It’s been a bit of a struggle for Dustin Byfuglien at times this season, as he searches for just what exactly his role is on this team stacked with superstars and Olympians. On Wednesday night, he looked right at home in front of Roberto Luongo’s net banging bodies and scoring goals as he sparked the Hawks to a 5-2 win in front of a packed house at GM Place in Vancouver.
Big Buff was the story all night, as he recorded his first playoff hat trick and added 6 hits to help Chicago take a key 2-1 lead over the Canucks on the road. Byfuglien’s first goal of the night was a sign of things to come the rest of the game as he planted his massive frame in front of Luongo and flipped a backhand in from the slot. On the powerplay again in the 2nd, he wreaked havoc in the crease yet again, finding another rebound behind the play and lifting it into the net before serenading the hostile crowd. His 3rd goal for the hat trick came with a bit of controversy, as the Canucks argued that he interfered with Luongo while driving the net, but the refs ruled it was a clean goal, giving the big guy his first career trick.
Kris Versteeg started this game right where he left off on Monday. After he scored the game winner in the closing minutes of Game 2, Versteeg pounced on a loose puck behind Luey and stuffed it home to open the scoring. Marian Hossa scored just his 2nd goal of the playoffs early in the 3rd on a good power move from behind the net, shielding the puck from the Canuck defense and reaching around Luongo to put Chicago up 4-2 at the time.
For Vancouver, they’ll have to dramatically change their approach in Game 4 or risk falling behind a Chicago team that is quickly finding their game in these playoffs. The Hawks crashed the net all night, and the physical play seemed to throw the Canucks off their game completely. Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows scored for Vancouver, but Antti Niemi was great in net, stopping 31 shots on the night. The biggest key to the game for the Blackhawks was the great presence they had in front of Luongo, who was run over multiple times and was banged and bumped at every possible turn.
