Changing the lineup seemed to have put the Canucks' skate on the other foot.
SAN JOSE — It was one thing when Todd McLellan suckered Alain Vigneault into dressing a couple of scrappers in Tanner Glass and Alex Bolduc, then turned around and healthy-scratched sluggo Ben Eager.
The coach whose team was up 2-0 changing his lineup? In reaction to an undisciplined fourth-liner who couldn’t stay out of the penalty box anyway?
But then Eager showed up after all, somehow channeling his way into the 20 white jerseys belonging to the Vancouver Canucks, and the Sharks ended up on the powerplay 10 times in a 4-3 win.
"Well, we gave that team 10 power-plays. I thought we were pretty disciplined," said a terse Vigneault after the game, upset at the officials despite a raft of powerplay time given back to the Canucks by the zebras. "So if I were to comment on what I think of the penalties, I'd get a pretty big fine. So I'm going to save my money."
It’s such a predictable headline: "Losing coach Mad at Officials."
What’s next? "Canucks Fans Blame Gary Bettman for Loss?"
But the one thing we couldn’t have seen coming was this penalty-filled performance from a Canucks team that saw first-hand in Game 2 how dumb a team looks when the march to the penalty box begins.
How can the skate jump over to the other foot so quickly in a series? Perhaps it is as easy as taking Ben (Over) Eager out of your lineup.
"I don't think it's as simple as taking Ben out of the lineup," said McLellan. "We lost our composure in Game 2. We admitted it. And it's so intense out there right now. The game, there’s so much passion in it.
"When you’re playing ahead, you’re not chasing the game, the other team has a tendency to get frustrated," he said. "They were probably the exact opposite of what we were in Vancouver."
Probably?
The Canucks insisted they were actually disciplined in Game 3, despite taking 11 minor penalties. You don’t believe me?
"I didn’t think we were undisciplined tonight, by any means," said Ryan Kesler. "We took a lot of penalties, bottom line. But there were no undisciplined penalties tonight."
Except for the needless double-minor for high-sticking that Christian Ehrhoff took, 6:54 into the game. San Jose scored on that one.
Or Alex Burrows reverting to his former self when he deftly kicked out Antti Niemi’s feet from behind, all the while making it look like he was pushed into that untenable act by Patrick Marleau. The Sharks scored on that one too.
After carding that Gordie Howe hat trick in Game 2, Kevin Bieksa followed with a Dale Hunter hat trick, notching three minors in Game 3. Led by two Marleau powerplay goals, and a matching, three-point night by Joe Thornton, San Jose scored the game’s first three goals and hung on to climb back into this series.
"Patty was great tonight," said Ryane Clowe. "Him and Joe led us and other guys jumped on board. It’s nice to see that. When your best players are your best players…"
When their best players are their best players, the San Jose Sharks are a difficult foe. It just happens so seldom at this time of year, we sometimes forget what it looks like.
Marleau now has four goals in the series, while Thornton — who suddenly leads the playoffs in scoring with 3-14-17 — has six points in three games. Clowe was better, Boyle was better…
"The urgency was there," said Clowe. "I’d like to see us have that all the time at this time of year. If we had the puck tonight, they weren’t getting it from us — we had that mentality. That drew a lot of penalties."
Jamie McGinn, who drew into the lineup after watching Games 1 and 2, put two Canucks defencemen out of the game with hard hits. The first, a solid, shoulder-to-shoulder check on Christian Ehrhoff, ended the big German’s night.
The second, deemed a boarding major and game misconduct, ended Aaron Rome’s evening as well.
"The referees probably made the right call on the ice, there’s no doubt about it," McLellan admitted. "I don't think there was any intent on Jamie's behalf."
A couple more injuries on the Canucks blue-line, and Keith Ballard could see action.
