Word was, this first-round Stanley playoff series between the Vancouver Canucks and the Blackhawks had all the earmarks of a No. 1 vs. No. 8 mismatch—Vancouver was clearly the better, sharper, more purposeful team in racing out to a 2-0 advantage with home-ice victories in the first two games last week.
The Hawks, befitting their status as Cup champions, gave a better effort in Game 3 Sunday night as a plaintive crowd of 21,743 urged them on at the United Center. But they couldn’t close the gap. A 3-2 loss left them staring at a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-seven series and makes a Cup defense the longest of long shots.
“We’re exactly where we deserve to be,” team captain Jonathan Toews said in a somber Hawks dressing room.
“We had a lot of opportunities. But if you’re not scoring, you’ve got to keep the puck out of your own net, and we haven’t done that enough.”
Bearing in mind that the Philadelphia Flyers came from 0-3 down against the Boston Bruins just last year, some observations:
Drive Home Safely
Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo had a huge game, at his best in repeatedly denying the Hawks during a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity in the first period.
“You usually don’t win if you can’t convert a 5-on-3,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
But the game turned on a series of plays early in the final period, with teams tied at 2-2.
First, Luongo made a sprawling save to deny Patrick Kane on a semi-breakaway three minutes in. Thirty seconds later, Victor Oreskovich was penalized for charging, but the Hawks failed to convert on the power play, a problem throughout the series. Roughly a minute after Vancouver killed the penalty, Mikael Samuelson scored the game-winning goal from a scramble in front of Corey Crawford’s net, at 6:48.
The Hawks didn’t come close to getting anything past Luongo in the remaining 13:12—he has been as steady as he was shaky in their two previous playoff meetings.
“Their goaltender made some huge saves,” Toews said.
Big Boys Located
The Hawks’ No. 1 priority going into Game 3 was getting some production out of their primary offensive weapons: Kane’s assist on rookie Ben Smith’s second goal in Game 2 was the only point for the normally potent quartet of Kane, Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa.
Smith, who was playing in the NCAA’s Frozen Four with Boston College last year, was the Hawks’ scoring leader through two games with a mere two points.
Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler and the Sedin twins provided seven points for the Canucks and were a combined plus-5 in plus-minus statistics. Kane, Toews, Sharp and Hossa were a combined minus-6 for the two games.
Toews ended his personal drought at 6:54 of the opening period. He won a draw in the Vancouver end after Christian Ehrhoff was sent off for tripping and got the puck to Duncan Keith, whose blast from the right point found the net over Luongo’s left shoulder, giving Toews his first point and the Hawks their first lead of the series.
Sharp’s first goal of the series tied the game at 2-2 in the second period. Kane and Toews assisted.
But Vancouver’s big guns were hardly silent. Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist and Henrik Sedin had two assists, giving the twins nine points for the series.
Powerless
Keith’s power-play goal was the Hawks’ first in six opportunities. They had three additional power-play chances in the first period, including that fruitless two-man advantage for 1:37 when Raffi Torres went off for roughing at 10:12 and Kevin Bieksa followed him for throwing an elbow 23 seconds later.
But the Hawks couldn’t dent Luongo again despite enjoying a 16-10 shots-on-goal advantage and keeping the play in the Vancouver end for much of the period.
They seemed to draw energy, or perhaps a sense of desperation, from the United Center crowd, which was in full playoff roar from Jim Cornelison’s robust rendition of the National Anthem. The building had been downright sullen one week earlier, when a 4-3 loss to the despised Red Wings in the regular-season finale put the Hawks’ playoff chances in dire jeopardy.
Dallas’ stunning loss in Minnesota later that evening rescued them, but the Hawks have not demonstrated the wherewithal to take advantage of the opportunity.
Boomer Scott
John Scott, the Hawks’ 6-foot-8, 260-pound enforcer, was in uniform after being a healthy scratch for the two games in Vancouver.
Scott’s role was two-fold: Get to the net and discombobulate Luongo, who was visibly shaken by the hulking presence of Dustin Byfuglien on his doorstep during the last two Hawks-Canucks playoff series; and discourage Vancouver’s heavy hitters from taking runs at the Hawks, which they had done with impunity in the first two games.
Scott and Byfuglien are similar in size, but not at all close in talent. The plodding Scott is a liability in a tame game with little police action required. He drew an interference penalty at 9:56 of the second period, and the Canucks scored the game-tying goal just seven seconds later when Ehrhoff, off a pass from Henrik Sedin, ripped a slap shot through Crawford’s pads.
“You can’t put it all on John—he was being physical, doing what we expected him to do,” Toews insisted. But Quenneville said the Scott penalty “obviously got them going.”
The Canucks claimed a 2-1 advantage less than a minute later when an ill-timed defensive lapse left Daniel Sedin alone in front of the Hawks’ net. Alexander Edler got the puck to him, and he shoveled it past Crawford at 10:57.
Retaliation
Emboldened by taking the lead, the Canucks began throwing their weight around. Torres, as he is known to do, got carried away, leveling Brent Seabrook with a flying elbow behind the Hawks’ net and drawing an interference penalty at 12:14.
This time the Hawks converted on the power play. Toews took Kane’s feed behind the net and put the puck on Sharp’s stick in the slot. Luongo was late reacting to Sharp’s blast, and the Hawks tied the game with their prettiest goal of the playoffs at 12:40.
But they were furious that Torres only drew a two-minute minor for a savage hit.
“Brutal. Major,” Quenneville said. “[The referees] absolutely missed it.”
Canucks coach Alain Vignault defended the play. “Hockey is a collision sport with a lot of intensity. You’re always walking a fine line. I didn’t think it was a penalty,” he said.
“You never want to see anybody get hurt, but you want it to remain a physical game.”
The NHL has been cracking down on hits to the head and is likely to review the play. If Torres is in uniform for Game 4 on Tuesday, the Hawks are likely to retaliate. “We’ll deal with it accordingly,” Toews said.
At least they’ll have something to play for.
“We’re in an awful spot right now,” Quenneville conceded.