Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Blackhawks give Canucks a sad dose of reality

Niklas Hjalmarsson Daniel Sedin Dave Bolland Marcus Kruger

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (4), Marcus Kruger (16) and Dave Bolland (36) clear Vancouver Canucks left wing Daniel Sedin (22) from in front of the net during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Chicago won 5-1. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

AP

Scapegoats provide cruel comfort in an insecure world. Rather than discussing the problems that truly plague our existences, why not pass the buck to some poor sap instead? Vancouver Canucks fans clutch to Roberto Luongo as a big, expensive and easy target when the team falls - particularly when that takes place against the Chicago Blackhawks - but what happens during a meltdown with Bobby Lou on the sidelines thanks to an upper-body injury?

Canucks fans experienced a harsh taste of such a reality on Wednesday night, as the Blackhawks squashed Cory Schneider & Co. by a count of 5-1.

If Luongo being planted on the bench wasn’t enough to shoot a hole in that scapegoating tendency, the completeness of the loss should be. Five different Blackhawks scored goals in that game and the Canucks actually opened up a 1-0 lead early in the second period.

With that, Chicago moves to 27 points (topping all NHL teams) while Vancouver is a decidedly mediocre 9-9-1 for 19 points. Ignoring tiebreakers that place three other teams ahead of them (assuming Los Angeles doesn’t earn a point against Anaheim), the Blackhawks would host the Canucks in a first versus eight seed match if the playoffs began today.

To recap: Luongo isn’t easy to blame, the Blackhawks are running away with the West and the Canucks might be in a dogfight just to make the playoffs. In other words, for Vancouver fans, the hockey world is flipping upside down like a car during a riot.

Check out highlights from the game below.