NHL Playoffs 2011: Blackhawks vs. Canucks in Winner-Take-All Game 7

One game, winner-take-all, in Vancouver with the crowd cheering on the Canadian team.

Sound familiar?

It was just a short, 16 months ago that Roberto Luongo, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews were taking the ice for Team Canada against Ryan Kesler and Patrick Kane of Team USA in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game.

Now, they do it again in another crucial game, a Game 7, the kind of winner-take-all game you love to watch during the playoffs, regardless of the teams involved.

The season is on the line for the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks tonight. 

Win, and you advance to the second round. 

Lose, and you get to face the media and clean out your lockers.

Aside from the obvious impact of Game 7, there are quite a few other story lines to consider.

Win or lose, this could have ramifications for the Canucks that go well beyond Tuesday night.

Who Will Start in Goal?

Coach Alain Vigneault is adamant that Roberto Luongo will start. But then again, he said the same thing for Game 6, and we know how that ended up.

Personally, I think Luongo should start. Game 7 will either be redemptive if he beats the 'Hawks, or it will be the final strike against his reputation as a big-game performer.

Will GM Mike Gillis' Rant Against the Officiating Help or Harm the Canucks Chances? 

I think it was the right move.

Say what you want about the conclusions Gillis was drawing, but the facts are right there on the stat sheets:

1. A decided advantage in power plays in the last four games, 22-12, in favour of the Blackhawks, including almost four minutes of five-on-three time.

2. A penalty shot that tied the game (and sent Cory Schneider to the bench with an injury) in Game 6.

3. A back-breaking goal in Game 4 that the NHL admitted afterwards should never have happened because the Blackhawks were clearly offside.

It can't get much worse for the Canucks, and at best, the rant might help get a call or two in their favour. 

After all, the 'Hawks started complaining after they were run out of the rink in the first two games when the penalties were roughly even, and after that, the officiating tilted in their favour.

Will Ryan Kesler or Jonathan Toews Actually Remember How To Score a Goal? 

On one hand, you have Kesler, a guy who scored 41 regular-season goals, and on the other hand, you have Toews, a player who led Team Canada in scoring at the Olympics and then willed his team to a Stanley Cup, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy last year. 

Both are superb two-way players who are legitimate candidates for the Selke Trophy. 

But in six playoff games, they haven't scored goals because they've been too busy checking the crap out of each other 20 minutes a game.

While I would prefer that Toews remain goal-less, Kesler needs to take a page out of Pavel Datsyuk's book and remember that he can both score and play shutdown defense. 

If either player scores in Game 7, that could be the tipping point.

Will This Be the Year that Vigneault Breaks His Playoff Streak? 

Vigneault is a perfect 5-0 as a head coach in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, he is also 0-5 in the second round. 

Canucks fans have to hope that he maintains his first-round streak before they can worry about breaking the second-round streak against Nashville next week.

If the Canucks Lose, Will Alain Vigneault Be Fired?

Despite his record in Vancouver, Vigneault has been out-coached two years in a row by Chicago's Joel Quenneville, and he isn't looking so hot this year.

If the Canucks end up capping the most dominant regular season in recent NHL history by choking on a 3-0 series lead, heads will roll.

Ironically, Vigneault is up for the Jack Adams Award for the second time during his tenure in Vancouver (he won it in 2007), but he might be out of a job by the time they announce the winner.

I said at the beginning of the year that anything less than a Western Conference Finals appearance would cost him his job, and I stick by that prediction.