Hawks back in series with 5-0 rout
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Oh, it's on now.
A few days ago it looked as if the Blackhawks were toast, down 3-0 in their first-round playoff series with the Vancouver Canucks.
But showing the heart of a champion, the Hawks might now have the Canucks on the run after two straight blowout victories, the latest their 5-0 rout at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.
The Canucks still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, but all the momentum belongs to the Hawks. They've scored 12 goals in the last two games, chasing Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo both times.
“The chances of us winning the series are slim, but we have a chance,” Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell said.
Luongo didn't make it out of the second period, gone at the 1:26 mark after Marian Hossa's second goal made it 4-0 on just the Hawks' 12th shot.
The Hawks' best players, the guys with the Stanley Cup rings, skated circles around the Canucks' stars, who mailed it in for the second game in a row.
Hossa scored 2 goals, Duncan Keith had 2 goals and 2 assists, Patrick Kane scored his first goal of the series and Jonathan Toews was the best player on the ice.
What Toews said following the Game 3 loss has become true in the last two games. Toews said the Hawks weren't doing a good job of exposing the Canucks for what they were, which is a beatable team despite their monster regular season.
“All I was trying to say was if we get a couple things going our way, get a couple goal lead on that team, they turn into a different team,” Toews said. “We want to keep that pressure on them because like I said, they're not unbeatable. We respect them and what they do as a team, but not too much.”
The Hawks stunned the Canucks and the home crowd with a 3-goal first period, scoring twice on power plays.
After the Hawks killed a penalty to Campbell 16 seconds into the game, Hossa got things started at 5:54 when he wove through a bunch of lazy Canucks beginning with Alex Burros to put a snap shot past Luongo for his first goal of the series.
The Hawks fed off Hossa's goal and made it 2-0 just 24 seconds later when Keith ripped a shot through a Troy Brouwer screen and past Luongo.
The Hawks were all over the Canucks in the first 20 minutes.
Just past the midpoint of the period while killing a penalty, Toews outworked and out-hustled Alex Edler for a loose puck and was hauled down by the Canucks defenseman.
As soon as the Hawks went on their power play, Keith's slap shot from the deep slot was tipped in by Kane with Toews screening Luongo.
Keith has 4 goals in the series and is looking like the player who won the Norris Trophy last season.
The Canucks were fortunate it didn't become 4-0 with 3:32 left in the first period, but Luongo stopped Patrick Sharp on a clean breakaway.
Sharp made up for his miss early in the second period when he sprung Hossa on a breakaway for the goal that chased Luongo. The home fans cheered when Luongo was replaced by backup Cory Schneider.
That's 10 goals allowed by Luongo in the last two games.
The Hawks made Luongo's life miserable on Thursday, screening him on 2 of the 4 goals he allowed.
It became 5-0 at 4:47 of the second period when Keith scored his second goal past Schneider through a Ben Smith screen.
tsassone@dailyherald.com
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