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Game 50: Blackhawks At Canucks Preview: Step In The Arena And Break The Wall Down!

By Zanstorm

Time Tues. 7:00 PM PST
TV TSN
Season Series 1-1
 Last Meeting
5-1 Chicago Nov.16/11
The Bastards Second City Hockey Scoring Leaders H. Sedin: 11-41-52 Hossa: 20-33-53
Hawks
 Category Canucks
29-15-6 Season Record 30-15-4
6th
 Conference Position 2nd
Lost 2
 Streak Won 2
10-9-2
 < Road Record / Home Record >
 14-6-3
5-3-2
 Last 10 6-2-2
+18
 Goals For / Against +/- +36
3.16 (4)
 Goals Per Game Average
 3.16 (3) +
2.82 (20)
 Goals Against Per Game Average
 2.41 (7)
1.04 (10)
 5 On 5 GF/GA 1.18 (6)
19.0 (9)
 Power Play %
 23.0 (1) -
77.9 (28)
 Penalty Kill %
 85.4 (6) -
52.4 (3)
 Faceoffs % 51.5 (7) -
917 (26)
 Hits
 1091 (17) -
620 (25)
 Blocked Shots
 572 (28)
360 (16)
 Giveaways
 343 (18) +
505 (2)
Takeaways
 310 (20) +
10.4 (11)
PIM's Per Game Average
 13.9 (27) +
NHL.com

I don't know about you peeps, but that All-Star break put me to sleep. What was the last time the Canucks played again? SEVEN days ago. Apparently that's not a long enough layoff for Roberto Luongo, who will not play in this one. Cory Schneider will face what is sure to be an onslaught of Chicago shots. Actually, the reasoning behind Ginger Jesus getting the start is here. Makes sense. This is a terrific rivalry that pretty much took the passenger seat since the whole Canucks / Bruins debacle. But the feelings of hate will return on Tuesday night. There's a rat in Chicago too. His name is Bolland.

The Hawks suck on the road. They have lost their last 4 straight there, but have had the luxury of playing a ton of home games. That all changes now. They play their next 9 games in a row away from the Madhouse on Madison. They need to keep pace with the Red Wings, who

have 3 points on them for the Central Division lead. The Central is insane right now.

It will be interesting and a tad sickening to see Brendan Morrison in a Hawks jersey. He brings some needed depth and versatility to Chicago's center position. He may play with Marian Hossa right away. We'll see.

As for the Canucks....well they had better not come out of the break slow. They'll get burned if they do.

Anything can happen when these 2 teams face each other. Each team has defeated each other once this season, both by wide margins and both in the opposing team's arena. Time to buck that trend. Two matchups remain between them this regular season.

PROJECTED ROSTERS

GP MIN W L EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2011 - Cory Schneider 19 1016 10 5 39 2.30 534 495 .927 2


Dank Sedin - Hank Sedin - Alexander MF'ing Burrows

Chris "The Professor" Higgins - KesLORD - David Booooth

MayRay - Cody "Chinook" Hodgson -Jannik "Beaker" Hansen

Maxim "Lappy" Lapierre - Money Mo Malhotra - Dale Weiser

Dan "The Hammer" Hamhuis - Kevin "Juice" Bieksa

Alex "E-Money Edler" - Sami "Undead" Salo

Keith "Hips" Ballard - Aaron "God" Rome

GP MIN W L EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2011 - Corey Crawford 36 2059 18 12 98 2.86 1002 904 .902 0

Stalberg - Toews - Kane

Hossa - Morrison - Sharp

Brunette - Kruger - Bickell

Smith - Mayers - Shaw

Keith - Seabrook

Hjalmarsson - Leddy

Montador - O'Donnell

INJURIES

-For both teams via TSN. Jonathan Toews makes his return after a brief absence due to an upper body injury. That injury may or may not have been a cracked lip from smiling. Patrick Sharp (wrist injury...not gonna go there) should return against the Canucks, but still told media that he'd see how it feels in the morning.

TRENDS

  • Blackhawks are 5-2 in their last 7 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game.
  • Blackhawks are 4-10 in their last 14 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
  • Blackhawks are 1-4 in their last 5 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game.
  • Blackhawks are 1-4 in their last 5 Tuesday games.
  • Blackhawks are 1-6 in their last 7 vs. a team with a winning record.
  • Blackhawks are 0-4 in their last 4 road games. Yeah, they aren't so good in places that don't play Chelsea's Dagger.
  • Canucks are 4-0 in their last 4 vs. a team with a winning record.
  • Canucks are 24-5 in their last 29 games playing on 3 or more days rest.
  • Canucks are 4-1 in their last 5 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game.
  • Canucks are 5-2 in their last 7 Tuesday games.
  • More at Covers.com.

QUOTED

The(Canucks) have the most success when Daniel Sedin (14-2-2), Alex Burrows (13-4-0), Ryan Kesler (11-1-0) and Henrik Sedin (10-1-0) find the back of the net, yet those four can’t claim undefeated regulation records like David Booth (7-0-1), Alex Edler (6-0-0), Sami Salo (5-0-0), Manny Malhotra (4-0-0), Aaron Rome (3-0-0), Andrew Ebbett (3-0-0), Maxim Lapierre (2-0-2) and Andrew Alberts (1-0-0). Three Canucks, oddly enough, have losing records in terms of games they score in. Kevin Bieksa (1-3-0), Dan Hamhuis (1-2-0) and Aaron Volpatti (0-1-0) just can’t catch a break.

That from Derek Jory at Canucks.com.

"He doesn't really interact with the players much," Daniel continued. "He does what he needs to do, he prepares us, and he leaves us alone. I think that's the key."

Daniel Sedin talking about Alain Vigneault's involvement in the team. This echoes what AV said earlier. AV knows there is a lot of leadership in the Canucks' dressing room.

VIDEO

Heheh. God damn, Willie. I miss ya:

Hahaha. God damn, Burr. I love ye:

Top 10 Canucks-Blackhawks moments:

The theme song for this post is requested by jwolf0:

NO COMMENT

Photobucket

I am about as evil as Vince Vaughn is a bad actor. So I guess I will see you in hell.

PREDICTIONS

-NHL12 sim says: 1-0 Canucks, Hank FTW. Yeah right.

-Zandberg thinks 3-2 Canucks with Higgins scoring the winner, because..you know...he has not scored a goal in January and this is his last chance.

ARE YOU READY? GO CANUCKS GO!

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