The Blackhawks were accused by Canucks coach Alain Vigneault of running up the score in the Nov. 20 7-1 Blackhawks victory over them in Vancouver.
Coach Joel Quenneville said that simply wasn’t true — that the Blackhawks were just playing their game. But a good rivalry is developing between these two teams — it started during last year’s playoff series.
Friday night, Vancouver’s fine goaltender Roberto Luongo made 32 saves. Marty Turco, in net for the Blackhawks, faced only 18 shots and stopped 15 of them. Many days, that would be enough to win, but the Canucks, who are third in the NHL at penalty-killing, stopped seven shots on four Hawks power plays, and scored a power play goal themselves (they lead the league in power play chances).
It was the first time the Blackhawks had been shut out in the regular season since the Anaheim Ducks did it on Nov. 27, 2009. The Hawks will host the Calgary Flames at the United Center on Sunday night.