Under pressure? Blackhawks aren't feeling any

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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Posted: 10:07 p.m.

By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.com

The word pressure came up a lot in the Blackhawks locker room following their Game 4 victory over Vancouver on Tuesday night. But not in the way youd probably think. The Blackhawks, you see, may be talking about it, but theyre not feeling it at all.

The defending Cup champions, the No. 8 seed that entered Game 4 down 3-love to the Canucks obviously wasnt feeling the heat as evidence by their 7-2 victory. As Patrick Sharp said, were playing loose, were playing to have fun out there and playing for each other. We're standing up for each other, playing the game the right way.

Basically, they were playing like there was no tomorrow because there nearly wasnt. They were getting scoring from everyone. They were hitting more than they had in previous games, a response to the series intensifying and also to the absence of Brent Seabrook, felled by a Raffi Torres' shoulder-to-head hit in Game 3.

And thats the way the Blackhawks have to play the rest of this series if they want to pull off a rarely-done comeback from their 3-0 deficit. All hands on deck, leave it all on the ice, rinse and repeat.

Its such a hard thing to come back from 3-0 down. We just have to go out and play some hockey and get back to our roots and the way our team can play," Brian Campbell said.

No, the Blackhawks are not the ones with all the pressure on them in this series. They backed into the playoffs thanks to Minnesota. Theyve been inconsistent all year. This year, at least, nobodys going to be stunned if they dont win.

Contrast that with the Canucks, who have the win-a-Cup-for-Canada weight on their shoulders. Theyve been demanded to come through with that a few seasons now, but this year its magnified because they already took that Presidents Cupfull-time symbol of the NHLs highest point total, part-time kiss of death. The pressure is immense, and the Canucks were already fielding the uh-oh questions after just one loss.

It was all (about) attitude. That's the game, coach Joel Quenneville said. You're down in a spot you can measure your team. Are they going to go away quietly or compete for one another? They battled for each other. It was a good first step.

First step, yes, and lets reiterate that is all it is right now. The Blackhawks are still down 3-1 and will once again face the hostile crowd at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. As Patrick Kane said, the Canucks are probably the ones laughing right now, and they could still have the last one soon.

The Canucks are still the best in the West, theyre still firmly in control of this series and still have the advantage with that ice and that crowd in Game 5.

The Blackhawks need to play Game 5 the way they played Game 4: free-wheeling, all-out hockey. It won them one game. If they play it again and it wins again, then its a series again.

And then the pressures really on No. 1.

It's just fun to play playoff hockey, Campbell said. It's fun to try to win games on the road and hopefully we can have some luck at that. You get huge rewards if you win a game on the road. That's what we're going after.

Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.

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