CHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Blackhawks are now one game away from being eliminated from the playoffs in their run to defend as the Stanley Cup Championship after losing to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game Three of their Western Conference Quarterfinals.
The game started out promising for the ‘Hawks as they got on the scoreboard on their first power play tally of the series. Captain Jonathan Toews won the faceoff and got the puck out to defenseman Duncan Keith at the top of the circle where he ripped a slap shot over the glove of Roberto Luongo for the 1-0 lead.
Chicago had an excellent chance to add to the lead as Raffi Torres and Kevin Bieksa were both called on penalties 43 second apart to give the home team a 5-3 opportunity. But the Canucks held strong and didn’t allow the ‘Hawks to build any momentum in the game. Every chance the ‘Hawks had the puck the Canucks were there to suffocate any chance for a play to be set up.
Vancouver scored two goals in a matter of a minute in the second period to really kill any chance that that Chicago might have. John Scott was inserted at forward by head coach Joel Quenneville to give a physical presence in the lineup but that backfired as he was called for an interference call. At the 10:03 mark, Henrik Sedin won the faceoff where the puck got to his brother Daniel. Henrik then picked up the puck and passed it back to defenseman Christian Ehrhoff at the point and fired a slap shoot the got in past Corey Crawford.
Fifty-four seconds later, defenseman Alexander Edler skated past the Chicago defense with ease, and as he neared the goal he passed the puck across the net to a waiting Daniel Sedin who got the puck in on the open side of Crawford to give Vancouver the lead.
Torres was again docked for a penalty which was called interference but was definitely an elbow on defenseman Brent Seabrook. Chicago took advantage of the opportunity and actually set up the shot for a scoring chance. Patrick Kane saw Toews behind the net. He passed the puck back to him where he saw Patrick Sharp move in centered up front of the net where he dished it out for the one-timer ot tie the game up at two goal apiece.
But in the third period, playoff veteran Mikael Samuelsson grabbed the puck from the ‘Hawks and charged up towards his offensive zone. He passed it across to Ehroff at the blueline who fired a bullet at the net. Crawford allowed the first rebound which went to Henrik Sedin who got a shot in which rebounded right back to Samuelsson who backhanded the shot in past Crawford for the game-winner.
The ‘Hawks finally made a dent in the power play going 2 for 9 in the game after being shutout in this category in the first two games. Torres returned to the lineup after being suspended by the league for four games. Seabrook returned to the ice after his hit by Torres but went back to the locker room right after his next shift.
Crawford blocked 23 of the 26 shots he face while across the way Luongo was 30 of 32 for the win. Luongo again was excellent in goal. Facing the ‘Hawks for the third year in a row you can see a difference in the way he plays in goal as he is staying closer to home in net where he has a big presence and great lateral movement. As for the ‘Hawks, the veterans are finally showing life on the scorecard but the team needs to get it all together as a whole. Quenneville inserted Scott into the lineup and had a few good hits in to start the game but his interference call in the second led to a score. He also split the top defensive pairing of Keith and Seabrook to try to solve the Sedin twins which didn’t work. One thing that stands out in the scorecard is the amount of hits that the Vancouver Canucks had dished out on the Chicago Blackhawks in this series. They average almost twenty more hits in this series that they have in the regular season.
All the Canucks have to do is play the same game that they have been playing in the series. As for the Blackhawks they need to find the right mix in two days or else the summer start early for them this year. The two teams will return to the United Center on Tuesday.
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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