Playoff Box Score: Blackhawks Force Game 5

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 20, 2011 3:30PM

We were all set to write the Blackhawks' postmortem. We still might have to come Friday. But for one night, the Blackhawks backed up the talk in their locker room that Vancouver could be beaten, that they weren't playing to the level they're capable of playing, that they could make a series of this. Bryan Bickell set the tone for last night's 7-2 thrashing of the Canucks, beating Roberto Luongo 1:43 into the game. The Blackhawks got the puck past Luongo throughout the second period with goals from Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith, Michael Frolik and the returning Dave Bolland, who missed the previous 17 games recovering from a concussion. Patrick Sharp added two third-period goals to cap the offensive assault. Most important for the Hawks, they finally hit the Canucks back. Vancouver responded by drawing a series of major penalties, losing their composure for the first time all series.

The series returns to Vancouver tomorrow night for Game 5.