Canucks vs Hawks Round 2 Wrap Up

After dismantling the St Louis Blues in round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Canucks turned thier sights onto a very young, fast and skilled Chicago Blackhawks team. On paper the odds were in favor of the Canucks, and after winning game 1 on home ice, many Vancouver fans may have had the Western Conference finals in thier sights. But the young and resilant Blackhawks team never gave up, and we saw this numerous times throughout the six game series, with the Hawks having to come back from a deficit in all 6 games, including multiple 2 and 3 goal leads that the Canucks had at various points in the series.

With the Hawks winning this series in 6 games with game 6 having a stunning score of 7-5 for the home team, that game in a sense summed up the entire series in 60 minutes of hockey. The Canucks took too many penalties, their penalty kill was ineffective, the young snipers of the Hawks put the puck in the net, the Canucks defense seemed very slow and a step behind on every play, and Khabibulin outplayed Roberto Luongo. Not many people are overly surprised at all the the items at the top of the list, penalty kill, slow defence, etc..., but no one, including myself thought that Roberto Luongo would be the second best, by a fair margin, goaltender in this series.

Im not going to bash Luongo and say this entire playoff failure is his fault, but under no circumstance in a do or die game can your goaltender give up 7 goals in a game and still expect the team in front of him to the win the game. Yes their have been numerous nights that Luongo stood on his head and won a game for the team, but he is still expected to give his team a chance at winning a game. He didnt need to stand on his head and keep the Hawks to a single goal, rather when the Canucks came back from down 3-1 to up 4-3, he had close the door and hold the fort. This isnt because he is the star goaltender or because he is making $7.5 million a year, rather because he has a C on his helmet and he is the leader and face of this franchise. But again goaltending was not the only problem the Canucks had in this series, but in game 6 with the home team putting in 7 goals it is a glaring issue.

In front of Luongo the Canucks defense, who many considered to one of the best in the Western Conference, seemed over thier heads chasing the young Hawks around the ice. The combination of speed and skill seemed to be overwhelming for the Canucks and resulted in another Achilles Heel for this team taking too many undiciplined penalties. After being so good on the PK in the first round, the Canucks were barely able to clear the zone and with the extra man and the Hawks having so much firepower they made the Canucks pay time and time again, especially in the third period where the Hawks greatly outscored the Canucks throughout the series.

In the end the better team won, as the Canucks were not able to go goal for goal with this team, and when they got a 1 goal lead, they were incapable of trapping themselves to the win. The Canucks were able to score first and have a lead in almost every single game, yet time and time agian the Hawks came back and tied the game and eventually won the game. The Hawks at times seemed to be the more hungrier, more physical and much more fast team on the ice, and it never seemed as if the Canucks could keep up with this young talented team. With many people now doubting if Luongo is the answer between the pipes, and with the uncertainty of the Sedins, Sundin and Ohlund, the season on the ice has completed but the season Mike Gillis has off the ice is just about to begin.