Canucks beat Blackhawks in thrilling fashion

The (1) Vancouver Canucks defeated the (8) Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in overtime tonight in Game 7 of their first round playoff series. Alex Burrows scored the game-winner less than six minutes into the sudden death overtime period. This series was particularly exciting because the Canucks jumped out to a 3 games to none lead before the Blackhawks won Games 4 and 5 by five goals apiece and Game 6 in Chicago in an overtime thriller.

The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last year and had defeated the Canucks in the playoffs the last two years. It would have been easy for the Canucks to think it was deja vu when the Blackhawks forced Game 7. However, they played hard and showed a lot of grit in getting the win.

The Blackhawks were not without grit themselves as they didn't seem interested in the series at all during the first three games before ratcheting things up and nearly coming up with an incredible series comeback. The Canucks led virtually the entire game tonight as Burrows scored not even three minutes into the game. The Blackhawks netted a pressure-packed goal from captain Jonathan Toews with under two minutes left in regulation to tie it and force overtime. Making it even more remarkable was that the goal was scored shorthanded. Toews' goal was one of the more spectacular hockey plays I've seen in a while, particularly considering the pressure of the circumstances as well as his team being down a man at the time.

This game and this series had everything if you ask me. Seeing how excited the Blackhawks were to tie the game showed how much it meant to them. And then seeing the elation from the Canucks and the entire arena in Vancouver when Burrows' second goal went in was something special. The Canucks had a great regular season but needed to get the Blackhawks monkey off their backs. The Hawks showed a lot of heart in attempting to defend their title. One of the Sedin brothers on the Canucks was asked after the game if it meant more that the win came against the Blackhawks and he admitted it did and that it was big for the team. I was happy to see a player acknowledge that there was a rivalry that had been brewing and that beating a particular team meant a lot to his team. I also enjoyed seeing that a bunch of the Blackhawks players were immediately consoling goalie Corey Crawford after the game-winning goal was scored (although Crawford shouldn't be expected to shoulder a lot of blame for that goal). Those guys showed a lot of character there. Just good stuff all around in Vancouver, really enjoyed watching it go down tonight.

The Canucks take on the (5) Nashville Predators in the second round. Elsewhere in the west the (2) San Jose Sharks will take on the (3) Detroit Red Wings in second round action. In the east, the (2) Philadelphia Flyers (defending Eastern Conference Champions) defeated the (7) Buffalo Sabres tonight 5-2 in Game 7 of their series. The (1) Washington Capitals have already dispatched the (8) New York Rangers 4 games to 1. The (3) Boston Bruins and (6) Montreal Canadiens go to Game 7 tomorrow night at 5 p.m. MT on Versus as do the (4) Pittsburgh Penguins and (5) Tampa Bay Lightning at 6 p.m. MT. I imagine Versus will have some bonus coverage of the Pens and Lightning as well. However, I'd be surprised if either of those Game 7s tops the excitement that was there with the Canucks and Blackhawks tonight.