My 3 reasons.

After watching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish get blown up by UCLA this morning, and now flipping between the Clippers/Hawks game and the Leafs/Habs game, I was somehow inspired to come out with "my 3 reasons." This edition of "my 3 reasons" will (from a Canucks fan's perspective) explore the 3 reasons why the 'Nucks will/will not win tonight's Hockey Night in Canada match against the Chicago Blackhawks.

My 3 reason the Canucks will win tonight:

1) Ryan Kesler is heating up. The Livonia, MI native came away with 1 goal and 2 assists in the win against Carolina, 2 goals in the overtime loss to Minnesota, a +1 in the loss to Nashville. His 5 points in the last 2 games have been wicked huge, including the goal with just ticks remaining to send the Minnie game to overtime with the goalie pulled. This season he has 1 point in 2 games against the Hawks (who are totally getting killed by the Clippers right now), and he is just hot enough (#3 on the team in points) to make you feel like he's ready to bust out tonight. 

2) Pavel Demitra is back and better than ever. After recovering from groin injury, Po Po had two amazing assists in the win against the Canes. He's a Hawk killer too. The Dubnica, Slovakia native has played 45 career games against the Hawks, and has amassed 51 points in that time (24 goals and 27 assists). Is he ready to be the Jon killer?

3) We have been losing so much lately, that one win just isn't going to be all we get. Honestly, Van-ca-tesh dropped 8 straight and 10 out of 11 before their win against the most hated team in the Santa Barbara Roller Hockey League, and a lowly one goal victory against Carolina isn't going to be all that turns this squad around. A win against a fairly solid Central Division team would do just fine, eh?

Just to be fair, here are my 3 reasons the Canucks will lose tonight: 

1) Roberto Luongo just hasn't found his groove since getting back from his injury. I was going to point out that the last time Chicago beat the 'Nucks, we had Sanny in goal, but since Lu has been back the Canucks captain hasn't really looked much better than Manitoba's new #1 (which is Sanny, in case you didn't know). Here is the amount of goals our captain has given up since returning from the DL, in order: 3, 4, 5, 2, 6, and 4. That's 24 goals in his last 6 games! That clearly plays into the hands of the Hawks. 

2) Not only have the Hawks dominated Vancouver this year, but they are rolling at 11-0-0 against all Canadian squads this season. Along the way, the Wrigley's have outscored Canadian franchises 48-17. Talk about American dominance. 

3) Let's face it: the Hawks have dominated Vancouver this season, and that may be the most important factor on this side of "my 3 reasons." Way back on October 19, the Hawks blew the Orca away with a 4-2 win that was worse than it sounds, only to welcome the Blue & Green back to the United Center for another 3-1 drubbing. The more recent game was in the midst of a crazy Chicago winning streak, and currently having four wins in their last five games bodes well for the Native Americans. 

So, thank you to NHL Network for airing the 80th all time meeting between these two squads. The Canucks hold the edge in the franchise battle with the 40-24-15 record, and if you read my 3 reasons like I do, we're looking at win #41 tonight. 

See you for the sake bomb.