Hope you didn’t pay for that…
The Vancouver Canucks struggled to maintain their defensive structure against the Stars on Tuesday, allowing Dallas to drive towards Roberto Luongo at will all night in a 5-2 loss at Rogers Arena.
Richard Bachman was steady in net for the Stars, stopping 29 of 31 shots in the victory including an early first period penalty shot attempt by the Canucks’ Zack Kassian.
The Hat Trick
Higgins Hits the Mark
Chris Higgins flew down the right wing and into the Dallas zone, taking advantage of a sudden slip-up by Alex Goligoski to beat Richard Bachman with a well-place wrist shot early in the second period Tuesday.
Higgins, Samuel Pahlsson and Jannik Hansen were Vancouver’s best unit all night against the Stars, maintaining a simple game on a night where the rest of the team struggled to keep up with their opposition.
Ribeiro Responds
Mike Ribeiro snuck free for a trio of points on Tuesday, ripping home his 15th of the season past Roberto Luongo on a 2-on-1 to give the Stars their first lead of the evening late in the second period.
Ribeiro broke free past Vancouver’s defence again halfway through the third, firing home a feed from fellow Canuck-killer Michael Ryder to put the game out of reach.
Tough night for Luongo and the Canucks on Tuesday night. Ribeiro was on target.- (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)
Ott Outstanding
Steve Ott was out to provoke on Tuesday, keeping the Canucks off their game as the Stars’ skill broke through in the second half.
Ott set up Jamie Benn and Adam Burish both with relatively empty-net opportunities on Tuesday, but couldn’t count on either of his teammates to convert their chances around Vancouver’s crease.
When he wasn’t playing passer in the offensive zone, Ott was doing his best to simply be offensive against the Canucks, bickering with Zack Kassian for the majority of the game.
Ott finally registered an assist on Benn’s 19th of the season after he blew a chance from the feisty forward earlier in the first period.
V’s Thoughts
The Sedin twins were held without a point again Tuesday, bringing Henrik’s scoreless streak to six games after the loss to the Stars.
Vancouver’s top line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows was a combined -7 against the Stars, raising questions about talented twins and their French-Canadian companion.
Quote
“Their game is not where they want it to be…Right now they’re righting it a little bit.” Alain Vigneault was honest about his own stars’ struggles after another loss devastating loss to Dallas.
Three Stars
1st. Mike Ribeiro - GOALS: 2| PTS: 3| ASST: 1 SOG: 2| PLUS/MINUS: 1
2nd. Loui Eriksson - GOALS: 1| PTS: 2| ASST: 1 SOG: 4| PLUS/MINUS: 1
3rd. Chris Higgins - GOALS: 1| PTS: 2| ASST: 1 SOG: 2| PLUS/MINUS: 0
Recaps
BOXSCORE | Q’s POST GAME RECAP
Dallas 5, Vancouver 2
When: 10:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia
Referees: Dean Morton, Kevin Pollock
Linesmen: Vaughan Rody, Jay Sharrers
Attendance: 18890
About Kevin Vanstone
