It was the ghost of past Canucks that came back to haunt them.
Raffi Torres, the one time Canuck and almost Canuck at this year’s trade deadline, scored in overtime to put the Canucks in a 2-0 hole in their first round series, as San Jose won 3-2.
The Canucks negated a great third period by Ryan Kesler, who was in full on beast mode with a couple of goals, by giving one back to the Sharks in the form of Patrick Marleau with less than a minute to go in regulation. That led to extra time where the Canucks had the balance of power before giving up a 2 on 1 where defenseman-turned-forward Brent Burns fed Torres with a nice cross ice pass that Torres used to put a dagger in Canucks’ fans’ hearts (and possibly GM Mike Gillis for not being able to pull the trigger back in March).
Early on, it looked like Game 2 between the Canucks and Sharks would be remembered for missed opportunities and another standout performance from Roberto “he who wasn’t supposed to be the #1 anymore” Luongo.
That was before Ryan Kesler entered his much talked about beast mode.
The scrappy Kesler took the team on his back finishing the second period with a big hit and then walked off the ice using the intermission to prepare himself for a two goal 3rd period. But Luongo and Kesler alone couldn’t win this game for a team, that at times, reverted to their Game 1 selves- looking unprepared and uninterested.
Amazingly, history tells us the Canucks have never been able to climb out of a two game hole before in franchise history. To change their fate- they’ll have to do it without home ice advantage, having now handed it to the Sharks.
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