contract and then not again in the midst of his bad move dilema. I think Sexsmith's draft will be very low as a goalie due to the fact that he has such a strong d in front of him (d forwards as well). By low I mean if he is a projected 2nd 3rd round pick it'll be lower ie 4th 5th round.
I'm happy for Blaine Neufeld as he got into a game and stopped all 3 shots in a 1.3 periods. Isn't that a joke?

[old_time_hockey]

Other than 2 weak goals let in by Sexsmith, I think the Giant PK let them down.

That was not the WHL's #1 PK we saw last night. They will have to be better.

I also think McArdle got better as the game went on because he wasn't trying to stick handle like he was trying in the 1st. Looks like Don told him to use his speed. Chip it in and chase and feed people.

That game reminded me of game 1 against Portland last year. Where Portland got a lead, worked the trap well and Mucha stood on his head.

The other person that was suspect, for probably the first time all year was Milan Lucic. He was slow, not hitting, not playing the physical role.

I have a hunch we will see a vastly improved effort from the Giants tonight. You have to be wondering what is going through the head of the Bruins now. How much of a lead do they need to be able to get a win.

[BruinsFan19]

You have to be wondering what is going through the head of the Bruins now. How much of a lead do they need to be able to get a win.


Spot them 10 goals in the first and we'll let you know :)

[Priceisright]

Well no teams going to win any games with ONLY 10 shots. Plain and simple. If I was Chilliwack I would be shooting every puck in site on Sexsmith. Every possible angle etc.

I guess the thing is 90percent of the play is in their own zone.

[Monster]

Well no teams going to win any games with ONLY 10 shots. Plain and simple. If I was Chilliwack I would be shooting every puck in site on Sexsmith. Every possible angle etc.

I guess the thing is 90percent of the play is in their own zone.

Your right, I guess you need 11 shots to beat the Giants. haha

[Priceisright]

Well I think the Chilliwackos will be lucky to get 11. haha

[old_time_hockey]

Spot them 10 goals in the first and we'll let you know :)

You get what I mean ( :p )

The coach can spin this anyway he wants, but this has to be casting some doubt in the minds of the players.

[Monster]

Well I think the Chilliwackos will be lucky to get 11. haha
Chilliwackos Ouch, you are funny. Must have taken you all day to think that one up. :spineyes:

[Monster]

Well I think the Chilliwackos will be lucky to get 11. haha
Oops, my mistake, apparently its 18 shots needed to beat the Giants. :clap: