Cory Schneider blocks 24 shots as Vancouver Canucks shutout Colorado Avalanche 3-0 -NHL Match Update
Cory Schneider did not let the absence of Roberto Luongo be felt to the Vancouver Canucks as he blocked all 24 shots on his net to shutout the Colorado Avalanche, 3-0, on Wednesday night, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, United States.
While the return of Roberto Luongo remains unclear, Schneider is taking his position in the net seriously which certainly showed against the Colorado Avalanche giving head coach, Alain Vigneault, his 247th career victory and his first shutout
of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
"It was one of our best efforts all year," Schneider said. "Just how we had guys back and didn't get many on the rush. We blocked a ton of shots and we kept them to the outside. Obviously, they are going to get their chances on the power play; they're dangerous
and it was the only area where they did get any looks. We did a great job of killing them off."
Manny Malhotra finally made his presence felt by scoring his first goal of the season with less than three minutes to go in the opening period followed by Alex Burrows for his sixth nearly midway through the second to give Vancouver more than a comfortable
lead going into the third and final period of regulation.
Just when it looked like anything could not have gotten worse for Colorado, Ryan Kesler, Vancouver’s American All-Star player, took control of the puck with 30 seconds remaining and scored on a breakaway opportunity unassisted to secure the match.
"It's hard to win hockey games when you don't score a goal, and right now we're in a little bit of a funk here at home," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said.
After their shutout win against the Avalanche, the Vancouver Canucks looks like they are slowly and gradually getting back into the form they were back in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Boston Bruins and having two more games on the road before
returning home, it will be exciting to see if they keep it up.
Colorado on the other hand, hope to get out of their two-game slump against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
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