Pre-game: So nice to see Sami Salo on the bench.

Jim Hughson on CBC: “Will this be the night that Hank and Dank get out of the tank?”

Dank? Well, here’s hoping…

First Period:

18:12—Watching the Predators come out this fast is sorta nausea-inducing.

16:30— Seriously, someone needs to put a level on the ice. It’s tilted!

15:3?— Kevin Klein penalty! Awesome. Time for a “A Fish Called Canucks” to get this game on track. (And if you don’t get that reference, shame on you. Shame.)

13:00?— Watching Samuelson miss open nets is getting old. Geezus.

12:04— I just saw Sami Salo turn a corner, and nothing—anywhere on his entire body—broke. (It’s a breakthrough!)

10:08— Every time Glenn Healy talks, my ears scream. It’s a mystery.

8:ish— Orland Kurtenblog remarks “Did Rinne just bobble the puck? He’s slipping.”

No, that’s not slipping. That’s just showing off. Freakin’ Finns.

4:ish— —Ehrhoff scores! 1-0. Very nice. Also nice to see that the Sedins can actually be on the ice when a goal is scored in these playoffs.

I ask for help on Twitter and help arrives. Courtesy of John Bollwitt, a beer! (Mmmm. Beer.)

1:40— Sami Salo in the penalty box isn’t all bad. No one ever shattered a body part in a penalty box before, after all.

00:42— I spoke too soon. Nashville 1-1. Vancouver LOVES the last minute of periods, such a nice time to give gifts to the neighbours by offering up a lonely net.

Ugh.

End of period. Some scrumming.

Intermission:

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Well, if country stars are there, maybe it really IS a Honkin’ Hockey Town… (Is that what they call themselves? Something like that.)

Second Period:

I’m torn. While the entire arena looks like a can of Cheez Whiz exploded all over the place, it also looks kind of cool. I wonder how many marketing people it took to decide “Sell everyone $5 orange t-shirts and we’ll have a giant pile of Mac ‘n Cheese set up to cheer on the team!”

13:02— 0/2 on the powerplay for Vancouver. Not only that, though… doesn’t this game look a bit underwhelming in general? Energy, but muted. It’s like a Game 1 redux, but with a bit of tequila added in. (Just a wee bit, though.)

9:43: Edler scores! 2-1.

With some teams, having your whole defense healthy and available isn’t a life-changing deal. But with the Canucks? Christ, since they’re the only ones who score, it’s kind of life-affirming.

5:ish— Canucks killing a penalty. Oh, wait. Canucks killing ANOTHER penalty. Because they can. Because they’re ambitious. 5 on 3 is fun.

I’m confused though… it’s not the last minute of the period. Isn’t that how Vancouver usually likes to do this shit?

00:25— Watching Nashville playing in the final minute of the second period, I’m CONVINCED that CBC is running the game in fast-forward. No way that that was ‘real time’. If it were, you’d have to admit that the Canucks were just standing still. (And I refuse to admit that. Refuse!)

My god. How the hell did they NOT score on us? One of life’s mysteries. (Like the fact that Vancouver seems to beg for it… another mystery. Totally insane.)

Third Period:

Have you noticed there’s a lot of talk about how the Canucks can’t seem to get a two-goal lead?

Here’s my thoughts on that: Do you remember the days—just a couple years ago—when we wouldn’t even relax with a 14 goal lead? Sure you do. You remember Dan Cloutier, don’t you? The very fact we can survive anything close to a one-goal lead (and I’m talking about us fans as well as the team) is a momentous improvement for Canucks playoff hockey.

(And by the way, I was a Cloutier fan. Seriously. Loved him. But man… there were moments…)

16:47— And it’s a tie game. 2-2. Fu#$ing one goal game. Forget about all my blather above.

12:34— Kes! 3-2. (Pekka Rinne is his bitch. And hell, you can’t make that crack about Pekka Rinne nearly as often as I’d like.)

5:18 left in this game.

$5 bucks (or a million—but don’t hold me to it) says the Predators tie it now.

Because that means overtime, baby… and that’s the way my fu#$ing team rolls.

Grr….

00:00. We won?! In regulation?? Well hell… I might owe someone a million bucks now.

P.S.

A bit random, but I just noticed that the HD CBC broadcast was about 30 seconds ahead of standard definition. I’ve been running both during this game and the offset was giving me a headache.

P.P.S. Game Winning Goal: