Game Five Liveblog

9:22 - Just gearing up for a huge G5...I truly hope this team can keep its play strong for one more night and close Dallas down in front of the home crowd. It would be nice to see a slaughter of a match too, but who are we kidding. A 2-1 or 3-2 score is quite likely.

9:56 - How about two teams north of the border clinching tonight? Only seems fair just to keep everything squared away and all.

10:01 - Sweet, Center Ice is giving me the Dallas feed. It opens with a cheesy video giving you the impression Dallas has owned this series. But why confuse reality with what could make a silly intro package? So, I'll be a bit more pissed this evening. But the bar has been set really low; could Ralph Strangis and Daryl Reaguh (yes, this guy) be worse then Strader and Beezer? The race is on.

10:04 - And Reaguh (known here henceforth as porn star; take a look at his picture for god sakes) starts the ball rolling by saying a game seven is within grasp and tonight the Stars get a boost with Eric Lindros returning. Yes, old cracked skull is playing his first playoff game since being a Flyer. Ponder that for a second, I need a drink...

10:11 - The Turco chants are priceless as the puck drops.

10:12 - Argh...Smoke damn near made the roof come off GM Place. Once great attempt and almost a rebound effort too.

10:14 - And the "Stars" take an offensive zone penalty. Nice one. And Hagman takes a cheap shot; the porn star sees no problem with this. Tisk tisk...

10:15 - STOP EVERYTHING...Modano had a shot. He's already having a better game 5 than game 5.

10:18 - The PP looks ok tonight, still ineffective...but decent pressure during the span of the advantage. Small steps, small victories.

10:19 - So old wonky skull crashes into Luongo. Hmmm...paybacks are typically a bitch buddy, you should know that better then anyone.

10:25 - Ho hum, another amazing Luongo save...

10:27 - Cowan, who the porn star just called useless, takes a stupid penalty.

10:28 - Burrows with a shorthanded breakaway; man talk about the worst guy for that. BOOOLIS would have been the guy there.

10:32 - Man, Turco just saved his own defensemen's mistakes behind the net. The porn star is busy kissing his ass right now, but for good reason...that was pretty clutch. The audience needs to start that chant again to get under Marty's skin, he looks good so far.

10:34 - Thanks Hagman, you douche. Trying to fuck with Luongo and you take your team's second offensive zone penalty. If we HAD a PP, you'd be wetting yourself right now.

10:37 - Ooof, Vancouver's PP is really fucking bad. I guess, when you have the best PK in the game already, you just can't have it all.

10:40 - I do think the Dallas broadcast guys may be contractually obligated to mention that the series isn't over every 3 minutes or so. I guess they assume Dallas fans are stupid or something; as if they can't understand that for themselves? Or just poor broadcasting skillz? You decide!

10:43 - Another goalmouth mess in front of Turco thanks to Nagy's incompetence. Vancouver has been the better offensive team this period, but no goals yet. Not sure if that's good or bad...naaa, it's good.

10:45 - And yet ANOTHER scoreless period. Not the end of the world; Vancouver looked good. A few more lucky bounces and Dallas can go home for the rest of the season. And no one will miss them at all. OK, the porn star may...then again, he's a porn star. I'm sure he can keep himself busy this summer.

11:05 - The "Stars" start with a little more urgency this period...like they know they have one full period left in their season or something! Opps, the porn star won't like that comment...

11:08 - The dreaded E-train hasn't played a post season game in 7 years. That's almost last decade. That means he last played when I was in college. That's obscene...he's broken AND old. Or maybe I am the old one? No, it's him. Fuck 'em.

11:09 - Hansen just turned his jets on in a rush into the Dallas zone before stopping and braking...c'mon buddy, keep going! Dallas returns and Luongo makes some great saves; the porn star, so you know, just said Modano gave Naslund the "paralyzer", whatever the fuck that is, and mentioned nothing about Luongo's good saves there. I'm shocked and awed!

11:12 - You just know this game can end with Turco doing just what he did: trying to play the puck and getting caught doing it. The Canucks are going to need to capitalize here since their forecheck is making the Dallas D cough it up often.

11:15 - It's a rare moment when you see Brendan Morrison line up someone for a massive check. Damn.

11:16 - Burrows, Burrows, Burrows...keep the blind drop passes for non-elimination games, ok? Or how about, let's never see that again. Just go piss people off, let others do the scoring.

11:23 - The last Luongo glove save? Strangis: "HOLY BUCKETS". Yup, holy indeed.

11:25 - Call me rash, but Vigneault may need to break up the Sedins and Naslund. Their effectiveness seems pretty limited tonight.

11:26 - Dallas goes back on the powerplay. The porn star's take? "This could be it". Simmer down there cowboy (damn it, I should have been calling him that all this time!), the game ain't over.

11:30 - Pretty great end to end rushes going on here. At one moment I'm standing and the other I'm cringing...honestly, I know some people have been bashing this series for being boring. I question whether they are watching every game in full. This period has been great from both ends as you can tell each team is pressing and trying to force mistakes.

11:32 - You know what's sad? The "stars" are outshooting the Canucks 12-3 this period so far...and yet I can't even tell. That means all Dallas shots are subpar for the most part while the Vancouver pressure and resulting shots have been great. Suck that porn star; work that in your commentary.

11:36 - And yet one more period ends scoreless. Dallas won on in the shots department, but nothing more. Both goalies look to be on their game yet again, so let's hope for another strong Canuck third period. I hate to even tease it but this definitely has the makings of a multiple OT game. (**slapping self in face**)

11:58 - OK, the Dallas powerplays can stop now...UNLESS own goals are really their thing. It's the third period. Let's end this before daybreak.

12:00 - Where did the Turco chants go? C'mon! Don't give up in a tight game, everyone needs to chip in here.

12:03 - Someone tell Daniel to stop passing. He lead this team in goals, his brother in assists. Let's keep that going.

12:06 - Strangis just said Modano is 'methodical'. Check the stats chief, he's methodical at not showing up and being a disappointment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but his captaincy was removed right? So...is he methodically bad? Methodically disappointing? Oh, I know! Methodically American. Yes. I like that for some odd reason. It's both good and bad. But not a compliment...I'm going to call someone that tomorrow (which, at the current, means in a few hours) and get punched in the face. All for the Canucks...the things I do for the art of hockey blogging.

12:11 - Memo to the Dallas mouths: equating this hockey series to a chess game won't help sell it to an action-starved American audience. That should be 101 of your job. Why not just come out and say this series is a battle of two sets of paint drying?

12:14 - That would be a third offensive zone Dallas penalty. I'd get excited if we had any sort of chance to set up the powerplay, much less get a shot...so whatever, it's just two minutes.

12:17 - Daniel has the series winner on his stick and opted for the forehand instead of the backhand. Turco stops it...and we'll keep going...

12:24 - Well, son of a bitch. Let's go to OT again shall we? Both teams have been pretty equal this entire game although I am impressed with both Turco's composure and the Vancouver pressure...both have been weak earlier in the series respectively but are much better tonight. Canucks own OT, both in the regular season and this series. Vegas would say bet Vancouver.

12:39 - The porn star just said the law of averages says the "Stars" should win. Oh really? Really Razor boy? I'll be listening for your words when the Canucks win this.

12:43 - Somehow boarding calls don't count in an OT. Sorry Cowan.

12:47 - Hahahaha....Canucks take a bench minor, but that was after the porn star thought Ribiero had a clean breakaway and, I shit you not, squealed like a girl. My dog moved for christ sakes.

12:49 - Fuck me. Morrow I guess wristed it from the blue line and Luongo stopped part of it but it flipped over him into the net. 1-0 Dallas. We need a game 6.

Post Game - You know, you can and you cannot complain with tonight. On the one hand, the Canucks played well throughout the course of the game which sure isn't their strong point. Their pressure was consistent and I thought they could have made this game 4-0 or 5-0 a few times, but Turco was there. Turco, more then game 2, was lights out tonight. Like we've seen all year with Luongo: when your netminder is on his game, it's going to be tough to beat that team. Morrow's goal wasn't special, it was exactly like Linden's in game 4. Enough to count. It is what it is.

So we move to a game 6 now in Dallas on Saturday night. Imagine much more of the same, but keep this in mind: the media, the Dallas rags and I'm sure the porn star will tell you that Dallas has all the momentum now. Just be silent, take a deep breath and remember we have the better goalie and we just won two in their house this past week. The onus is still on the "Stars" to beat this team twice more whereas the Canucks need to take advantage of mistakes like they have all series. In my mind, Viggy needs to break up the Sedins and Naslund, work significantly on the power play and, for the rest, just keep doing what they're doing.

Nothing is over yet.