I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I fully expected Chicago to come out and play great in game 4. I also expected that the Canucks would have a killer instinct that has been missing for most of 40 years. Clearly I was wrong. Why awake a sleeping giant? (Okay maybe giant is the wrong word, these aren't last years Hawks but they certainly have some confidence back). The best way to go deep in the Playoffs is to finish teams off as early as possible so you can rest. I guess you could say the Hawks NEED to win won over against the Canucks WANT to win. And it won over in a big way.
For those of you that blame Luongo for this 7-2 shellacking, you are either just trying to get attention or you are an idiot. Roberto kept the Canucks in it through the first. They were lucky to be tied after 20 minutes. And incidentally, not that it would have made much difference but Vigneault could have called a time-out at some point to try to get his team going and stop Chicago's momentum. Maybe after 2 goals in 17 seconds made it 3-1 Chicago perhaps. Again, I don't think that would have changed the outcome at all but a coaches' job is to find ways to win, find ways to turn things around when your team is struggling. You have to give credit to Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. This year he's the one with the beat up and exhausted team. You just know that with him behind the bench that 4th win is not going to be easy.
While it would probably be ridiculous of me to suggest that the refs determined the outcome of the game they certainly didn't help matters. I would love to see both of them have to sit down in front of the camera and try to explain some of their decisions. They could've put it on PPV and made a fortune. How on Earth does Duncan Keith not get a 2nd minor penalty for sticking his leg out and blatantly tripping one of our players right in front of the ref? Inexcusable. And the Ehrhoff goaltender interference penalty? After what the Canucks have endured the past two seasons with Dustin Byfuglien crashing Luongo at every turn with no calls, can we chalk this one up to a bad joke? Well 'bad' and 'joke' are two words I would use to describe the reffing in this game. I could use others, but why bother? I also thought the too many men penalty on the Canucks was ridiculous. After that I have to admit I just lost count. By the time the game was out of reach it no longer mattered. I'm not even sure who reffed this game (and that's another thing, I want their names put back on their jerseys, maybe that might make them a little more accountable!) but my ruling is that they each get a 4 game suspension. And feel shame.
Here's where I would normally tell you all that it's just one game and not to panic. Truthfully I don't care if everybody panics. If you were awake all night crying until you have no more tears left to cry. Just as long as the team doesn't overreact. They have been great all year at not getting too high and not getting too low. It's hard to continue to play at a high level when you keep winning. Bad habits tend to creep in. Maybe you start believing all the press about how good they are. Maybe they can just coast and have fun out there and still win games. Of course that's wrong. If Edmonton can prove it in back-to-back games in the regular season then you know that won't happen against a desperate Chicago team that was being embarrassed.
I fully expect the Canucks to play their best game to date in game 5. I would rather them lose 7-2 than 3-2 in OT. At least now they've gotten their wake-up call and it's time for them to respond. I'm excited to see what this team is made of. For good or for bad, we should have a much clearer idea of that tomorrow night.
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