Canucks fans love a conspiracy so GM Mike Gillis was all too willing to oblige.
VANCOUVER — There are a certain number of fans in every National Hockey League city in Canada who truly believe that it happens this way:
Cloaked NHL executives meet in a candle-lit room hung with upside down crosses in some secret location beneath New York City.
Gary Bettman and his Knights Templar chant while making secret pacts with Versus and NBC to decree that (insert your team here) not be allowed to win a Stanley Cup.
Also, playoff series’ are secretly extended via poor officiating when the TV ratings are good, or when more gates are required. Or shortened in the case of Phoenix-Detroit, because no one was really watching anyhow, and the Coyotes cost the league too much money to operate.
There are precious few cities however, where actual, accredited hockey journalists are on board with the wing nut fringe, nudge-nudge, wink-winking the topic on to local radio and TV.
In fact, we’ve only covered the NHL since the late ‘80s, but we can only think of one where that happens (hint: Starts with ‘V,’ ends in ‘ouver’).
So at the intersection of "Homer" and "We were robbed, son" stood Vancouver Canucks general manager MIke Gillis on Monday, talking to a media throng peppered with a few who must have wanted to throw their pom poms in the air and yell, "See! Didn’t I tell you?"
The local GM calling a press conference to throw chum into the waters of the NHL’s most paranoid market? Hallelujah conspiracy theorists, maybe we’ve been right all along!
"We were lucky to get into overtime the way things occurred during (Game 6)," Gillis began. "We directed 85 pucks at their net. If we would have had any power plays whatsoever it probably could have been 100.
"We’ve had the best team during the regular season and that was the best game they’ve played last night during the whole year," he said salting his address with a little hyperbole. "And so, for us to come away with a loss is shocking to me."
The story of the general manager who gets fed up with the zebras during a playoff series, then stages the kind of press conference that Gillis did on Monday is old hat.
The fact that he did it in a town that halfway believes is already made it even better.
"I’m not sure how you explain that discrepancy (in power plays), but we’re going to be very hard-pressed to win hockey games if throughout an entire series — when the score is tight — they get 75 percent more power plays than we do," Gillis said. "And that’s just the reality. That’s the facts that we’re facing."
This was a GM whose team has the shakes, and whose goaltending situation has become a tad uncomfortable, trying to take the heat upon himself.
So he did the math, pulled out a piece of paper, and read the stats:
Chicago has received 59 percent more power plays than Vancouver in the series (27-16).
In the past four games of the series Chicago has received 69 percent more power plays than Vancouver (22-12).
In the past four games when the score has been within one or two goals, Gillis charged, Chicago received 100 percent more power plays — plus a penalty shot.
So the penalty shot was legit. Who cares, right?
"You look at the game last night. You guys all watched it, you don’t need me to comment about what occurred in that hockey game," he said, before doing so anyhow. "But when you break down the video, there are some extraordinary plays to explain given what’s gone on."
For the players’ part, every Canuck we spoke to agreed with what Daniel Sedin told us: "We play hard every game. We can’t worry about what the ref is doing. Mike talked about it today. For us, it’s all about tomorrow’s game."
The players aren’t whining here, make that clear. It’s the GM who is sour.
Gillis didn’t like the Bryan Bickell hit on Kevin Bieksa, but complained more about public reaction than the fact an identical hit by Raffi Torres on Brent Seabrook had drawn a minor penalty.
He doesn’t like big John Scott’s gam, and intimated that all of his trophy finalists aren’t being allowed to play their game because of the refs.
In short, he’s worried about what the writers are writing, the other guy’s lineup, and the officials. Not his choking goalie, his 41-goal scorer who forgets how to score once the playoffs start, or the collective minus-13 the Sedin boys have posted in the past three games.
And remember, you don’t get a minus on a shorthanded goal.
"Raffi Torres had his head smashed into the glass. That hit on (Jannik) Hansen… the twins getting slashed and high-sticked, puck going over the glass … all we expect is to get a level playing field," Gillis said.
"There comes a point where it becomes preposterous."
I’ve spent some time out here.
He’s right — it is preposterous.
