Just a day after being embarrassed in Calgary 7-2, the Blackhawks scored seven goals of their own, four of them in the second period, as they blew out the Vancouver Canucks 7-1 Saturday night and forced Vancouver to pull goalie Roberto Luongo, who was having a terrible game.
Jonathan Toews and Troy Brouwer scored goals within a 2:26 span early in the second, and then Brent Seabrook and Patrick Sharp contributed tallies within 1:47 of each other to break open what had been a tightly played scoreless game. Luongo was taken out of the game after Sharp's goal, but replacement Cory Schneider wasn't much better, allowing three goals, including two by Fernando Pisani.
In all, the Blackhawks peppered Vancouver netminders with 41 shots; the Canucks had just 28 on Corey Crawford, who played his best game of the year. Between this and Marty Turco's recent struggles, Crawford may get more playing time. It's somewhat reminiscent of the way Antti Niemi took over for Cristobal Huet last season.
The Blackhawks improved to 2-1 on the "circus trip" and now have three well-deserved days off before they face the Sharks in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
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