I think most die hard Canucks fans know this is a 6 or 7 game series. I think the Hawks would have found a way to even up the series even if we went up 3-1. Sedins and the rest of the offensive players on the Canucks need to step up their game on Sat night.

you're right. I love the canucks but did anyone seriously think we could take it 5 against chicago, I've thought 6 from the beginning. So they lost tonight, now they will smarten up.

maybe not take it in 5 but take it in 6 but with a 3-1 lead because 3-1 leads are smexy.

How are the forwards going to step up when the gameplan is so defensively focused? In comparison to our other games, there was absolutely zero forecheck in an effort to clog the neutral zone. I think AV just has to find that balance between Offense & Defense. He gambled tonight. Almost got away with it but cost him a game, and if the trend continues, will cost him the series. There's no way the Canucks are going to survive a continued relentless Chicago offense.

And seriously, I know it's Byfuglien's job to fight for the space in front of Luongo. But at least let the mofo pay.

Well if the Canucks won tonight, AV would have been praised but if we lost tonight, which we did, he's to blame. Let's face it, AV's plan was working like a charm and we almost won this game if wasn't for Willie's stupid play.

Fuck I went out to wash my car in the break, and by the time I came back we lost.

Oh well at least I got something productive done and didn't have to watch the pain.

I think only the commentators were praising his play, but I think the whole of Canuckdom was holding their breath. The whole game felt like riding out a storm. But instead of that feeling being reserved to penalty situations and last minute lead hold, it was the whole 60 minutes.

Fuck, so cholked about this loss. I'm trying to find some good out of tonights game but I can't. Now we have to hear about the Canucks cholking until Sat.

That's how they always play...very effective but boring hockey relying on Luongo to win.

Bloody hell it's the Hossa and Franzen show tonight.

NHL is gonna make canadian teams feed bottom feeding coyotes
samuelsson scores !! lol

I'm glad the Wings are winning because the Canucks lose doesn't sting as much now lol.

woohoo for hossa. need to get datsyuk on the board now.

Apparently the 4th line didn't even get a shift in the 3rd. Even after their good play the 1st 2 periods? wtf?

Fuck we were so close...all will be forgiven if they come back with a good win on saturday

It was funny listening to team 1040's post game show. I always thought they knew what they were talking about, but after tonight's game, they showed how dumb they were.
And of course some of the fans that called in were pretty stupid too.

Mitchell skated into the scrum to pickup the puck that Wellwood won in the battle with Ladd. At that point, he knew there was one Hawk behind him and 4 in front. Yet right away without looking, he tries to blast the puck up along the boards through 3 players. I don't agree with AV's post game comments. Pyatt was between Ladd and the pointman, while Wellwood was battling Ladd for the puck. 99% of the fault lies on Mitchell for trying to go up along the boards. He had more than enough time to either flip the puck up the middle towards the center ice or take a step towards the middle and look to Bernier for an outlet pass or a chip shot past the right point man without being called for icing.

That being said, it was very sad to see the Nucks fall back to the 5 man deep trap type defensive play. For one, a couple of times they almost got beat by the head man pass. If the Nucks were able to succeed in game 3 with a 2 man forecheck and clog up the neutral zone, I don't understand why AV wanted the team to change their play?
Last year's team didn't go far because AV was trying to play more of a defensive style. This year's hockey was much more entertaining when they played aggressively. Maybe there is a point.

As for forwards, I don't think Sundin played that badly of a game. But the whole team was one step behind the whole game. They never really had good puck possession. Mitchell needs to chop his stick down to a more reasonable height. His slapshots are slow because of the long stick. Pyatt looked very slow and awkward tonight. Of all the Nuck's, he looked the worst tonight. Slow, and not using his big body to punnish the other team's D-man.

Grrrrr.... Even the twins looked mediocore tonight. =(

^^^

I don't get it either. I mean the last 3 seasons I understood why AV would employ this gamestyle. But we have the offensive resources this season now. People have gone to say, this is the most balanced team this org. has ever had in its history. So I don't really get why we revert back to the same gameplay from 3 seasons past.

I can take into account that Chicago has more talent than us but it's going to be this way from this point in, from DET or ANA, to BOS, WSH, PIT. Does that mean we go back to our old ways all the way to the end?

Painful lose =(

fucking byFUGLIen :mad: :mad:
depressing game tonight.. how can the Canucks focus on defense when they're only up 1 goal, knowing the hawks are skilled at catching up >:( ARRRRRRHHH

It was :(
Chicago has a talented team, we're gonna need to throw everything we got at them, including our 4th line as seen tonight

I only watched the last 10 minutes of the game, but it was sure disheartening to watch them do nothing but dump the puck. I mean, once Chicago scored their tying goal, you could see the forwards wanting to break out and do something big, but it just was not enough.

Let's hope they go back to their offence-styled play next game. :(

See, with all these comments, I know I'm not the only one. I really don't understand what the commentators were talking about the entire game up until the beginning of the third.

I mean they just kept praising how the Canucks were neutralizing the Blackhawks offense, keeping them to the outside, etc.

And they never mentioned how Canucks also have no offense and aren't scoring either. Blackhawks offense is their defense.



The only thing I can find good, not out of tonight's game, but out of the series, is that it's tied 2-2, meaning there's no big 3-1 series lead for Canucks to blow. 3-1 series lead makes me uneasy.
Maybe it's because the Canucks start to slack, just like when they are up 3-0 in a game after 20mins. That's the only good thing I can see....

I might get flamed for this and called a bandwagoner or whatever.... but the only way i can get through a tough loss is that i keep thinking that the winner of Ducks/Wings series will mostly take out my beloved nucks rather easily anyways.

Playing to win the game instead of playing to not lose would have been nice, even if we do make a mistake and lose.

AV keeps talking about high pct hockey, but it seems like sitting back with a 1 goal lead with lots of time left is like flipping a coin. It's been about those odds all yr.