From bad to worse: Canucks 3, ‘Hawks 2

Nothing seemed to go right. Even the Blackhawks goals had people in Section 326 feeling more a sense of relief than jubilation.

Vancouver dominated the game, and it was pretty evident from the start. When Duncan Keith put the ‘Hawks up 1-0, the sense was more of a, “Good, we got the lead,” feeling because everyone knew it was a matter of time before the Canucks got on the board.

As Fifth Feather points out, Vancouver may have given a blueprint to the NHL for how to beat the Blackhawks. They controlled the neutral zone, forced the ‘Hawks out of their speed-attack game converted mistakes that may have seemed unforced, but were obviously the result of rattled play.

The talk of the Blackhawks missing out on over a minute and a half of 5-on3 has been rampent, but there is a specific point I feel the game turned even more favorably toward Vancouver. Kris Versteegtook a gorgeous cross-ice pass after the Canucks got a man out of the box. Versteeg seemed to have a clear shot at an open net, but Roberto Luongo followed the puck the whole way across the ice, slid into position and stoned Versteeg. He immediately threw his hands up toward his head and pounded the glass. It was one of the few later chances the ‘Hawks got near the net in the latter stages of the game, and they missed it.

I could go on and on about how Brian Campbell’s turnover led to the winning goal and put me in a horrible state of crabbiness for the rest of the night, but there’s no sense beating a dead horse. It was awful.

Antti Niemi played well enough to win, but still didn’t show the skills of someone who deserves 30 starts this season.

Bottom line, I don’ have a problem the Blackhawks lost — I have a problem with HOW they lost and WHO they lost to. I f-ing hate Vancouver, and they dominated the Blackhawks in nearly every facet of the game, making the ‘Hawks look like a completely different team that what they showed when they were 5-1-1 to start this season.

The Canucks outshot the ‘Hawks 31-20 and for the first time this season looked completely lost offensively. Patrick Sharplooked like a pile of dicks on the ice last night and maybe a total of four passes hit the tape and stayed there. Getting beat is one thing, but getting beat so handily by a team I wouldn’t mind seeing contracted is another.

Furthermore, Willie Mitchell gave me yet another reason to want to bludgeon him to death, even though is hit on Jonathan Toews was clean. Toews sat out the rest of the game, then Brent Seabrook took a shinguard to the face in the third period, and he went to the locker room. The good news is that they both may play Saturday after missing practice today.

There’s no reason to delve much more into this loss. I’m sure most of you watched it or have read about it by now. Let’s just hope we can get at least somewhat healthy for Saturday against Nashville.

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