Recap (and Boxing) of ‘Hawks/Canucks Regular Season Series: Twins style

This seems fitting, doesn’t it? Granted Daniel and Henrik Sedin look much more alike than Schwarzenegger and DeVito, but this seems a pretty good movie to help with the breakdown.

The Blackhawks and Canucks split four regular-season meetings with each winning once each at home and on the road. Here’s a quick snipit of team statistics from each contest.

The most glaring aspect — which Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun pointed out yesterday in our Behind Enemy Lines interview — is the Blackhawks were just 1 for 20 on the power play through the four games. The Canucks went 5 for 16. Ziemer said this series could come down to special teams, and he may be right.

Much like I did during last season’s playoffs against San Jose, I’ll breakdown each regular-season game relating to a quote. This edition, we’ll rely on Twins to provide us the memorable banter. And if you were lucky enough to get Boxing after one of these games, you’ll be able to take another gander at that as well.

And ….. go.

Oct. 20: @ Blackhawks 2, Canucks 1 – SO

Julius Benedict: You moved too soon.
Burt Klane: What?
Julius Benedict: The second rule in the crisis situation.
Morris Klane: Uh oh, he’s starting that funny talk again.
Julius Benedict: If you choose to bluff, you must be prepared to have your bluff called.
Burt Klane: This is no bluff.

The Blackhawks didn’t do much bluffing in the shootout, going 3-for-3 on some pretty straightforward shots which slipped past Roberto Luongo. The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead on Viktor Stalberg’s goal at 19:22 of the first period. After some back-and-forth play, Duncan Keith took a high-sticking penalty with less than a minute remaining in the second period, and Daniel Sedin converted the typing power-play goal one minute into the third. Then Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane dismantled Bobby Lu in the shootout. Here’s the Boxing from the victory:

Nov. 20: Blackhawks 7, @ Canucks 1

Julius Benedict: What do you want?
Burt Klane: We want to take Vince out to the parking lot and kill him.

The most shocking part? There was no scoring for either team in the first period. Bobby Lu would give up four goals on six second-period shots before being yanked. Toews, Brouwer, Seabrook and Sharp all scored in the period to take a 4-0 lead into the third. Cory Schneider didn’t fare much better, allowing two goals to Pisani and another to Kane in the third. Corey Crawford improved – yes, IMPROVED – to 3-4-0 on the season.

Marian Hossa had three assists, and Kaner added two of his own while the Sedins went scoreless.

Dec. 3: Canucks 3, @ Blackhawks 0

Julius Benedict: Thank you for the cookies. I look forward to tossing them.

The Blackhawks simply got beat by Bobby Lu, who turned away all 32 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. The defense seemed to play well, giving up only 18 shots. Marty Turco stopped 15 and didn’t play all that terribly. Of the 32 shots, only a couple were of quality. Sharp was stoned on a breakaway, Kopecky had a decent chance …. and that was about it.

The ‘Hawks were coming of a seven-goal night against St. Louis then scored nine combined goals in two wins against Calgary and Dallas the next two games. Simply, Luongo got the best of the ‘Hawks on an off night. What are ya gonna do?

Feb. 4: @ Canucks 4, Blackhawks 3

Female Neighbor: Excuse me? Excuse me. Never sleep with that man, never loan him money, and never believe a word he tells you. That’s free advice.
Vincent Benedict: Morning, Agnes.

This is directed at the horrendous officiating in this game which may have cost the ‘Hawks a victory, but the Blackhawks were going through a late-January/early-February swoon and would eventually drop four of five. Ehrhoff was so ridiculously offsides on his first-period goal, and the refs stole another one from Dave Bolland as well. On top of that, Nick Boynton actually did something with his life and scored.

Once again, Luongo was fantastic and made 42 saves to even the season series. Here’s Boxing from that contest: