Canucks’ 2011 Game 5 collapse to Blackhawks triggered all kinds of doubt

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa (3) controls the puck during the second period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series against Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday, April 19, 2011, in Chicago. Watching for the Blackhawks are Marian Hossa (81) and Ben Smith. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

VANCOUVER – The greatest moment of Kevin Bieksa’s career was when he scored on an overtime slapshot – assisted by a stanchion at Rogers Arena – to eliminate the San Jose Sharks and send the Vancouver Canucks to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

But his loudest moment was a month earlier when the Canucks were buckling in their first-round playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Shaken from their reverie by a sloppy 7-2 loss in Chicago in Game 4, which resuscitated the Blackhawks after the defending champions lost the series’ first three games to Vancouver, the Canucks were determined to go home and end the uprising.

Instead, in Game 5 on April 21, 2011, the Canucks played one of their worst games of the best season in franchise history.

“We kind of had that feeling, just keep the score close here and let’s win one more game,” former Canucks winger Jannik Hansen recalled. “But they blew us out. We didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Marian Hossa scored on a Chicago power play just 5:54 into Game 5, and by the 13-minute mark the Canucks were down 3-0. At that point, they’d been outscored 9-1 by the Blackhawks in less than three periods.

[relatedlinks]

Bieksa had seen enough.

“I can only remember two or three times in my career when I came back into the room and lost it on my teammates,” Bieksa told Sportsnet. “Contrary to what people think, I never wanted to yell at teammates. Seriously. I was always positive reinforcement. But in between the first and second period of Game 5 – they were up 3-0 – I knew our momentum was gone and this opportunity was slipping away. So I came into the room and as everyone was sitting down, I just started two-handing my stick into the carpet until I broke it in a million pieces. Then I started yelling at everyone and told them to get their heads out of their asses or this series would be in Game 7 before we know it.

“I probably scared a couple of people because I was a little bit of a lunatic back then and I had that look in my eyes. But I think everybody could feel it along with me — we could feel the series slipping out of our hands and we couldn’t let that happen.”

Bieksa’s tirade did not have the desired effect.

Hossa scored on a breakaway to make it 4-0 1:26 into the second period, chasing Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo for the second straight game. Vancouver goaltending would become an even bigger talking point in Game 6 when the Canucks started Cory Schneider back at the United Centre.

Sportsnet is replaying the Canucks-Blackhawks series, which filled two of the most memorable weeks in Vancouver’s 50 years in the National Hockey League, and the 5-0 beatdown in Game 5 is being shown Sunday night.

[snippet id=4888368]

“I think it started in Game 4 when we got beaten badly,” Canucks star Daniel Sedin said. “All of a sudden, you go into Game 5 and you’re not as sure of yourself. Their top guys were starting to produce, and they were a good team. Game 5 was a poor performance by our team. So we have two poor performances, they’re back in the series and they go back to Chicago. And yeah, at that time you’re starting to think a little bit for sure.

“That’s the interesting part about playoffs; it takes such a small thing for a series to turn around. I think it’s all mental. We want to finish them off in Game 4 and they’ve got nothing to lose. They probably go into the game more relaxed. All of a sudden, they win (Game 5), too.”

Bieksa backed up his tough talk by fighting Troy Brouwer in Game 5. The Canucks defenceman had pummelled Blackhawks’ Viktor Stalberg near the end of Game 4.

The 2010-11 Canucks didn’t lose three straight games outright after Nov. 21 that season. They went more than three months without losing consecutive games in regulation, and won their division by 23 points and the Presidents’ Trophy by 10.

“We didn’t go through a whole lot of adversity that year,” Bieksa agreed. “We were such a dominant team. But it’s Chicago. It started creeping back in our head: Are we going to be able to beat them? Are we ever going to beat them? The way they won Games 4 and 5 was very alarming.

“I wouldn’t have lost my mind if I didn’t think it was alarming. Most of the time, there’s enough negativity around us that the positive message and the encouraging message was the right way to go. But we just knew this was going downhill.”

[snippet id=3816507]

Outscored 12-2 over two games when they had the chance to quickly eliminate the Blackhawks, who had bounced Vancouver from the playoffs the previous two seasons, the Canucks looked like dead men walking as they trudged back to Chicago for Game 6.

“It very quickly shifted to 3-3,” defenceman Dan Hamhuis told Sportsnet. “It felt like a blink. All of a sudden all the pressure was on us.”

“They were pushing the pace and we were just hanging on,” Vancouver defenceman Sami Salo remembered. “I’d be wrong if I said there was no doubt in our minds.”

There was doubt in everyone’s mind.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.