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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

CANUCKS ADVANCE TO THE CUP FINAL WITH A DOUBLE OT WIN



GOAL SCORERS

SJS:   P. Marleau (PPG, 09:57 - 2nd) , D. Setoguchi (00:24 - 3rd)
VAN:   A. Burrows (08:02 - 1st) , R. Kesler (19:46 - 3rd) , K. Bieksa (10:18 - 2nd OT)
GOALIES

SJS: A. Niemi (L)
 VAN: R. Luongo (W)





            


















            Last night in Vancouver, the Canucks were 1 win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final. But they needed a better effort than what we saw in Game 4.  8 minutes in, Henrik had the puck at the side of the net and he played it to the front of the net and Burrows was there to put it home to make it 1-0 Canucks. 4 minutes later, with the Sharks on a 5 on 3 powerplay, Pavelski took a shot and it was stopped and the rebound went right to Thorton and he was stopped by Luongo at the side of the net. 10 minutes into the second, the Sharks went on another powerplay and Boyle took a shot from the point and it was tipped in by Marleau to tie the game.

             24 seconds into the third,Pavelski came in on a 2 on nothing and played the puck to Setoguchi who scored to give the Sharks the lead at 2-1. Then in the final 30 seconds of the third,  Henrik Sedin took a shot from the right circle and Kesler tipped it in to tie the game at 2-2. Late in the first overtime, Higgins got a breakaway and he was stopped by Niemi. So it went to double overtime. 10 minutes into the second overtime, Henrik played the puck off the boards everybody lost sight of the puck execpt for Bieska who some how got it at the point and put it past Niemi to put the Canucks back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994.

            In the victory, Luongo made 52 saves and was the difference maker once again for the Canucks as they advance to the Cup final. But all the talk was about the goal that got them there (see it below)."Probably the ugliest goal of my career but the biggest," Bieksa said. "When it went in, I just yelled out, 'Let's go to the Cup, baby." Now the question is: who will they play? The Bruins have a 3-2 series lead going into game 6 against the Lightning, so most people might pick the Bruins. But the Lightning are 3-0 in elimination games. So we'll see what happens. Game 6 of that series will be Tonight at 8:00pm E.t and 5:00pm P.t on CBC and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

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