Chicago Blackhawks vs Canucks || November, 16, 2011

Oh what a difference 10 days makes.  From going into Chicago and spanking them, to having them come into Vancouver and return the favor.

The first period was nice, we scored first, Sedin to Sedin to Hansen with the easy tap in goal.  That's what we like to see.  Then the second half of the second period comes along and just saps all the life out of the Canucks.  They were flat, they almost seemed content just keeping pace with them.  There was the odd break here and there, but nothing really substantial.  I think the turning point - or the counter turning point - was the short handed  breakaway that Hansen had.  Unfortunately, Crawford stretched out to make a nice save with the right pad.  You get the feeling that if that was Burrows instead of Hansen, he would have been able to get that puck up and tuck it underneath the bar.  Regardless, it was a nice save on Crawford's part.

Vince was happy about the Hawks game, I'm sure

The third period just seemed to unravel.  Hossa pretty well dismantled the entire team, single handedly. You saw his speed when he smoked Edler to the loose puck, which eventually set up Toews.  His vision when he did a nice little spin-back pass to Montador, who scored on a shot that Schneider probably should have had.

The biggest part about this loss that bugs me, is the fact that there was no passion.  There was zero emotion in this game, until Kesler got hit in the face off the face-off.  He felt like there was a missed call, so he went on a mini rampage, taking out Leddy with a clean bodycheck.  That was about 12-minutes into the third period.  That kind of emotion needs to be gushing out of everybody from the second the puck is dropped on the opening face-off.  This is your biggest rival you're talking about!  You're going to let Steve Montador walk in and slap it in the back of the net?  You see what happened when one of the Sedin's went up to Corey Crawford for a rebound and gave him a little jab?  Three Blackhawks came to his aid, and all three of them smothered Sedin.  There was none of that from the Canucks this game.

Chicago played like they were defending their sister's honor.  Vancouver played like they were the little sister.  It was actually brought up when I was watching the game, it's times like this where you miss Raffi Torres.  Somebody who goes out, smashes a couple people, swings the momentum over by getting the crowd into it a bit.  When we were down 2-1, I thought that we would have seen a lot of the Sedin's and Kesler (which there was).  When we got down 3-1, I thought there would have been more Volpatti and Lapierre (which there was not).

On a side note, Kesler is due.  I'm not convinced everybody is playing at 100% right now.  Either mentally or physically, there is something a little off.  I know the Sedin's are near the top in scoring, but what about Kesler?  What about Booth?  These guys should be generating offense on a consistent basis, but instead, we only see flashes.

I'm not saying that the Canucks don't care, because players don't get to the NHL with this kind of success by not caring.  I am saying though, that they need to let everybody know they care a little more.  Get angry, throw big hits.  You'll be surprised how well you forecheck when your pissed off at somebody.