GAME OF THE NIGHT: Chicago Blackhawks at Vancouver Canucks, Thursday, April 30, 3009, 9pm ET (6pm Pacific)

The VanClan spaced out there for a while... not sure what was up with that.

shabbs wrote:The VanClan spaced out there for a while... not sure what was up with that.

They figured 3-0 it was over. They were wrong. Perhaps that was a valuable lesson without a costly pricetag.

The VanNucks have just found out the Blackhawks are NOT the Blues.

3 goals on Bobby in the third.

A positive for the Hawks.

But this is not about feeling good.

This is not about learning.

This is about winning.

They have to WIN the next one.

Cut down on the penalties...cut down on the mistakes.

Play Hawkey.

Let's go, Blackhawks.

Good game. The Hawks can't be shorthanded that long. When they finally got going, they were as good or better than the Canucks.

Get back to it Game 2.

Did anyone see the play Byfuglien did along the boards where he played the puck on the blade of his stick to get away from the Vancouver defender? :****:

Hawks goals all came from rebounds, next game Vancouver defenders will be quicker. Sundin wins too many faceoffs, Kesler is awesome along the boards and Demitra complements that line well. I th ink the sucking for a few games when Sundin joined the team was worth it. They have total chemistry now. Same thing with the first line.
Their D also know how to keep the play on the outside, and Blackhawks will cause many rushes the other way around if they don't play smarter. That 4 on 1 was unexcusable with a tie game.

Blackhawks Team Report

Yahoo! Sports May 1 2009 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

Inside Shots

For the second time in these playoffs, the Blackhawks rallied from a three-goal deficit. That was fine, but the problem is getting into that predicament in the first place.

The Hawks took too many penalties in Game 1 of the Vancouver series. They included two double-minors for high-sticking. That has to change if the Hawks are going to make a run to the Western Conference finals. Such a feat is within the grasp of the NHL’s youngest team, however.

Despite the loss to a well-rested Vancouver team, the Hawks showed there’s no quit in them and they are no longer in awe of Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo after scoring three times on him in the third period.

Canucks 5, Blackhawks 3: A furious third period rally saw the Hawks erase a 3-0 deficit, but Vancouver’s Sami Salo scored on a four-man breakaway with 1:13 left in the third for the eventual game-winner.

Notes, Quotes

• The Canucks insist the antics of Hawks’ winger Adam Burish won’t bother them and they showed it early in Thursday’s game. Rick Rypien knocked Burish into the boards with just 2:02 elapsed, drawing a penalty in the process but leaving Burish stunned on the ice. “(Burish) doesn’t really bother anyone,” Canucks’ defenseman Shane O’Brien told the Vancouver Province. “I wouldn’t even say he’s an agitator. He thinks he’s an agitator… but I think we’re mentally tough enough that we won’t let him get in our head.”

• The Vancouver series marks the 32nd time in 54 postseason appearances that the Hawks have reached the second round (quarterfinals, division finals or conference semifinals). They’re 17-14 in such sets, the last one being in 1996 when they lost in six games to Colorado.

• Hawks’ general manager Dale Tallon was the first player drafted by the Canucks. That was 39 years ago. The Canucks traded him to the Hawks. “I never wanted to leave (Vancouver),” Tallon told the Vancouver Sun, “but it didn’t work out, so we move on. I still have a fondness for this place—but a greater fondness for the Blackhawks.”

• The Hawks finished four points ahead of the Canucks during the regular season but don’t have home ice advantage in this series because the NHL places a premium on winning a division. The Canucks won the Northwest Division, the Hawks were second in the Central.

• The Hawks have four players from the Vancouver area—Brent Seabrook, Andrew Ladd, Colin Fraser and Troy Brouwer. All played at one time or another for the Pacific Vipers, an All-Star team for 9-14 year-olds.

• Two former Hawks—Chris Chelios and Steve Sullivan—were named among the three finalists for the Masterton Trophy, awarded for dedication to hockey. This year’s Hawks’ nominee, Martin Havlat, was beaten out by Florida’s Richard Zednik for the other finalist spot.

Quote To Note: “We had a great third period, and it was tough to lose one (at the end). But we realize we’ve got to play the full 60 minutes. (Vancouver) isn’t as easy as Calgary. They’re a lot faster-paced team. We’ve got to keep up with them, but (the third-period comeback) will give us confidence going into the next one.”—Hawks’ winger Patrick Kane, in the aftermath of a 5-3 loss at Vancouver in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Player Notes:

• RW Patrick Kane scored two goals but was still a minus-3 for the game.

• G Nikolai Khabibulin faced 26 shots and made 22 saves but his bad luck against Vancouver continued. He’s 0-10-1 against them with one no decision in his last 12 starts. Khabibulin hasn’t beaten the Canucks since 1998, when he was with Phoenix.

• C Jonathan Toews, the team’s captain, played less than 14 minutes, was a minus-2 and was just 3-of-11 on faceoffs.

Hawks will need to get the split if they want to stay in this series...

shabbs wrote:Hawks will need to get the split if they want to stay in this series...

Shabbs, my friend...the Hawks are already in this series...

Do you have your Nucks jersey yet?

Still time for you to join The Tribe.

HA HA!

You never give up do you?

Nice.

shabbs wrote:HA HA!

You never give up do you?

Nice.

Warriors never give up... :D:

Cheers, my friend.

What a great game last night...more to come!

Will Eager get suspended?

shabbs wrote:Will Eager get suspended?

Why, and who knows?

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:Will Eager get suspended?

Why, and who knows?

To quote Vigneault... "the Brashear hit" on Rypien in the 2nd. Vigneault seemed to suggest the league was looking at it already.

shabbs wrote:

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:Will Eager get suspended?

Why, and who knows?

To quote Vigneault... "the Brashear hit" on Rypien in the 2nd. Vigneault seemed to suggest the league was looking at it already.

'Brashear hit'? LOL.

Benny and Ricky are big boys.

These are the playoffs.

Alain Vigneault can suggest whatever he likes...the league decides.

Great game last night! I can't believe how they came back the way they did. I have to admit, when Vancouver scored that 3rd goal, I thought Chicago was out, I didn't think Luongo would let in 3 goals in 1 period, but...he did!!! Unbelieveable! Very fun game, if I were a real fan of either team, I would have been having heart palpitaions for sure. I can't wait for the next 6 games!

The view from Chicago...Steve Rosenbloom at the Tribune:

Originally posted: May 1, 2009

Easiest game to win, Hawks lose it the hard way

One line of hockey thinking is that the first game of a series is the easiest to win because teams don’t hate each other like they will. This should’ve favored the Blackhawks in their second-round deal with Vancouver that began Thursday. If they could steal a road game, they would take the home-ice advantage they rightfully deserved after finishing the regular season with more points than the Canucks. It also should’ve favored the Hawks because they blew into British Columbia with momentum from a big road win in Calgary that closed out the Flames and were facing a team that had been off for more than a week after sweeping St. Louis. And look at that, the Hawks got a power play two minutes into the game. A chance to take a lead, get a jump on stealing home-ice, and punish a team that wants to hit them the way Calgary did. So much for that. The Hawks failed on the power play, watched Martin Havlat miss from point-blank shortly after, then spent about half of the next 14 minutes killing penalties before giving up a power-play goal. This felt like that loss in Calgary when the Hawks failed on a power play that could’ve blunted the home team but instead gave the Canucks momentum. This also felt like that game in Calgary where they came back from three goals down, using so much energy to tie the score that they didn’t have enough to win it. But living in the present, this also pointed up the biggest problem the Hawks face in this series compared to their first one: The Canucks are faster than the Flames, better with the puck at top speed, and their best players can make moves in a phone booth. That speed and talent left the Hawks out of position and taking penalties, killing whatever emotion and energy they started with. Another difference between the Flames and Canucks is that the Flames had one line and hoped a second dangerous line would emerge, while the Canucks follow the line of the Sedin twins and Alex “The Hair Puller’’ Burrows with Mats Sundin centering Ryan Kesler and Hawks tormenter Pavol Demitra. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook can’t play against everybody. And there was that villain Demitra doing damage. A guy who used to play for Hawks coach Joel Quenneville in St. Louis and had three goals in five games when the Blues eliminated the Hawks in the first round in 2002, Demitra snapped home Sundin’s cross-slot pass on a power play to put the Canucks up 1-0 in the first period. After falling behind 1-0, the Hawks started trying to do everything one-one-one, most notably the Joanthan Toews-Patrick Kane-Patrick Sharp line. Those guys move the puck really well. Someone needed to remind them of that. It might be that Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo isn’t strong on the rush and the Hawks certainly believe he will up rebounds, but still, the puck moves faster than the Canucks defensemen. Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin opened the second period with a great save on Steve Bernier from the doorstep as Brian Campbell went sliding by. If Campbell is as fast as he proclaims to be in the Comcast SportsNet commercial, he ought to be able to stay on his skates to make a play, don’t you think? The Canucks’ second goal was a hot mess by some of the Hawks’ best players. Toews got knocked down by Daniel Sedin in his own zone, then Keith and Seabrook got turned around and were checking no one as Henrik Sedin easily beat Khabibulin. So, let’s talk Khabibulin. He had little chance on any of the goals, but he also wasn’t playing early like a goalie who was going to steal anything. It fit the profile, unfortunately. As dominant as he has been against the Flames, that’s how sorry he has been against Vancouver. He hasn’t beaten the Canucks since 1998, now having lost 10 games in the interim. The rebounds the Flames tried to force last series could kill the Hawks this round because the Canucks are faster and better. Quenneville might not say it, but he has to think about using Cristobal Huet, who beat Vancouver twice this season. The Hawks rallied wonderfully. Kane scored twice and Dave Bolland tied it with less than six minutes to go before Sami Salo completed an egregious 3-on-1 with a killer goal alone in front with 73 seconds to go. It was inspring to see the Hawks come back from three goals down. But come on, don’t get three goals down. Trying to win it late after giving away control of the game early is no way to start a series. The bad penalties killed the Hawks’ five-on-five attack and minimized their depth. Their awful positioning, turnovers inside their own blue line and miserable defensive zone coverage gave too many good chances to a team that creates enough on its own. Look, these Hawks are no longer young. They’ve won a playoff series on the road. These guys are better than that. Prove it.

was quite a game, Van pulling it out even with a bit of rust, should make for one hell of a game 2. I am going to try and nap purposely during the day so I can stay up for the game.