SAN JOSE — Kevin Bieksa had a platform, and he hoped it might provide a springboard back into this series. He never thought he’d say it, but perhaps the time has come for his Vancouver Canucks to look into doing a little diving once in a while.
We know. That’s crazy talk.
The Canucks embellish?
Well, down 3-0 in their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the San Jose Sharks, you can’t just stand around being comfortable in your own skin. And with Sharks Logan Couture and Joe Thornton, a couple of “so-called Canadians” flopping around the ice so much, maybe Bieksa’s Canucks would have to try something new.
“Maybe our team has to do more of that,” Bieksa decided. “Maybe we have to try and sell calls.”
Yes, an oddly one-sided playoff series took a turn for the ridiculous on Monday, when a leader on a Canucks team that has earned its reputation for playing entire games in the Pike position — Keep those knees straight! — called out the opposition for diving.
Bieksa called out Thornton and Couture for diving, while media jaws dropped as the accusations from the B.C. pot flew towards the San Jose kettles.
“Couture has been snapping his head back. This isn’t my opinion. The evidence is in the video. Hank (Henrik Sedin) touches him off the faceoff,” continued Bieksa, rubbing his own face with the butt-end of the stick he had brought along to help make his point. “(Couture) does a full back arch and his glove goes flying off in the corner.
“Thornton, another so-called Canadian, supposed to play the game with integrity… He gets slashed, he takes his glove off and shakes his hand. The ref takes a couple of seconds to look at that and make a call. That’s a critical time in (Game 3) when we go down two men.
“These are two guys who are supposed to be playing the game with integrity.”
It is the Canucks, of course, who have long employed Alex Burrows, Maxim Lapierre and Ryan Kesler — The Springboard Three — who have given Vancouver the mantle as hockey’s worst divers. “We’re the embellishers,” deadpanned head coach Alain Vigneault Monday when apprised of Bieksa’s comments, implying that the hockey world won’t agree with Bieksa.
Burrows, for one, has cleaned up his act markedly over the past year, though he still suffers from a group of NHL officials with memories like elephants. But the Canucks reputation is well earned and fully intact, a fact Bieksa was made aware of as he called out the Sharks pair for diving.
“It doesn’t take away the fact it’s happening,” countered Bieksa. “There’s a lot of embellishing going on by their two guys. They have a really good power play, and they understand … they’re going to do some damage … on the power play.”
Bieksa, who brought his stick up between the legs of San Jose’s Martin Havlat with such well-placed force in Game 1 that Havlat has not rejoined this series yet, went on to reference the St. Louis-Los Angeles series as “The hardest played series” being played.
“I haven’t seen one guy embellish, one guy trying to draw a penalty. That’s hard-nosed hockey,” he said of Kings-Blues. “(Thornton and Couture) are two Canadian guys who are supposed to be playing the game with integrity. Maybe our team has to do more of that. Maybe we have to try and sell calls.”
Of course Bieksa, ever cognizant of the optics of his off-day dogma, went on to impart his sympathy to the on-ice officials, whose job this Canuck would try to make easier.
“(Couture and Thornton) are making it tough on the officials. These are tough calls for the officials to make, because they’re not sure on the extent of the damage,” he said. “It’s not (a problem with) the officials. This is about guys playing the game with integrity.”
It was a tactic used in Vancouver before — remember then-Canucks GM Brian Burke when he said, “Sedin is not Swedish for punch me and headlock me in a scrum,” — but this one will likely rebound on Bieksa like an Indian rubber ball.
The reality is, the Canucks are in a major hole here, with Game 4 Tuesday. If Bieksa can buy even a single call, this will all be worth it.
“I don’t think there’s one (Canuck) who can say he’s bringing his best game to us right now,” Bieksa said. “We still feel like we can beat this team four games in a row. Five-on-five we feel like we’re the better team.”
Just a few more dives. That’s what the Canucks need.
They’ve resisted long enough.