Chicago Blackhawks vs Canucks || November, 6, 2011

This makes me happy

In what is turning into one of the better rivalries, if not the best, in today's NHL, Chicago and Vancouver failed to disappoint.  Tonight's game was fast paced, hard fought and didn't lack the scoring, as usual. The game had pretty well everything you could ask for: fighting, goals, big hits, hatred (lots of hatred).  The look on Bolland's face after he gets into scrums makes me smile.  He has this cranky scowl on his ugly mug, only matched by Brent Sopel's regular face.

The big story in this game, the deciding factor, was Vancouver's power play.  Wow.  The Canucks go 5-for-6, Booth gets his first goal of the season on it (you could see the relief on his face after he scored).  Rome gets one, everybody basically pitched in on the man advantage.  The Sedin's were working their twin-magic like they usually do, while Hodgson had a decent night as well.  One thing I noticed was that it wasn't our third and fourth lines doing all the heavy lifting.  They contributed, but they weren't forced to carry the team across the finish line. Volpatti sparked the team when he tango'd with Dan Carcillo, while the entire fourth line just fore checked the hell out of Chicago.

Now, Luongo did let in that stinker of a goal from Frolik.  I mean, that was a terrible, terrible goal to let in.  Micheal Frolik came over the blue line along the boards and just kind of flicked it on net, and it somehow found its way through Lou's pads. The first thing I thought was that he was going to be rattled, but I guess it no longer being October actually means something.  Luongo was good, he was very good actually.  Especially at the end of the second, where he made a splendiferous glove save as the clock was winding down.  The refs actually decided to put 1.3 seconds up on the clock after that save forced the puck over the glass.  Usually, that's a waste of time, but in this case, nuh uh.  Bieksa and Jamal Mayers decided to go at it with the extra time added.  It wasn't a pre-planned fight either, it was a hate fueled bout, with Bieksa coming out with the win (according to hockeyfights.com).



All in all, this was a game that needed to happen.  Vancouver played to their potential.  They looked like themselves of yesteryear, with the power play going almost 100%, and everybody did their part to a T.  Except, Luongo did let in that stinker, but he is semi-forgiven for it because he stood on his head after that.

My favorite part, how quiet it got in the "Madhouse" after the Canucks scored a few.  I love hearing crickets in that place.