Vancouver: 4 - Chicago: 1 (Blackhawks Lead Series 3-2)
I have a feeling based on the comments we've seen over the last few days here, most of you were hoping for a much different result and an end to this series. Lest though we forget about the Canucks though is that beyond all the lack of composure moments and the waving of arms frantically as they beg refs for more favorable calls, is a fairly talented and deep team.
Give the Canucks credit, they put their head down and they played hockey without any of the theatrics or whining... Roberto Luongo was more focused on stopping pucks and that in turn was helped by the Canucks defense which seemed more focused on being tougher around the net. Kevin Bieksa stepped up his game tonight and the Sedins refocused themselves on the offensive side of things and didn't get rattled any time a Hawks player got in their face.
As for the Hawks, I don't think that they played overly poor in this game but I do think the two things where they did go wrong was that they didn't seem to really engage the Canucks as physically as I would have expected and secondly they had a pretty poor night on the faceoff dot. It also didn't help that Marian Hossa took a high sticking penalty mere seconds after Jonathan Toews got the Hawks on the board with about eight minutes left in the game killing any momentum they had just gained.
Unlike the Sharks last night and their 3-1 lead where game five was pretty much a must win for them, I don't think this loss for Chicago is as dramatic. Hawks of course have already proven they can win in Vancouver quite easily and the onus is really more on Vancouver to keep playing like they did tonight and not let the emotion of what will be a riled up Canucks crowd get to them.