Vancouver Canucks has a new star (Part 1)
There was a lot of speculation as to what would happen to Vancouver Canucks now that two of their star players at the back are injured.
There were numerous questions that Canucks had to face ahead of the game, asking how Canucks would work with the partnership of Keith Ballard and Christopher Tanev at the back.
Furthermore how would the combination work in comparison to Christian Ehrhoff and Aaron Rome, missing from the team.
However, in the end it proved to be a game with tremendous responsibility on Sami Salo’s shoulders and he was certainly able to come out strong in Game 4 of the series.
Salo was absolutely brilliant on ice and looked like a youngster and by no means a 36-year-old player. He was skating up and down the ice and when he lost possession, he went all the way back to cover up for his mistakes.
In fact, he was regularly seen going up and down the ice to keep things calm at the back as well while strong on the offense.
He was able to score twice during the course of the power-plays when they were 5-on-3 to put the Canucks in a comfortable position. His brilliance continued and he was on the end of making an assist that resulted in Ryan Kesler scoring as well.
He was brought into the team this summer but it wasn’t until the 12th of February that he made his debut for the team.
In the last game, he played for about 24 minutes and led the Canucks to a 4-2 victory, putting them 3-1 up in the series.
He also played during the third game but that too was due to an injury to Ehrhoff.
The last two games have given him opportunities and he has been able to use them to his benefit fully as he only bagged 19 minutes prior to the last two games.
"He logged some very important minutes", Coach Alain Vigneault said. "Sami is one of our veteran players. He's been here for a long time. A very important part of our core group. I think he understands that, you know, you don't get too many opportunities.
Maybe he doesn't have a lot of opportunities left, considering he's getting a little bit older. So obviously he's very motivated right now, playing real well for us".
During the fourth game of the series, Salo looked like a player who was flooded with loads of confidence. The last game gave him confidence as he played for a considerable period and was superb during the fourth game to say the least.
(Continued in part 2). . . . . . . .
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