Quick Hits from Terrace: Canucks 2, Islanders 1

Vancouver’s Nolan Baumgartner left the game in the third period and did not return.  No information was made available on his condition during the game.

Sergei Shirokov showed off some soft hands, netting both Canucks goals.  The young Russian rookie popped in a couple rebounds from the same spot on the ice, in deep on the left wing — one on the forehand, one on the backhand.  His initial goal was the result of a hard-working play.  Shirokov hit his man along the side boards, resulting in an Islander turnover.  Following some nifty passing, the puck found its way back to Shirokov off a rebound.

The powerplay units for both clubs looked particularly sharp, with some solid passing catching the defence out of position.

Rick Rypien is making a case for more ice time with the big club this season.  He had a couple of big bodychecks to add to a pair of good fights.  His second tilt of the night was an all-out battle with Andy Sutton.  Rypien came flying into the Islanders zone late in the game, and gave goalie Nathan Lawson enough of a bump to knock him over.  Rather than waiting for a reaction, Rypien immediately dropped the gloves with Sutton, sending him to the ice quickly.

The best brawl of the night was between Rypien and Jeremy Reich.  The two put on a slugfest, exchanging both rights and lefts with under 30 seconds to go in the 2nd period.  Give Reich credit for sticking in there.

Andrew Raycroft looked every bit as stellar as his career season from 2003/04 with the Bruins.  His first highlight save came off a Matt Moulson wrap around.  He then robbed Jeff Tambellini, who let one rip from the faceoff circle, and bailed out the Canucks as they appeared to be caught looking for an offside call.  Speaking of Tambellini, he showed great speed and confidence in his play-making abilities.  Could this be the year he stays up with the big club?  Hard to believe he’s a projected third-liner.

Similarly, Jon Sim‘s play may keep him away from Bridgeport if he keeps up the hard work in the offensive zone.  He had a nice feed to Tim Jackman in front of the net, who wasn’t able to tip it past Cory Schneider.  With six seconds left on an Islanders powerplay, Jon Sim found himself on the receiving end of a gift, which he got by hanging around the Canucks net.  Capitalizing on a failed clearing attempt by Mario Bliznak, Sim tied the game up near the midway point.

As expected, both teams changed goalies at that point, and the game was stopped to provide each netminder with a few warm-up shots — technically against the rules, but hey, it’s the preseason.

Cory Schneider put on quite a show — demonstrating the same goaltending prowess he used to help backstop the Manitoba Moose to the franchise’s most successful season last year.  He loves to use his long legs to his advantage, getting them flat down on the ice, and leaving the shooter with next to no open space along the goal line.  He was perfect in his half of the game.

In the third, sloppy play seemed to take over for a while, on both sides.  Canucks defenceman Shane O’Brien dumped the puck in from the wrong side of centre, but the Canucks were able to touch it first and avoid the icing call.  Not long after, Islanders’ goalie Nathan Lawson put the puck dangerously up the middle.  Fortunately for him, it went the length of the ice untouched.

After the game, 40 fans chosen at random were invited on to the ice, where each person was presented with an autographed Canucks or Islanders jersey, personalized with “Hockeyville” and the number 09 on the back.  The Islanders raised their sticks in salute to the crowd as the two teams exited the ice surface.  Both teams were scheduled to leave Terrace immediately following the game.