At this rate, they'll be late to their own funeral

Imagine the famished missing dinner because they stopped to Twitter.

That would be almost as inexplicable as the tardiness the Blackhawks are demonstrating during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It's one thing for the Hawks to fall through the ice early in games at Vancouver. It's something altogether different to do it in the United Center.

I mean, the Hawks have to hear fans cheering wildly as the big screens above center-ice flash the players coming up the tunnel toward the rink.

The Hawks surely can hear the roar of the crowd during the national anthem, right?

Yet the Hawks simply didn't respond Tuesday night.

"It's not acceptable," defenseman Brian Campbell understated.

The Hawks have figured out just about everything else this season so maybe they'll figure this out too before it's too late.

Then again "too late" already is the problem, isn't it?

No matter the game time - 7 p.m. here or 8 p.m. Chicago time last week in Vancouver - the Hawks arrive unfashionably late.

They paid for it again, falling behind 3-0 to the Canucks and losing 3-1 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

"We seemed to have a little delay in our switch light," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.

All the Hawks' third straight sluggish start accomplished was to take the home crowd out of the game - 1-0, quiet; 2-0, quieter; 3-0, quietest.

"We certainly didn't give our fans anything to cheer about most of the game," Campbell said.

In Vancouver the Hawks trailed 3-0 in Game 1, tied it and then lost. They trailed 2-0 in Game 2, tied it and went on to win.

"First periods are killing us," Hawks winger Kris Versteeg said. "We have to find a way to play better in the first period."

It's almost as if the young Hawks, confident and sassy as they are, want to increase their degree of difficulty in this best-of-seven series.

But, my goodness, a hockey player getting going late in a Stanley Cup playoff game is like, well, a geek like me showing up late for a date with Charlize Theron.

Campbell's goal in the second period awakened the crowd and energized the Hawks, but the Canucks did a better job of protecting their lead this time.

Whatever the reason for the Hawks' poor beginnings, they better do something about it quickly or the next thing they'll have a chance to be late for is a tee time.

Whatever the solution is, Quenneville must come up with it sooner than later. If it would help for his players to wear jockstraps inside out or over their heads to play better faster, that's what he has to have them do.

"We have to come back with a much better effort and much better approach," Quenneville said of Thursday night's Game 4 in the United Center.

Otherwise, spotting a good team like Vancouver two or three goals to start the game will continue being an innovative way to commit series suicide.

"You're not going to come back from deficits in the series too often," Campbell said.

Once is about the limit and the Hawks already reached it last week in Vancouver.

mimrem@dailyherald.com