Go Canucks Go!

The Senators won't be the only Canadian flag-bearer in the second round of the play-offs, after Vancouver advanced thanks to a deserved 4-1 victory at GM Place. It wasn't one for the ages, but it was a tense, hard-fought, absorbing game down to the wire.

The Stars played a perfect Game-7-on-the-road first period, keeping the Canucks on the back foot with aggressive forechecking and smothering, physical defense in their own end, and were good for their one-goal lead. But credit goes to Vancouver for elevating their game and dominating the second and third periods. The Sedins in particular were very impressive - they worked hard along the boards and generated most of the Canucks' chances. After being taken out of the series in games 2 through 6, they responded in the best way possible, with heart and clutch goals. Trevor Linden also delivered a big effort; as Markus Naslund continued his invisible-man impression, Linden was promoted to the first unit on the powerplay and came through when it mattered with the sixth Game 7 goal of his career, which says a lot about his leadership and character.

The Canucks also got a big assist from Rob Schick and co., who gave them the benefit of a lot of marginal calls. I'm not a big fan of refs putting the whistle in their pockets just because it's Game 7, but if they are going to call everything, they should at least show a little consistency and fairness. They seemed to be swayed by the frenzied, towel-waving GM Place crowd into giving all the borderline calls in the Canucks' favour, which changed the course of the game - once Vancouver got a string of powerplays in the second and gained some momentum, they never looked back.

Roberto Luongo came out victorious in the much-ballyhooed battle of the goalies, but Marty Turco deserves nothing but praise for the way he answered his critics. He gave his team three shut-outs and kept them in every game, and turned in another solid effort. Luongo made a big stop on Stu Barnes in the third and got lucky when Mike Modano hit the crossbar, but didn't have too much to do in the second and third period; Turco, on the other hand, was under constant pressure and raised his game to match it. The Stars lost, but their goalie is the last person on the team to whom the finger should be pointed; against a lesser goalie, this would never have gone to Game 7. Luongo, meanwhile, has earned his stripes as a first-rank goalie in this series - he has the calm, unflappable, domineering demeanor of a Martin Brodeur, and looks capable of winning a game or a series almost single-handedly.

Watching this game, it wasn't hard to see why the Stars have bowed out in the first round three years running - they have an excellent group of veteran defensemen, but they're severely lacking in offensive depth. Their forwards are able to stifle other teams with their forechecking, they win a lot of face-offs, they're positionally sound, and they block shots ... all fine when you want to stop the other team from scoring, but once they fell behind in this one there didn't seem to be anyone who looked like stepping up to make the big play to get them a goal. Mike Modano is a great player, but not the force he once was, and the likes of post-concussion Lindros and Mike Ribeiro are not game winners. It takes something special to beat Luongo, and no one on the Stars has that something; they are a team which will continue to win plenty of games in the regular season, but unless they add some firepower, they won't be winning a Stanley Cup any time soon.

As for the Canucks, for all the positives that came out of this game, there is plenty to be concerned about. Markus Naslund was a non-factor, as he was through much of the regular season, and he's not the kind of player who contributes even when he's not getting points. The Sedins had a couple of big games, but they were silenced for much of the series by the Stars' D, and it's only going to get tougher against Mssrs. Pronger and Niedermayer. And the rest of the Canucks' forwards really didn't make much of an impression - there is a serious lack of offensive depth and talent. They only looked likely to score on the PP or when the Sedin line was on the ice; that isn't likely to be good enough against the Ducks, although with Luongo in goal they will always have a chance.