The Hawks faced off with the bitter rival Vancouver Canucks at United Center Sunday night. It was a feeling out period early until Brent Seabrook took a stupid interference penalty at 4:17 of the first. The Canucks made Chicago pay as David Booth buried a rebound after Corey Crawford made the initial save and no Hawks came to his aid. The goal came at 6:00 of the period for a 1-0 Canucks lead on the power play. Corey Crawford kept it 1-0 halfway through the first as Andrew Ebbett came in on a breakaway and Crawford shut the door. The Hawks were very shaky in the defensive end early on. The Hawks went to the power play at 10:09 when David Booth of the Canucks went off for hooking. In a golden opportunity for the power play to tie the game, the Hawks power play unit failed to come through and the game remained 1-0. A short time later Luongo gave up the worst goal I have ever seen scored by Michael Frolik at 12:57 to tie the game at 1-1 eliciting loud chants of Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu from the Indian Head faithful. The Hawks went back on the power play at 14:06 when Andrew Alberts went off for elbowing in a renewal of the rivalry. The power play was short lived as the referees made a ghost high sticking call on Dan Carcillo when his stick failed to make contact with the Canuck player but the acting was superb. The Hawks killed off the ensuing power play time and the game remained tied at one goal apiece. Corey Crawford bailed the Hawks out again with a minute to go as Canucks pest Maxim Lapierre came in on a partial break and Crawford said no. Patrick Kane took a roughing penalty with under a minute to play as he put Henrik Sedin on his back side for giving Corey Crawford a snow shower. Vancouver outshot the Hawks 17-9 for the first period. The difference in the game was the goaltending. While Crawford kept the Hawks in the game, Luongo let in another awful goal against the Hawks who always seem to bring out the worst in Luongo.
The second period started with 1:41 of carry over penalty time which the Canucks made the Hawks pay for as Aaron Rome blew a point shot by Crawford for a 2-1 Canucks lead. It seems as though every stupid penalty you take ends up in the back of your net and the Seabrook and Kane penalties would certainly not be considered smart penalties and will certainly draw the ire of Coach Joel Quenneville. The Hawks went to the box again as Bryan Bickell was whistled for boarding at 3:53 of the second. The Canucks power play made it 3 for 4 on the night as Daniel Sedin had a wide open net after some nifty pass work for a 3-1 Canucks lead. The Hawks complete lack of discipline and poor penalty killing completely responsible for the early hole. Coach Q called timeout at 6:03 and really let the Hawks have it on the bench and rightfully so. At 6:55 Maxim Lapierre went off for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Hawks looked for life on the power play. The Hawks power play woes continued and the Hawks failed to score for the third time in the game. Andrew Alberts went off for holding shortly after to give the Hawks another shot at redemption on the power play that has struggled all year long. The Hawks showed a bit of life but were denied yet again on the power play. At 15:07 Roberto Luongo gave a juicy rebound off a Patrick Kane blast that Marcus Kruger drove to the net and pounded home to bring the Hawks within one goal at 3-2. The goal put life back into the silent United Center. The momentum was short lived as the Hawks got over zealous in the offensive end leading to a 3 on 2 break the other way and a Jannik Hansen goal just 43 seconds after the Blackhawks goal. Hansen’s goal gave Vancouver a 4-2 advantage. At 16:11 Viktor Stalberg was reckless with his stick to send the Canucks to their 5th man advantage of the evening. The Canucks cashed in once again as the Hawks whose penalty killing unit was a treat all season long was a dirty trick in this game. Dan Hamhuis, the recipient of the Stalberg high stick, got the goal at 17:50. The disastrous period finally came to an end with the Canucks leading 5-2. Chicago outshot Vancouver 20-13 for the period despite being outscored 4-1.
In the third period the Hawks got an early power play when Kane was pulled down at 00:50. In the must convert opportunity the Hawks had their worst power play of the evening and fell to 0-5 on the evening. After Dan Carcillo drove to the net, banged for a loose puck, and was tackled by Aaron Rome, he somehow got the extra 2 minutes and a 10 minute misconduct and put the Canucks back on the power play. The Canucks wasted little time scoring their 5th power play goal of the night as Brent Seabrook stood in front of the net, watched Henrik Sedin stand in front of the net and Sedin pounded home the 6th Canuck goal of the evening for a 6-2 Canucks advantage. That is the way it finished and it was by far the most embarrassing loss of the season for the Hawks who fall to 8-3-3 on the year and suffered their first home loss in regulation.
There is not much to say after this one other than when you allow 5 power play goals against on 6 chances and then go 0-5 on the power play yourself you will not win any games in the National Hockey League. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hawks were not held over for practice after that performance on home ice.
The Hawks begin a two game road trip in St. Louis on Tuesday night. During the game it broke that the Blues had fired Head Coach Davis Payne and hired Ken Hitchcock to replace him. Expect a more defensive minded Blues team with Hitchcock behind the bench. It will mark the first meeting of the season with the Central Division rival Blues. The Hawks were 4-2-0 against the Blues last season and 1-2-0 in St. Louis. Expect extensive work on special teams in practice after both units were pathetic against the Canucks.
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