An Epic Comeback?

Or an epic collapse?  The Canucks stunk up their arena tonight, losing to the Hawks by a 5-0 score.  While not taking anything away from the Hawks... who played their asses off tonight, mainly coz they HAD to... I'm leaning towards collapse, rather than comeback.  I have to admit this IS one helluva turnaround for the Blackhawks, especially if it continues.  

Back to the collapse.  The Canucks looked like the Keystone Cops on skates tonight; they were SO bad it was almost funny.  Luongo's implosion continues, what with him giving up four goals on 12 shots before he was pulled early in the second after Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the night on a beautiful breakaway.  The Canucks power play was non-existent, going 0 for 4 while their penalty killing was just as listless, allowing the Hawks to go 2 for 5.  The Hawks came out like a house afire tonight, scoring early and often.  It was 3-0 by the end of the first period and things only got worse for the hapless Canucks.  It must suck to be embarrassed that badly in your own barn... the Vancouver fans booed their team off the ice at the end of the game (those that were left)... but the Canucks deserved it.  This has the makings of one of the worst collapses I've ever seen, if not THE worst.

Game Six is in Chicago Sunday evening and I'm through with making predictions.  That said, Big Mo is most definitely with the Hawks now.  Sunday will be MOST interesting!

Update, 1145 hrs:  There's lotsa hand-wringing over the Canucks across the length and breadth of The Great White Up.  Here's Damien Cox writing in the Toronto Star:

Surely, it's not possible.

Not two years in a row. Not to these Vancouver Canucks.

But my oh my, if the Canucks choke away this entire Western Conference series to the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, it would be a collapse that would dwarf last year’s Eastern Conference series in which the Boston Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead and lost to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Why? Well, because Vancouver was the NHL’s best team during the regular season, and because in the first 2 1/2 games of this series they seemed to make a convincing statement that their historic problems with the Hawks were all a thing of the past.

I watched a video of two Vancouver hockey columnists talking about last night... and the Canucks, in general... wherein they described the situation as analogous to a Friday night horror movie, with the Hawks in charge.  Or, as Joe Biden might say, "This is a big fuckin' deal!"