Vancouver Canucks eliminate San Jose Sharks after a Double Overtime in Game 5 –NHL Playoffs Conference Finals
Vancouver Canucks could not have secured a spot in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in a more spectacular way than it did on Tuesday night, May 24th, eliminating San Jose Sharks in Game 5 of the National Hockey League (NHL) Playoffs Western Conference Finals by 3-2 after a double overtime.
Vancouver finally booked a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994, ending a hectic and extremely thrilling series on a high note.
San Jose Sharks has still been unable to break their curse of not being able to get past the Western Conference Finals to the next round since the inception of the franchise.
Game 5 between the two feisty teams started off in an intense manner as Alex Burrows scored the opening goal of the match in the first eight minutes in the first period.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin went on a break-away from the back-line and found Burrows open in front of San Jose’s goalie, Antti Niemi, and passed him the puck for a quick lead.
Patrick Marleau fired back to score his eighth goal of the play-offs to capitalise on Vancouver’s third penalty of the match.
Kevin Bieksa went out for high-sticking Logan Couture midway through the second period and gave San Jose a 5-on-4 man advantage which Marleau capitalised within 50 seconds to come on equal terms with Canucks.
"They're so in synch -- it's almost uncanny as how they read off each other", San Jose’s coach, Todd McLellan, said while talking about Vancouver’s ability to control the puck. "Obviously, Alex Burrows does a very good job on that line to support it".
The final period was rather frantic as both teams started the final 20minutes of the game on equal terms at 1-1.
Devin Setoguchi received a cross-ice pass from Joe Paveleski after Kent Huskins won the face off. Setoguchi fired the tie-break in the first 24 seconds, making the whole stadium panic.
Fans were on the edge of their seat as the countdown began for the end of the final period but Ryan Kesler came out of nowhere and deflected a shot from Henrik Sedin and scored through Neimi to force overtime, giving Vancouver another chance to win.
Winners of the Presidents’ Trophy during the 2010-2011 regulation season, Vancouver Canucks, fought for possession of the puck during the first overtime but it ended without a result as both teams were unable to score.
Thus, an eminent double overtime began which brought everyone on their feet waiting for who would score first to bag a win.
Following a brawl in front of Niemi, Kevin Bieksa scored the game winner midway through the double overtime.
The goal didn’t seem to count at first but after numerous replays, the puck was seen hitting the glass partition and bouncing back perfectly in front of Bieksa, who fired it in the net without anyone else’s knowledge and scored, eliminating the rowdy San Jose Sharks in a 4-1 series.
"The only guy who knew where that puck was, was Kevin Bieksa and he almost fanned on it," Sharks’ coach, Todd McLellan, said. "It's one of those things you have no control over. We can talk about it all we want. There is nothing we can do about it".
Vancouver Canucks is now only four games away from winning their first Stanley Cup, but now it awaits the result of the Eastern Conference Finals to see which team it is facing in the final round of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Tags: