Rob The Hockey Guy

Before every Canucks playoff game, Canuckz.com will be looking back at the previous game and provide a preview of the upcoming game. We’ll let you know what happened, what needs to happen and what’s likely going to happen.

Before we move on to game 4, here are a few quick hits about game 3:

-The Canucks were great at taking the body while staying out of the box in game 1 and 2, but got away from that in game 3. The Blackhawks power play responded with two power play goals. Giving the Blackhawks power play numerous chances is a recipe for disaster going forward.

-Roberto Luongo was outstanding again, as he was in game 1. He has had a few show stopping saves in this series. Great to see.

-Raffi Torres was probably lucky to not get suspended for his blind side head shot on Brent Seabrook. At least I think so.

-The Sedins had their best game of the series in game 3, notching two points each. Impressive given the fact that Joel Quenneville has an easier time matching up his shutdown defense pair against them at home.

As the Canucks and Blackhawks head into game 4, I have come to the conclusion that the Canucks are just too talented, too deep and too healthy for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks look tired. Patrick Sharp, Troy Brouwer and maybe even Jonathan Toews are playing hurt. On top of that, they’re playing without the injured Dave Bolland and Tomas Kopecky. The Canucks are without Manny Malhotra, but other than that, they’re as healthy as you could expect at this time of the year.

So do the Blackhawks have a chance? Sure, they have a chance, but not a good one. They might win a game, maybe two, but the writing is on the wall in my mind, barring some kind of unforeseen circumstance.

That hasn’t stopped Jonathan Toews from talking tough though:

They’re a beatable team and we haven’t been able to do that yet… We see weaknesses on their team and we have one more chance to do it and it’s best if we don’t look beyond that game and the road ahead.

What does Henrik Sedin have to say about this? Well, this:

Does he mean our power play, our penalty kill, our five-on-five?

Oh SNAP! You’ve got to love trash talkin’ Sedins. He did add something politically correct after that, but I enjoy the trash talk.