Hawks throw no-hitter in Game 1

Getting shut out is one thing.

Throwing a no-hitter is quite another.

The Blackhawks managed both Wednesday night.

They got beat 2-0 in Vancouver and got beat up in the process.

The Canucks, hardly known as a physical team, outhit the Hawks, 47-21, and in the process knocked Tomas Kopecky and Ryan Johnson out of the game.

It was nothing short of embarrassing.

All year long, Hawks apologists insisted the Hawks wouldn't need to play big to win, that it wouldn't be a factor.

Well guess what? In the playoffs, size does matter.

So does heart.

The Hawks were third-worst in the NHL in road hits this season and that showed Wednesday, as the Canucks — only 20th this year in hits — pounded the Hawks from start to finish and the visitors never pushed back or even raised a glove until the waning seconds.

The Hawks — 15th in hits during the regular season — might need to think about dressing John Scott.

Yes, that's how bad it was.

Seriously, did the Hawks have anyone Wednesday night who wanted to finish a check?

They knew the key to the series was getting bodies on Roberto Luongo, and they didn't get anyone near him until the 36th minute of the game.

Shameful.

Luongo was decent, but he wasn't tested early or often and the Hawks hit 4 posts as they tried to get back in the game.

At least they out-chanced Vancouver the final 40 minutes, after a pathetic first period that saw far too many mistakes against a team as skilled as the Canucks.

That cost them the game as the Stanley Cup champs came out scared. Some were just plain terrible, like Brian Campbell, who was the worst of all.

He suffered numerous turnovers, bad passes, hit Luongo on an open net, whiffed on another good chance and looked like he didn't want to get hit — though he was hardly alone in that department.

The biggest gaffe occurred with the Hawks already trailing 1-0 when Campbell passed up a shot from the slot and flipped it backward to Duncan Keith, who had no chance as he was stripped from behind.

The turnover just inside the Vancouver blue line resulted in a breakaway for Jannik Hansen, who raced in and beat Corey Crawford for a 2-0 Canucks lead.

The first Vancouver goal came as a result of Patrick Sharp straying too far from his point — all the way down to the hash marks even though the Hawks had numbers — and defenseman Kevin Bieksa got a nice pass from Ryan Kessler, let fly with a low, hard shot and it was tipped in by Chris Higgins.

The entire first period was played in the Hawks' end as Vancouver dominated in every way.

On the other end, Crawford was outstanding. He had no chance on the 2 goals and he kept the Hawks in the game before they finally began to skate.

The Hawks were outhit (20-9) and outshot (13-7) in the first, but it was even worse than the stats would indicate as numerous turnovers and bad line changes just contributed to the ugly period.

Overall, Campbell had lots of company as Keith's passing was sickly, Patrick Kane passed up 2 open shots from the slot, Sharp missed an open net, and Troy Brouwer failed to feather a pass to Marian Hossa for a sure breakaway.

True, the Hawks were the better team the final two periods, which bodes well for the rest of the series, but they have to get more pucks to the net and more bodies on Luongo.

Friday night, they might also want to show up for the first 10 minutes — and perhaps bring someone who wants to hit.

brozner@dailyherald.com

Ÿ Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.