The first three games of this evenly matched Canucks and Blackhawks series has been a close strategic battle, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault likening the matchup with opposition coach Joel Quenneville to a chess match. Both coaches have been matching lines and trying to figure out the best plan to take the lead, and while there must be a winner at the end of each game, they find the series tied after Game 4 last night, proving how closely these teams have been playing.
The Canucks have been able to open the scoring in each game so far against the Blackhawks, but it has only paid off in two of them. Game 2 resulted in a terrible 6-3 defeat as the Canucks’ control of the game fell apart in the second period, but they rebounded in Game 3 with a 3-1 win on the road, looking as though they had solved the Chicago Blackhawks puzzle.
Having opened the scoring once again with Darcy Hordichuk’s goal in the second period, head coach Vigneault decided on this game’s new strategy: play the trap and focus on defense. With that in mind, the Canucks played a style reminiscent of the Minnesota Wild where they collapse to their blue line and control any offensive advances in their zone.
While the decison to play for the one-goal win seemed to be working against the offensively struggling Chicago team, a series of small slip-ups on Vancouver’s part led to a defensive breakdown, allowing Martin Havlat the opportunity to tie up the game with less than three minutes to go in the game. This would force an overtime period that the Canucks would have to adjust to offensively, having sat back and defended for most of the game.
Although Vancouver played a solid 57 minutes and generated early chances in overtime, they failed to stop Andrew Ladd three minutes into the extra frame, who put it through Luongo to take the game and tie the series at two.
Game 5 of this series takes place this Saturday, May 9th, at GM Place at 7:30 PM PST.