In the home locker room a few paces down the hall Friday night in Vancouver, few bodies could be found. A brooding, suffocating silence instead filled the space, the Canucks somehow coming unglued and getting knotted up all at once.
Steps away, the Blackhawks were unmoved. They just twisted their befuddled foes into near oblivion, taking a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday night at the United Center. They forced the Canucks to play a game with which they are not familiar and the results were predictably catastrophic.
The Hawks, at least for the previous eight periods, simply recognized who they were and acted accordingly. And that has thrust the Canucks into nothing less than an identity crisis, in every sense.
"You're going to have to ask them over there, but we're happy with what we're doing in here," Hawks winger Andrew Ladd said. "When we're skating, when we have pace to our game, it's tough to handle us."
They were asked over there, in fact, and in responding the Canucks looked like they were passing gall stones. They ran out a lineup based on speed for Game 4, still attempted to push the limits of rough-and-tumble play and then self-destructively exceeded those limits at every turn.
They almost defiantly maintained they could keep their composure, then came apart yet again, even the most polite of them, Daniel Sedin, brazenly and irresponsibly whacking away at the opposition. Veteran Ryan Johnson told reporters in Vancouver the disparity between word and deed "mind-blowing."
Desperately trying to match the best of what they saw in the Hawks, the Canucks wound up needing to win three straight games ? two on the road ? to save their season.
"It's not impossible," said Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who reportedly has shaved his beard in an apparent attempt to change his luck. "But to do that, we need to be on the same page."
In the table of contents, they can find that page in the "Hawks" chapter. The Hawks are initiating action without overreacting. They get scoring from the scorers and checking from the checkers. They get goaltending good enough to win, which is all it ever had to be.
Once they received the rude awakening across a forgettable Game 1 and first five minutes of Game 2, they snapped into an intensity and tempo that left the Canucks a step behind in every way.
"They jumped out real quick on us in Game 1," Hawks center John Madden said. "They seemed to have a lot of jump. We kind of matched it, and that's what we're looking to do again on Sunday."
Added Ladd: "The pace of our game, the assertiveness, the desperation got to another level."
Whether the Canucks can find that level while simultaneously trying to find themselves is to be determined.
But there is sufficient firepower on their side to require the Hawks to be just a little nervous, to force themselves to recognize that allowing the Canucks to locate some hope and momentum could spiral into larger problems.
For a reference point, the Hawks need only turn to the last three games.
"Can't let your foot off the pedal for a second," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We've done some good things to get us this lead but that's all it is ? a lead. We haven't won yet."
Steps away, the Blackhawks were unmoved. They just twisted their befuddled foes into near oblivion, taking a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday night at the United Center. They forced the Canucks to play a game with which they are not familiar and the results were predictably catastrophic.
The Hawks, at least for the previous eight periods, simply recognized who they were and acted accordingly. And that has thrust the Canucks into nothing less than an identity crisis, in every sense.
"You're going to have to ask them over there, but we're happy with what we're doing in here," Hawks winger Andrew Ladd said. "When we're skating, when we have pace to our game, it's tough to handle us."
They were asked over there, in fact, and in responding the Canucks looked like they were passing gall stones. They ran out a lineup based on speed for Game 4, still attempted to push the limits of rough-and-tumble play and then self-destructively exceeded those limits at every turn.
They almost defiantly maintained they could keep their composure, then came apart yet again, even the most polite of them, Daniel Sedin, brazenly and irresponsibly whacking away at the opposition. Veteran Ryan Johnson told reporters in Vancouver the disparity between word and deed "mind-blowing."
Desperately trying to match the best of what they saw in the Hawks, the Canucks wound up needing to win three straight games ? two on the road ? to save their season.
"It's not impossible," said Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who reportedly has shaved his beard in an apparent attempt to change his luck. "But to do that, we need to be on the same page."
In the table of contents, they can find that page in the "Hawks" chapter. The Hawks are initiating action without overreacting. They get scoring from the scorers and checking from the checkers. They get goaltending good enough to win, which is all it ever had to be.
Once they received the rude awakening across a forgettable Game 1 and first five minutes of Game 2, they snapped into an intensity and tempo that left the Canucks a step behind in every way.
"They jumped out real quick on us in Game 1," Hawks center John Madden said. "They seemed to have a lot of jump. We kind of matched it, and that's what we're looking to do again on Sunday."
Added Ladd: "The pace of our game, the assertiveness, the desperation got to another level."
Whether the Canucks can find that level while simultaneously trying to find themselves is to be determined.
But there is sufficient firepower on their side to require the Hawks to be just a little nervous, to force themselves to recognize that allowing the Canucks to locate some hope and momentum could spiral into larger problems.
For a reference point, the Hawks need only turn to the last three games.
"Can't let your foot off the pedal for a second," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We've done some good things to get us this lead but that's all it is ? a lead. We haven't won yet."
