Game 27 Recap: Canucks continue dominance over Avs, win 3-1

The first five and a half minutes were pretty uneventful with the Avalanche and Canucks trading possession but not many shots. However, it was Vancouver that drew first blood as Mike Santorelli took advantage of a poor pass behind the net by Nate Guenin, stealing the puck, swinging around the net and beating JS Giguere as the Colorado goaltender moved to cover the wrap around.

Midway through the first, the Avalanche went on the power play with Kevin Bieksa going to the box for tripping. Just 14 seconds in, John MItchell negated the man advantage for "slashing." Kind of interesting that he was able to do that when he didn't even have his stick in his hand. Wrong guy going to the box, refs. Four on four hockey resulted in nada for either team.

The Canucks almost got their second on the night with two-and-a-half left in the first, but a swarm of white jerseys collapsed into the crease to keep the puck out of the net. Thirty seconds later, Jiggy slid post-to-post to make a perfect pad save. With 40 seconds left, Nick Holden manned the net behind Giguere and batted yet another puck out of harm's way, one that was inches from crossing the goal line. All of this action came right after the Altidudes did their best Altijinx by commenting that the puck wasn't making it past the center line into the Avs zone. While the Avs outshot the Canucks 12 to 6, it was the Canucks leading after one.

Four minutes ticked by in the second before the Avalanche got their best scoring chance thus far when Mitchell read the play as perfectly as he did against the Flames, stealing the pass and going one-on-one with Roberto Luongo. Unfortunately, he got stoned by Strombone.

At 11:03, Patrick Bordeleau was called for being bigger than the other guy roughing and had to sit for two, putting the Avs on their first true penalty kill of the night. Fortunately, Colorado's PK units were on their game, and the score remained 1-0.

Just over three minutes left saw a bad turnover by Vancouver end up on the stick of Holden who let a bomb rip from the point. Luongo and the posts stood tall to keep the Avs off the scoreboard.

The teams went to the locker room with no goals in the second.

It didn't take Vancouver long in the third to change that, though. Some breakdowns in man coverage and a fortuitous bounce behind Giguere gave Ryan Kesler an open net, giving the Canucks a 2-0 lead.

Then Vancouver got their third of the night as Holden was knocked down at the Canucks's  blueline, allowing the bad guys a two-on-one. Tyson Barrie did the best he could, but Santorelli got his second of the game, extending the lead to three.

While the Avs tried, they weren't able to get any real pressure going, and with just over 8 left in the final frame, Marc-Andre Cliche sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. The Avs were pinned in their own zone for most of the man advantage, but Vancouver was kept off the board.

Roy went ballsy again, pulling Giguere with over four minutes left in the game. The Avs were able to keep the puck out of the empty net, but they only scored one goal of their own (Jamie McGinn with 8 seconds left), falling 3-1 to Vancouver.