Just Came Back

17 years ago tomorrow, the Vancouver Canucks soared into the Stanley Cup Final to the sounds of Jim Robson's call of "Greg Adams! Greg Adams!" while Vancouver and British Columbia celebrated. It was Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a double overtime affair that ended with Greg Adams jamming home a Felix Potvin rebound.

And now, 17 years to the day later, in another Game 5, the Canucks can once again vanquish an opponent and move on to play for Lord Stanley's Cup.

It's an interesting storyline headed into Tuesday evening's Game 5. The Canucks have shown an impressive killer instinct and resilience through the first four games of this series. Perhaps it was on its best display on Sunday afternoon, where in spite of giving up five consecutive power play opportunites (several of the calls being of the questionable variet), the Canucks rebounded to capitalize on their own power play chances.

Sami Salo looked like a young stud on the blueline again as he pelted consecutive one-time blasts past fellow countrymen Antti Niemi. He also picked up a helper on Ryan Kesler's game opening goal, and that sequence of three set a franchise record for the fastest set of goals a Canucks team had ever recorded in the post-season.

Another storyline was centered around Raffi Torres. He has had a very interesting playoffs for the Canucks. Most people remember his opening game in the first round against the Blackhawks, where he caught Chicago defensemen Brent Seabrook with his head down and rocked his world. It was a play many expected would warrant a suspension, but none came. That seemed to give Torres' physical play a much needed resuscitating breath, as he has once again been a wrecking ball since then.

That was on full display on Sunday in two instances; when he caught San Jose Mac Truck Douglas Murray with his head down along the boards and exploded into him (it was called charging, but that's debateable). But the second and more important instances was where he caught Shark captain Joe Thornton in a vulnerable position along the boards and sent him crashing to the ice, too.

Thornton did not finish the game, although he is expected to suit up in Game 5. But what kind of condition is he really in? No one knows for sure.

The Canucks are about to have their killer instinct tested once again. It took them four tries to vanquish the Chicago Blackhawks in Round 1. They halved that to two tries against the Nashville Predators in Round 2. They would sure like to halve it again tomorrow night on home ice. The Sharks are banged up, they are asking troubling questions to the reflections they see in the mirror. There is a seed of doubt in their collective psyches that the Canucks simply must exploit.

The Sharks will more than likely bring their best effort of the series tomorrow night at Rogers Arena. The Canucks must keep on marching to the beat that has gotten them this far--wait for your opponent to make a mistake, pounce, and make them pay for that mistake.

If they can do that, they could be on their way to the big dance for the first time in 17 years, with someone else's name in place of "Greg Adams, Greg Adams".