Moral victories suck.

And that's about all you'd get out of this one.  The Hawks dropped their second straight playoff game to Vancouver.  The only bright spot was that they managed to solve Roberto Luongo three times, and that Corey Crawford gave up only 4 goals despite facing 283 odd man rushes, including a 2 on none where he faced down the mighty Sedin twins with no help from his teammates.

Bah.

THE GOOD

Ben Smith - 2 goals for the rookie, who played a very good game, and nearly had tied the game up late in the third period.

Viktor Stalberg - Stalberg actually played to his size tonight, making sure he got a body on any Canucks' defensemen who played the puck in front of him.  He also scored a nice goal using a denfensman as a screen against Luongo.

Corey Crawford - Crawford's stats look ugly, but they don't tell the whole story.  Early on in the game it was clear that the Hawks were willing to gamble with their defensemen in order to generate scoring chances, and the Canucks exploited that with several odd man breaks.  It was a credit to Crawford that Chicago was even within a goal at the end.

THE BAD

The Core: With all these goals from the bottom six, it would have been nice to see something from the Hawks stars.  People have been bitching all year that the big guys have had to carry the load almost exclusively.  Well tonight they got plenty of help but Kane, Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Toews, Hossa and Sharp combined for 1 assist.  I'm not sure if Jonathan Toews is hurt, but he sure doesn't look like himself.  We've said that this group was going to have to carry the Hawks if they were going to make a run in the playoffs, but if they've shot their wad just getting here, then you can put away the United Center ice next Tuesday.

THE UGLY

The Second Period - The Hawks managed to give up a goal in both the first minute and the last minute of the second period.  It doesn't get much uglier than that.


Up Next - Chicago faces a must win game at the United Center on Sunday.