A rebound? Stick a fork in Canucks
All that's left now is to wonder if San Jose can finish off Detroit, because the Blackhawks have just about finished off Vancouver - again.
Just as they did a year ago, the Canucks have completely self-destructed, worn down by a mentally soft goalie and the relentless Hawks' offense.
Goaded by a smarter Hawks team into stupid penalty after stupid penalty, the Canucks allowed Jonathan Toews and the Hawks' power play to explode in the second period, and that sent the Hawks soaring to a 7-4 victory and a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
Toews' 5-point night - tying Stan Mikita and Steve Larmer for a club playoff record - is a sweet reward for the captain who often does the dirty work and gets little recognition.
But Toews is the guts of the Hawks and he was due a night like this, taking advantage of more horrendous goaltending by Roberto Luongo and a gutless Canucks squad that was caught retaliating over and over again.
Even the Vancouver fans - who have developed quite a dislike for the representation in this space that their goaltender is overrated and bad on top of it - booed their local netminder late in the second after Toews beat him for the Hawks' fifth goal, their fourth on the power play, and Toews' hat trick.
You couldn't have expected anything different from Luongo after his dreadful performance in Game 3, and he started Game 4 just where he left off the previous match.
Only 18 seconds into the game, he couldn't handle a Brent Seabrook shot that hit him in the pads and trickled between his legs into the net.
Unable to see past traffic in front, Luongo has been going down on every shot, and the Hawks have been repeatedly beating him high.
With the score 1-1, Toews used a Dustin Byfuglien screen to wrist one home top shelf, and at 2-2 early in the second, Luongo stood in his net and watched as Duncan Keith wrapped one around the boards, behind the net and around to the other half-boards.
It skipped off Ryan Kessler's stick and right to Toews in front, where he quickly tapped it in past Luongo the passenger, who had a great view of the entire play.
The Hawks made it 4-2 on another power play when Patrick Sharp collected a big Luongo rebound and popped it home, and it was over when Toews made it 5-2.
The Canucks closed it to 5-3 near the end of the second, but the Hawks continued to torture Luongo in the third when they got a sixth goal on - all together now - a big, fat Luongo rebound and a gift of a goal for Tomas Kopecky.
Once again, the Canucks tried to make a game of it, with a late goal making it 6-4, but no team can continually make up for the kind of goaltending Luongo has turned in against the Hawks.
An empty nettler made it 7-4 and the Hawks celebrated as though they'd won the series, and for all intents and purposes, they have.
Sure, it can be argued that the Canucks have the talent to win the next three games, because they do, certainly as much ability as the Hawks, who have just won three straight.
But without a goalie and without the discipline to stay out of the box, the Canucks can start making tee times for next week.
They're finished.
brozner@dailyherald.com
• isten to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.