NHL: Canucks
 

Canucks await rematch with Blackhawks
Seeking payback after missed opportunity last season
by Joel Bergman
Hockeytalk.biz

APRIL 27, 2010 -- The Vancouver Canucks have waited one year for their playoff rematch against the Chicago Blackhawks. Now, they need to wait only a few days longer.

Mikael Samuelsson

In 2009, Vancouver squandered a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal and a lead in Game Four at home before the Hawks turned the tide and captured the series in six. The skate was on the other foot this year as the Canucks rallied from a 2-1 series deficit to stage third-period comebacks in Games Four and Six in Los Angeles to defeat the Kings four games to two.

Monday night's Chicago 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators ended that series and set up Vancouver's trip to the Windy City later this week.

"It was a hard-fought series last year. We’d like the opportunity to play them again this year," goaltender Roberto Luongo said following Sunday's game.

Luongo kept his team in the game with spectacular saves in both contests in LA until the Canucks could mount a comeback. The Sedin line led the way in the third period, with Henrik netting the game-winner in Game Four and Daniel recording the winner in the finale.

"I think that everyone on this team thinks that we can win if we keep it close going into the third. We do what it takes to win," Daniel Sedin said. "We know we can be bad for 40 minutes and things are going to work out."

That level of confidence appears to be found throughout the Canucks locker room.

"We showed some character (in this series), that’s for sure. We don’t ever give up," said Mikael Samuelsson, signed as a free agent from Detroit last summer. "Even when you’re behind, you never know. We’ve seen it before, where a bad angle shot goes in.

"We built up confidence during the year. We came back in a lot of games. That helped us here."

Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault replaced Alex Burrows with Samuelsson on the Sedin line in Game Four. The trio sparkled the rest of the way, with Samuelsson leading all scorers with 11 points (7-4=11). Daniel Sedin picked up 10 points (4-6=10), topping regular-season scoring champion Henrik who had eight (1-7=8).

Center Ryan Kesler said, "They (the Sedins) were our best players tonight, especially late in the third. They found a way to get it done, and we needed that from them."

"The Sedin line was tremendous," Kings coach Terry Murray added. "They won the series. They made the difference. That's what the best players are supposed to do."

According to Henrik, the Canucks learned a few lessons in last year's Chicago series that they are already putting to good use. "We've spoken (as a team) about why we lost last year and what it would take to do better this year," said Henrik, this season's Art Ross Trophy winner.

"We felt a little bit of frustration. We were feeling the pressure. We should have won that series, I thought. We went through that last year, and I think that we learned from that (this year)."

Vancouver's penalty killing improved through the Kings series. After Los Angeles scored on 9 of their first 16 advantages, the Canucks kept the Kings off the scoreboard for 9 of the last 10 power plays.

Vigneault had no explanation for the team's improvement. "Some teams get on a roll. Sometimes, it's bounces and puck luck," Vigneault said. "We didn't make that many adjustments but just kept working and hoped it would turn around."

"We felt that if we could get our penalty killing back to being average, we could win," Henrik said.

With a goalie being a team's best penalty killer, a lot of credit goes to Luongo, who appreciates the respite before the Chicago series.

"It was a hard-fought battle. It will be nice to get a couple of days off before the next series," the Vancouver netminder said. "It would have been tough for us to have gone to game seven. And anything can happen in one game."

"Luongo is a great goalie. I don't think that Vancouver has seen his best yet," Murray said. "I like how he is when he is playing his A game."

Luck often plays a role in the playoffs, although it may tend to balance out over a long series. Sedin's game-winner in Game Six followed Sameulsson breaking a stick as he took a shot with just over two minutes left, with the puck fluttering to Daniel Sedin like a knuckeball.

"You’ve got to be lucky sometimes, like with the broken stick," Samuelsson said.

"Over a six- or seven-game series, things like that even out," Daniel Sedin added. "We talked about that before the game, that we’ve just got to keep on working."

Although the Canucks have exhibited character this year, that doesn't guarantee four wins in the next round. "I think that they (LA) showed a lot of character," Luongo said. "I think that they deserved a better fate, but hey, somebody’s gotta win."

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