Team of ... Dustiny? Byfuglien comes up big as Hawks clock Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - This was rubbing salt in the wound.

Not only did the Blackhawks knock off the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at GM Place Wednesday night, Dustin Byfuglien got a hat trick in the win that put the Hawks up 2-1 in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Byfuglien is the guy the Canucks and their fans love to hate because of his net presence and it was formidable again with all 3 goals coming off rebound scrambles in front of goalie Roberto Luongo.

"That was the best game I've ever seen Buff play," teammate Kris Versteeg said.

"We all know he's a big guy and he's tough to move," said Hawks captain Jonathan Toews, who had 3 assists.

The Canucks had no answer for the 6-foot-4, 257-pound Byfuglien.

"My job is to get position and make them work around me," Byfuglien said. "They've got to worry about me coming in and getting hit. Our plan all series has been to get to the net."

The Hawks frustrated the Canucks in several ways, starting with Antti Niemi's 31-save performance in goal. This time it was Niemi badly outplaying Luongo, who had problems all night with rebounds.

"Pucks came out and we found them," Byfuglien said.

The Hawks were 2-for-6 on the power play with Byfuglien scoring both goals.

The Canucks took some bad penalties and the Hawks made them play. The worst was Alex Burrows' unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 10:48 of the second period for messing with Brian Campbell a little over a minute after the Canucks had scored to climb within 3-2. Byfuglien scored 35 seconds into that penalty.

"Whether we hit them where it hurt a little more today, I think it was good for us," Toews said. "We're about the way we played, but we know they're going to come back with a huge performance in a couple days."

The Hawks took a 3-2 lead to the third period and turned in a key penalty kill early after Byfuglien was penalized for roughing at 4:14. Moments after the kill, Marian Hossa scored on a rebound at 7:45 as the Hawks regained the 2-goal lead they held twice earlier in the game.

Versteeg opened the scoring at 5:19 of the first period when he pounced on a loose puck that had got behind Luongo thanks to Andrew Ladd and Hossa crashing the crease.

"It's playoff hockey and you always want to try to get in front of a goalie or get in his way, especially a guy of (Luongo's) caliber," Ladd said. "You've got keep making life on him harder. He's a great goaltender and we've got to find a way to get in his way and maybe get in his head a little bit."

Niemi was huge during the middle stages of the first period when the Canucks were beating the Hawks to a lot of pucks.

"I was able to see the puck and I thought I made some good saves in that period," Niemi said.

The Canucks broke through at 9:07 of the second period when the puck deflected off the body of Jannik Hansen to the right of the net and past Niemi.

But Byfuglien got his second goal on a power play at 11:24 off another mad scramble in front with Toews there as well.

The Canucks were 0-for-4 on the power play with Henrik Sedin and Daniel held off the scoresheet.

It was clear Canucks coach Alain Vigneault wanted to keep the Sedins away from the Hawks' checking line of Dave Bolland, Ladd and Versteeg, but Hawks coach Joel Quenneville got them out there as much as possible.