Vancouver Canucks send St. Louis Blues down 2-0 -NHL Update
The fight for positioning in the Western Conference has kicked off as Vancouver Canucks downed St. Louis Blues in a 2-0 shutout on Thursday night, March 1, 2012, at the sold-out Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
St. Louis fell to the fourth number spot from second place with 87 points as Vancouver strengthened their position at number one with 90 along with bringing Detroit Red Wings back atop the Central Division.
Blues were on a four-game winning streak and were targeting a third straight loss for Vancouver but Canucks showed their playoff spirit by dominating the match throughout.
Seeing how Vancouver competed, it was like the playoffs have already begun for the Cancuks.
"It felt a little bit like a playoff game on the ice," Vancouver’s Alex Burrows said. "Two good teams going at it, there's not a lot of room. It's good hockey. Sometimes, those shinny games where it's more open and more goals, it might be more exciting for
the fans. But for us, if we get the win either way, we're happy."
Coming out of two scoreless periods for both teams, Canucks fired off with two back-to-back.
Alex Burrows picked up his 23rd of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season and Chris Higgins secured the match with the second at 19:21 with less than 40 seconds remaining in regulation for St. Louis to score.
Blues were criticised as not being able to take on the big teams even though they ranked as one of the best this year. Losing against Vancouver only made it worse for them.
"It's a measuring stick for us," Blues’ goalie, Brian Elliott, said. "We didn't measure up."
Canucks are definitely looking for much more than staying atop the Western Conference till the playoffs. Vancouver is Stanley Cup thirsty and having six more games at home is only to their advantage.
Vancouver Canucks will be hosting Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, which definitely should not be anything tough for them to handle.
St. Louis is a talent loaded team which will most likely dominate San Jose Sharks in their next matchup on Saturday on the road.
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