How to think positively about the canucks 6-3 loss to chicago

the canucks came out looking great. they went up 2 goals early in the first period. halfway through the second period, luongo makes the best save of his season to keep the canucks up 2-0. the announcer on the radio said "if you are going to win the stanley cup, you need to make saves like that." for a moment, i actually thought about the canucks winning the stanley cup. however the canucks quickly blew their lead, by having sloppy defensive coverage by some of their best players like mitchell and bieksa. the canucks surrendered 5 straight goals and were completely outplayed. luongo looked mediocre at best. at one point in the second period the canucks were outshot 11-2.

sundins horrible backchecking caused one of the goals. henrik sedin was a -3 in the game which is a pretty impressive feat considering that he was on the ice for two of the canucks goals and got 2 points in the game. its good that the sedins are scoring and feeling comfartable doing it consistently, but they have to remember to backcheck, or at least cycle the puck in the offensive zone so the other team doesn't have a chance to score. willie mitchell took his third penalty this playoffs which put the canucks on a 5 on 3, the blues scored on that penalty to go up 3-2. mitchell was also a -3 in the game, out of position on many the blackhawks goals. O'brien was also a -3 in the game. in the second period he had a great chance to put the canucks up 3 to nothing but he blew it. he is one tough cookie and he is good to have on the ice as a defender with the sedins because he can stand up for them, but hes far too much of a defensive liability to be playing 20 minutes a game in the second round of the playoffs. o'brien is the weakest link on the canucks defense and at times this season teams have been able to exploit him. unfrotunately we cant send him down to the minors, now that sami salo is injured. canucks went up 2-0 with salo in the lineup. he has already scored three goals in this series. it will be a big loss to the canucks to have him out of the lineup (plus i think someone has him in our hockey pool... is it you hosh?)

if the canucks had only lost 4-3, and had weren't blown out of the water in the second and third period, the canucks might be able to say "hey, we've one eight in a row, we're doing things right and we just got unlucky tonight." but the canucks looked horrible and they recieved a stomping like none other from the blackhawks last night. canucks fans like me were so optimistic, that i was even thinking about luongo getting a conn smythe after his brilliant save. this blowout loss to the blackwhores should bring all canucks fans back to reality. we have a lot of parts of our game that need to be improved if we are going to go far in the playoffs. if we do beat chicago, we will not be able to do so with ease because they are a good team that we split the series with in the regular season. canucks need to wake up and start playing some better hockey because there are a lot of weak points in their game right now... and not just from last night. even though we have been winning, we have been getting sloppy in the defensive zone. the offense including the sedin line and sundins line need to start doing better backchecking. we're going to need more from every defenseman now that sami salo is injured. and our 4th line of rypien, johnson and hordichuk have to start learning how to bury a chance every once in a while, because they have missed some very clutch opportunities to score. luongo needs to get better, and has to realize that he will need to win the team at least two games by standing on his head this serries if the canucks stand any chance of winning.

i hope the canucks go into chicago and play some shutdown hockey, jock lemaire style. limit the hawks to the outside, and let luongo make all the saves. as long as our powerplay stays at 25%, we'll be able to win the game. i dont mind winning 2-1 or 1-0 if i have to

-hark