Game Four Liveblog

7:40 - The hockey gods have been kind enough to remove Versus from my plate this evening so my anger should be a tad less. Just a tad though, let's not get nuts here.

7:55 - Good lord Atlanta...

8:05 - Hmmm, well I have no idea what music the "Stars" come out to, but it's rather loud. I like it actually; there, that's all the positives I have for them. And believe me, saying "good music" and "Texas" is not easy.

8:09 - Wait, I forget Pantera hails from Texas. See, another positive! If only Pantera could skate and score goals...Vinnie Paul would be a hell of a goalie.

8:12 - Oh my, did Beeska just skate into the Dallas zone untouched? Let's see that about 50 more times tonight.

8:14 - Ahhh, I love the CBC. "Dallas is dancing with defeat"...you'd have to drug Beezer to get that phrase out of his mouth.

8:15 - Josh Green is playing? Who's sitting? Santala?

8:17 - I know I missed the last game, but I'm enjoying this early pressure from Vancouver. Sure beats getting scored on in the first minute.

8:18 - Naslund just fucked up a clearing attempt and took a guy down behind the net. He sort of needed to take the penalty there because someone was sitting right in the slot.

8:20 - You know a hidden benefit of Luongo is that it's a tough name to chant. Three syllables? You get 18,000+ people to get that correct all at once. Suck it TUR-CO.

8:25 - Dallas goes back to the powerplay; after some good early pressure, the camera seems to be pointing left too much. Let's fix that in two minutes shall we?

8:27 - Man, Modano is going to slit his wrists with his own teeth if he can't get a point in these final games. He's certainly had his chances so far.

8:29 - Everything Sopel does scares the living shit out of me. Honestly, I see a line of "Sopel Scared Me Shitless" t-shirts coming to a local store near you. I'll work on a logo though or else the shirt just doesn't work.

8:32 - BOOOLIS draws a penalty. This guy just makes me keeping liking him more and more. What bad regular season? I have no idea what you speak of...

8:34 - Fuck you Hagman; buy Luongo flowers if you love him so much, don't date rape him. In his own crease too! What happened to a little thing called manners? Prick.

8:37 - Nagy just kissed the end boards something fierce. My face hurts watching that.

8:40 - Cowman just took an ill-advised hooking call. Damn it all. Green follows it up by putting the puck over the glass. Dallas has another brilliant chance to give Modano a point before he takes his own life with his teeth. (see earlier post if that makes no sense)

8:42 - Burrows is out of control. Nice PK job for a guy who nearly lost his head a week ago.

8:43 - Simply massive PK job. Luongo, Burrows and Mitchell were incredible. And still Modano has nothing. Not that I'm keeping track of his futility. No, not at all.

8:45 - Less then a mile away from me Lehtonen is being utterly destroyed by the Rangers. In case you were curious of any games that aren't 0-0.

8:50 - Canucks will end the period on a man advantage. A goal here in the final seconds would be the essence of magical. Or just a great fuck you. Whichever.

8:51 - Holy shit, Turco just made a beautiful save on Linden. He must be paying attention to that other guy down the ice. So, as surprising as it must sound, we have a 0-0 tie going into the second. Pretty even so far, too many calls against the Canucks though. They need to settle down and regain that pressure they had in the very beginning of the first.

9:11 - Good start to the second as well; Vancouver had a few good chances in the opening two minutes. Let's see if it can be extended for...deep breath...a whole period.

9:14 - Pyatt damn near went through the glass thanks to Ott. As much as I don't want to see that, on the other hand, it would live forever on youtube.

9:18 - Dallas is doing that annoying "sustained pressure" play. Quit the shit.

9:19 - Jesus, what the fuck? How Morrow making both Mitchell and Sopel look like AHL-ers? Are you kidding me? Sopel...(*shaking fist, cursing, spitting*)

9:24 - Canucks are outshooting Dallas somehow. And the good guys go to the powerplay...c'mon guys, for kicks, how about setting up? Let's start with the basics...

9:26 - SOPEL!!!! DAMN YOU!!!! Our PP is bad enough without you falling down. Cut your hair.

9:30 - Canucks back on the man advantage thanks to Boucher. Trying to work on that 1/20 PP streak they've been on. Christ...it's telling that a Dallas two man rush looks more effective then our entire time on the man advantage.

9:35 - BOOOLIS and Green damn near find paydirt on a shorthanded two on one. Nuts. It's going to be that kind of goal that's going to decide this.

9:36 - Wow, critics of this series who think it's too boring must be slamming concrete over their skulls that even the powerplays are completely pointless. And the Canucks will try again to score on the man advantage.

9:39 - Canucks are loving these odd man rushes. But they're not scoring either, so it's win/win I guess for both teams. Five minutes left in the period, still scoreless...ugh, this is getting sort of painful.

9:44 - Canucks blow another two on one...damn damn damn damn. Dallas' PP, at least, is just as painful as ours.

9:47 - Holy shit...just as Turco made a killer save at the end of the first, Luongo just made three in a row, including a complete stretch across the goal line to stop a rebound effort. 0-0 heading into the third now. I have a feeling it's going to take a dirty goal to decide this one...which is fine with me. As long as the Canucks get it.

10:06 - 19 and a half minutes of combined powerplay time. Awesome. Vancouver needs another killer third like they did in game #3 to put this away.

10:09 - Considering the "Stars" are looking at a 3-1 series deficit if they blow this, I really hope this entire period isn't played in our end. FYI - Modano has zero shots on goal. ZERO.

10:12 - And, just like that, the Canucks can't get out of their end. You can see Dallas pressing and getting their D jumping up in every rush.

10:13 - Fuck you Nagy. Good to see that he's just a filthy cheat for it helps make up for his woeful lack of talent. Cowman, go get him.

10:17 - Hey, um, did I miss something or is Brendan Morrison out? Or just having a shit game?

10:19 - But, hey, I know that Ohlund is playing! 1-0 Canucks, BAM. Mattias had the whole net with Turco down and now expect a hell of a finish. 10 minutes to go.

10:21 - I see Morrison now, although no clue what line he's on. Whatever, just keep doing what you're doing.

10:23 - Naslund to Daniel but Turco was there to stop it. Nuts, that would be ended this contest right there. The "Stars" have eight fun-filled minutes to get past Luongo. I'm sure, if they can't, Nagy will just run him again.

10:29 - Sydor scores to knot this up. Looked like Naslund failed to clear that one too that was eventually moved to Sydor for the goal. That's upsetting, but nothing's over yet.

10:30 - From the words of canucksandbeyond.com's Alanah: motherfucker (you can quote me)

10:30 - Look at that! In the same minute Alanah curses, Linden answers with his own version of the motherfucker. 2-1 Canucks.

10:32 - This could be the best three minutes in this series upcoming. Dallas is going to chuck everything at Lui. Part of that everything may not be Modano though who still has ZERO shots on goal.

10:34 - OH....MY....GOD....THAT....WAS....
CLOSE....SOMEONE....BUY....MITCHELL....A....BEER....

10:37 - This is going to be the longest 138 seconds I've seen in a long time.

10:41 - Luongo just saved me from disliking you for a bit Burrows...

10:42 - 13 seconds left, TWO missed shots on Turco's home...

10:43 - Mitchell clears up the shit in front of Luongo as the game ends. Dallas is now on a six game losing streak at home. Yet another 2-1 win for this Vancouver squad.

Post Game - You really have to hand it to these Canucks: they've got these 2-1 victories down like a fine art now. This Thursday they'll get a chance to close this out and get some well earned R&R at home in front of a "Turco Sucks" happy GM Place. While the big guns like the Sedins, Morrison and Naslund didn't get on the scoresheet, they certainly continued their strong play (which includes Mo who I mentioned I didn't even see out there, but led the Canucks in winning face off's anyway. So shut my mouth). Nothing could be more beautiful then a former Canuck captain on the third line getting the winning goal. Well, that or former-Star Willie Mitchell saving a goal in the final minute. You decide.

And what of Linden's fellow draft mate Modano? He was one of four "Stars" with no shots on goal tonight. Turco was incredible in the first when he needed to be, so you can't blame him. You can also see what they gave the "C" to Morrow, the guy is impressive and plays with a ton of energy. That said, this team just has no answers for how the Canucks play other then, if I understand the Dallas newspapers accurately, to take shots at Luongo when the play is dead. 3-1 isn't insurmountable, but I don't see how the "Stars" will yank three victories out of Luongo and the rest of this team now.

You know the best part of closing out Dallas Thursday night now? It gives me a few more days to laugh that the "Stars" lost a first round pick for Nagy. Hahahaha...fuck you Nagy. Keep your stick down.

Another 25 yankee dollars has been notched for the North Texas Food Bank. It just gives you that warm sickly feeling down deep doesn't it?

See everyone back on Thursday, we'll liveblog it again.