2002-2003: 'NUCKS RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE NHL WITH RECORD-BREAKING SEASON
With such an amazing run to finish off the 2001-02 campaign, the aim of the 2002-03 edition was to keep the momentum going. After a somewhat disappointing October (3-4-4-0), they got back to business in November. To say it was a good month is an understatement, as the Canucks went 12-1 for the best month in franchise history. On November 25, they won 2-1 in Minnesota to tie a franchise record with their seventh consecutive victory. It also brought the Canucks to within two points of the Northwest Division-leading Wild, who had got off to a spectacular start. The winning goal was scored on a short-handed breakaway by Trevor Linden and it was his 263rd goal as a Vancouver Canuck, breaking Stan Smyl's franchise record. Victories in Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Florida brought the winning streak to ten games to close out the month. The ninth, on November 27, gave the Canucks soul possession of first place in the division. The NHL acknowledged Dan Cloutier for his contribution to the Canucks record-setting month by being awarded the League's Player of the Month. He was the second Canuck of the calendar year to be so honoured (after Todd Bertuzzi in January). On December 14, Markus Naslund scored four goals in the Canucks 6-3 win in Edmonton. His second was his 200th as a Canuck and his fourth was his twentieth of the season, giving him the league lead.
The club closed out 2002 by losing 5-3 to Toronto on New Year's Eve. Their total regular-season record for the calendar year was 48-19-12-3 -- tops in the NHL. By January 8, the Canucks now owned the top record in the Western Conference and on that date clashed with the Eastern (and league) leading Ottawa Senators at G.M. Place. Naslund scored his 29th and 30th goals (passing Ottawa's Marian Hossa, who failed to score, to regain the lead) in pacing the Canucks to a 6-4 victory.
Although December and January were pretty mediocre months (going three games over .500), the Canucks kicked it back into high gear in February. They were unbeaten in seven when Colorado game into GM Place on February 13. The Avalanche were off to a poor start but had been coming on lately and led 1-0 on Milan Hejduk's 30th of the season when Derek Morris was sent off for holding with 4:51 to play. Todd Bertuzzi scored his 30th on the power-play to tie the game. The two 30-goal snipers were seven goals behind Naslund's lead. Naslund also had a six-point lead over Peter Forsberg in the Art Ross race. Brent Sopel scored in overtime to win the game and give the Canucks a seven-point cushion over Colorado in the division with 26 games to play. Two games later, in Detroit, the Canucks trailed 3-0 in the third period before orchestrating one of the most impressive comebacks in the team's history. Linden, Trent Klatt, and Naslund (in the final minute) scored to tie it and then Marek Malik tallied in overtime for the win to give the Canucks a five-point lead over Detroit in the conference race. Dallas was two points in front of Vancouver, however. The Canucks shellacked Columbus and Atlanta, 7-2 and 8-0, to bring the unbeaten streak to 14 games (10-0-4-0). The "West Coast Express", now unquestionably the most dangerous trio in the league, picked up 26 points between them in the two games. Naslund reached 40 goals for the third straight season. They were now a win away from the first full month in franchise history without a loss. However, the San Jose Sharks came to play on February 27 and handed the Canucks a 3-2 defeat. More significant, however, was the loss of Mattias Ohlund, who became the latest victim of Bryan Marchment's knee. This came on the heels over the news that Cloutier had sprained his left knee in the shutout over Atlanta. Both stars would be lost for an unspecified amount of time.
The Canucks played their worst hockey of the season in their remaining regular season games, though they did manage to stay in the conference race. Todd Bertuzzi picked up a hat-trick and rookie G Alex Auld made 26 saves in a crucial 4-2 win in Dallas on March 17. Bertuzzi now had 42 on the year, tying Naslund and Hossa for the league-lead. The Canucks tied Dallas in the standings but sat a point back of red-hot Detroit. But the two teams met up again on March 25, this time at GM Place, with the Canucks trailing the Stars and Wings by a point. With the Stars leading 3-1 in the third, Naslund and Bertuzzi, with numbers 45 and 46, respectively, beat the unbeatable Marty Turco to tie the game. But after Derian Hatcher clubbed Naslund late in the third and wasn't called, Trevor Linden jumped the big Dallas defenseman and was sent off. Scott Young scored a power-play marker at 15:29 to give the Stars the win.
Now three points back with five games to play, a conference title was unlikely, but the Canucks still led Colorado by four in the division. In game 81, in Phoenix, the Canucks lead the Coyotes 3-1 after two periods and were twenty minutes away from clinching their first division title in a decade. However, they gave up two goals in the third and Bertuzzi missed the net on a breakaway in overtime and the Canucks had to settle for a tie. Still, the magic number was down to one and, two nights later, Colorado looked like they were headed for a tie in Anaheim that would hand the division to Vancouver. However, to the chagrin of Canucks fans and players watching on TSN, Milan Hejduk scored with 10 seconds left in overtime. The Avalanche now trailed the Canucks by a point with a game left for both teams. Hejduk's goal was his 49th, giving him the lead over Naslund. On the final Sunday, Peter Forsberg picked up three points (including an assist on Hejduk's 50th) to give him a two-point lead over Naslund in the points race. Colorado beat St. Louis 5-2, meaning the Canucks needed at least a tie against Los Angeles to win the division. Thanks to great goaltending by Cloutier and Jamie Storr, the game remained scoreless until Mikko Eloranta scored on a rebound at 14:05 of the third period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. An empty-netter made the final 2-0 and the Canucks, who had led the division from November 27 until the final day, had finished second. Markus Naslund apologized to fans afterward, saying the team had "choked", but promised better things in the playoffs. Naslund's 48 goals and 104 points put him second in both categories. Bertuzzi finished 46-51-97, while Morrison was 25-46-71.
The Canucks finished with 104 points, a franchise high. They finished fourth in the conference and would open up the playoffs at home against fifth-seeded St. Louis on April 10. The shaky state in which the Canucks had finished the regular season continued into the playoffs, as the Blues scored twice in the first 2:01 and from there cruised to a 6-0 win. In Game 2, Mattias Ohlund returned to the line-up and Jarkko Ruutu was inserted to make a physical presence. They came out crashing and banging and early on Bertuzzi hammered Al MacInnis into the boards and put the star defenseman on the sidelines. Though they still couldn't find their offensive touch, they came up with a 2-1 victory on sheer guts and determination. The series shifted to St. Louis and in the third game the Canucks simply couldn't penetrate the Blues defensive zone positioning and lost 3-1. In Game 4, things got a little better as they were generating good scoring chances for the first time in the series and Markus Naslund scored his first goal. But they met Chris Osgood on his best night of the series and trailed 2-1 in the third period. They put on some enormous pressure in the third period, but couldn't score. The Blues scored on a couple of odd-man rushes against the flow of play and won 4-1 to take a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.
In Game 5, things finally seemed to come together offensively for Vancouver as Bertuzzi and Morrison scored their first goals and the Canucks built up a 4-1 lead. However, St. Louis came storming back to make it 4-3 and the pressure was only relieved by a long slap shot by D Sami Salo that Osgood would have liked back to make the final 5-3. Game 6 followed a similar script, with the Canucks going up 4-1 but then relaxed and let the Blues get back into it. Cloutier made a game-saving stop in the dying seconds as the Canucks won 4-3 to even the series. The Blues came out hard in Game Seven and took the early lead, as Doug Weight picked up his 13th point of the series. But the Canucks regrouped and started punishing the Blues team, which was becoming depleted with injuries and illness and unable to keep up with the Canucks physically. Al MacInnis returned to the line-up, but was noticeably weak, and he coughed up the puck in the corner to Daniel Sedin, who fed Henrik to tie the score. Second period goals by Morrison and Naslund and the continued physical punishment was getting two much to handle for the Blues. But they knew the Canucks were notoriously weak at protecting a lead and didn't quit. On a late-period power-play, the Blues started putting some real pressure on, and it carried over into the third. A power-play goal would have made it a new game, but Trevor Linden scored short-handed (his second point of the game, making 10 in five career seventh games) to break the back of St. Louis, who never threatened afterward. The fans sang away the last few minutes as the Canucks had their first series victory since 1995, when they beat the Blues in seven.
For the third time in franchise history, the Canucks had overcome a 1-3 deficit to win a series. Their second round opponent would be the Minnesota Wild, who had just shocked the Colorado Avalanche by also erasing a 1-3 deficit to win their opening-round series. Game 1 in Vancouver was tied 1-1 after two periods, but Minnesota struck twice in the third. The Wild were notorious for protecting leads, but Markus Naslund scored to make it 3-2 and then on a wild scramble at the end, Matt Cooke poked the tying goal in with 1.2 seconds to play to send the game to overtime. In overtime, Lubomir Sekeras was sent off for high-sticking Henrik Sedin, and Minnesota-native Trent Klatt made him pay, deflecting Daniel Sedin's shot past Manny Fernandez to give the first game to Vancouver. In Game 2, the Canucks again fell behind 3-1 in the third and again tried to come back. Ohlund scored at 18:32 and then there was another late goalmouth scramble, but this time Dwayne Roloson kept the puck out. Game 3 was the Canucks best game of the playoffs from a technical and discipline standpoint, though it may have not ranked high in entertainment. They won 3-2 with all five goals coming on power-plays to take the series lead back. In Game 4 they trailed late, but on a late four-on-four Ed Jovanovski tipped Brent Sopel's point shot in to tie the game and send it to overtime. In overtime, the Wild again got themselves into penalty trouble as Filip Kuba was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Todd Bertuzzi. On the power-play, Bertuzzi set up a perfect screen so that Fernandez had to chance to see Sopel's point shot, which went in at 15:52 to give the Canucks a commanding 3-1 series lead. Game 5 was tied 1-1 after a period and ex-Canuck Cliff Ronning scored a power-play marker early in the second to give Minnesota the lead. Strangely, the Canucks seemed to panic at this point and went all out to tie the game, having four players down below the Minnesota goal line at one point. This inevitably led to a Minnesota odd-man rush; Jason Marshall scoring to make it 3-1. From there, the wheels came off and the Wild cruised to a 7-2 win. After a scoreless first period in Game Six, Roloson and the Wild sustaining a 12-4 Vancouver edge in shots, the Canucks poor penalty-killing cost them dearly in the second, as the Wild went 2-for-3 to take a 2-0 lead. In the third, the Canucks were forced to take chances to try to get back into the game, which they lost 5-1 and the series was now tied.
In Game 7, at GM Place, the Canucks came out firing but again couldn't score. But they kept the pressure up in the second, and at 11:29 Mattias Ohlund's shot found the back of the net, thanks to a perfect screen by Jarkko Ruutu. A minute later, Henrik Sedin sprung Todd Bertuzzi on a breakaway, and the big man scored his first of the series to make it 2-0 Vancouver. The Canucks would now be again called upon to protect a lead, but three minutes after the Bertuzzi goal they were the victims of a fluky bounce, as the puck popped over the back of the Vancouver net in front, where Pascal Dupuis was waiting to bang it home. In the third period the Canucks played like they were afraid to make a mistake, but they did anyway. On a Minnesota rush eight minutes into the period, Anti Laaksonen attempted a cross across the goalmouth, which hit Ohlund's skate and bounced onto the stick of a trailing Wes Walz, who was completely unchecked. He also had an empty-net to shoot at, as Dan Cloutier had dove across the goalmouth in anticipation of the pass. Tied game. It was now clear who the more confident team was. A neutral-zone turnover led to a Minnesota three-on-two, and ex-Canuck Darby Hendrickson beat Cloutier with a blueline shot along the ice just inside the left post at 14:48. A late power-play marker made it a 4-2 final. The Minnesota Wild had just become the first team in Stanley Cup history to win two series in the same playoff year that they had trailed 1-3. The Canucks blew a 3-1 series lead for the first time in their history. This was a mighty bitter pill to swallow. It could only be a blessing if the team was to learn from the mistakes it made this spring and come back with a vengeance. It was a disappointing end to what was really a spectacular season.
Markus Naslund was once again named to the NHL's First All-Star Team at left wing, and this time he was joined by Todd Bertuzzi on the right side. Naslund was runner-up to Peter Forsberg in Hart Trophy balloting, but edged out his fellow Ornskoldsvikian for the Lester B. Pearson Trophy, awarded by the NHLPA to the league's Outstanding Player.
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