CANUCKS BEAT BLUES TO TAKE A 3-0 SERIES LEAD

Roberto Luogno was merely exceptional on Sunday—as opposed to ‘downright superhuman’ as in the first two games of the series—but his teammates made up for it as the Vancouver Canucks used three power play goals to defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at the Scotttrade Center.  The victory gives the Canucks an almost insurmountable 3-0 series lead with an opportunity to close out the Blues on enemy ice in game four slated for Tuesday.  Should a fifth game prove necessary if will be back in Vancouver on Friday night.

St. Louis finally solved Luongo early in the first period as David Backes scored from Brad Boyes and Andy McDonald to give the Blues a 1-0 advantage.  Vancouver’s Mattias Ohlund evened the score with his power play goal at 7:57 assisted by Alexander Edler and Kyle Wellwood.  The Canucks would convert on the man advantage again less than three minutes later as Daniel Sedin lit the lamp from Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa. The Blues would draw even before the end of the period on Andy McDonald’s tally, assisted by David Perron and David Backes.  Early in the third, however, Vancouver would bag the game winning goal—again on the power play—as Steve Bernier scored from Sami Salo and Henrik Sedin.

Special teams proved the key to Vancouver’s victory and St. Louis’ undoing:  in addition to the Canucks’ three power play goals they completely shut down the Blues’ attack with the man advantage holding them scoreless in six opportunities.  St. Louis’ power play has sputtered throughout the series, and now stands at a woeful 1 for 17.  Blues’ coach Andy Murray addressed his team’s power play struggles after the game:

"We look tight and nervous on the power play.  We've had over 5 minutes of 5-on-3 in this series and really have not been the threat that we want to be. We probably had four or five good chances on the 5-on-3, but that's not good enough against this goaltender."

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, meanwhile, said that his team’s power play success was due in large part to getting man-advantage opportunities due to smart play:

"Our guys have been taking a lot of cheap shots so far during this series. To respond with three goals on the power play is pretty satisfying."

Winning goalie Luongo also commended the Canucks’ special teams unit:

"It was a huge difference. We got some big goals and we killed some big ones off.”

And despite the 3-0 lead in the series, Luongo insisted that neither he nor his teammates were going to waver in their intensity come game four:

"It's 3-0 and I think we still have to get to four. So we've got a big one left to win and by no means are we going to think it's over. Those guys are not going to quit and we've got to make sure we bear down."

History, however, is decidedly in the favor of Vancouver and working against the Blues:  only twice in NHL history has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a Stanley Cup playoff series.  This feat was accomplished by the 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.