The Blackhawks face their second straight win-or-go-home game tonight in Vancouver against the Canucks, trailing their first-round playoff series three games to one.
The numbers are not promising for the Hawks. Since 1939 in the NHL playoffs, 162 series have resulted in a team leading three games to none.
Of those, 104 resulted in a four-game sweep (which the Blackhawks avoided on Tuesday night).
44 series ended with a four games to one victory (which the Blackhawks hope to avoid giving to the Canucks tonight).
Eight series wound up four games to two, three others four games to three, and only three times in NHL history in the last 72 years, has a team down three games to none come back and won the series.
Can they win again? Getting Dave Bolland back for Game 4 proved critical, as Bolland did things that the other Hawks centers had not been able to do in stopping Vancouver over the first three games. Also, it was clear that Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo suffered some kind of back trouble near the end of the first period on Tuesday and wasn't his normal self in the Hawks' big second period.
We'll see if Luongo is ready to go tonight or if backup Cory Schneider gets the call. The game begins at 9 p.m. CDT and will be televised on CSN Chicago, with national coverage on Versus.