One of the worst things you can do when you have an opponent on the ropes is give them a reason to push on; a reason to keep fighting and, perhaps, a reason to snatch victory from your waiting grasp. That’s exactly what the Vancouver Canucks gave to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night, dropping a 7-2 Game 4 decision in a situation in which they could have punched their ticket to the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

History plays a big role in this series. Roberto Luongo has a history of poor performances in big games. Some weren’t wondering “if” Luongo would collapse against the Hawks, they were wondering “when” he would collapse. He did and in a big way on Tuesday, giving up weak goals and not ever looking comfortable for an extended amount of time, even being pulled from the game. Unfortunately, backup Cory Schnieder did not look much better as the Canucks looked overpowered all night long.

Secondly, the Blackhawks have eliminated the Canucks from the postseason in each of the last two seasons, and this one loss – even though it’s only one loss – casts a huge shadow of doubt over whether the Canucks truly have this series “in the bag.” Overcoming a three-game deficit has only happened three times in NHL history, but if you ask any of the players, they’ll tell you that the only thing that matters is the next game, not the last one.

So the Hawks have second life and we’ll get a Game 5; both bad news for the Canucks. Granted, coming back from three games down is incredibly hard to do, but not impossible. It happened as recently as last year when the Bruins went up 3-0 on the Flyers. And we’re also talking about the defending Stanley Cup Champions here, regardless of how different the team looks. There’s a motivation among many of them to live up to the reputation, and for the Canucks to overcome that desire, they better wrap up this series in five.