Hordichuk, better known for using his hands against opposing fighters than for scoring goals, was sent in alone by Jannik Hansen on a 2-on-1, and made a quick deke in tight before lifting a backhand in off the blocker of Oilers goaltender Jeff Deslaurier.

The Blackhawks had heard so much about the importance of a fast start before Game 4 of their Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal series with the Vancouver Canucks that they could be excused for wanting to get things under way as soon as Bulls rookie standout Derrick Rose handled puck-drop duties at the rollicking United Center.

But they trailed 1-0 after two periods.

The Hawks were busy but scoreless during a defense-dominated, 0-0 first period, then spotted the Canucks the first goal of the game when Rick Rypien set up Darcy Hordichuk for his first score of the series at 8:32 of the second.

The play came after the Hawks’ most dangerous forays of the night. Andrew Ladd, Jonathan Toews and Matt Walker all tested Luongo from in close, but he stopped each shot.

Then Rypien collected a long rebound of a deflected slap shot and broke out the other way, sending Hordichuk in alone on Nikolai Khabibulin with a pass off a brilliant spin move.

The Hawks had a power-play opportunity a short time later when Shane O’Brien was sent off for slashing Dustin Byfuglien, and they were skating 4-on-3 after Havlat and Kevin Bieksa drew matching roughing calls for tangling in Luongo’s crease. But they couldn’t capitalize despite a 17-10 shots-on-goal advantage.

The Hawks were firing a ton of rubber at Luongo, including five shots on goal in the first four minutes, four during a power play after Bieksa went off for interference when he took Toews down just to Luongo’s left at 3:20.

But Luongo turned aside each of them.

Vancouver had just two shots on goal in the first 10 minutes, but went on the power play at 10:01 when Troy Brouwer was whistled for boarding. Khabibulin did not face a shot as the Hawks did an excellent job not only killing the penalty but creating their best opportunity when Patrick Sharp broke loose and got a shot on Luongo.

Bieksa was the instigator in an early skirmish with Ladd that set the tone for a chippy first period in which the Hawks outshot the Canucks 8-4.

Vancouver had struck first in each of the first three games, including twice in the first period of Game 3 on Tuesday night. After a second-period exchange of goals, the Canucks effectively sat on their two-goal lead and registered a 3-1 victory that gave them a 2-1 advantage in the series.

The Canucks also reclaimed home-ice advantage after squandering it by splitting the first two games in Vancouver.

“We’ve had a tendency to play from behind and it finally caught up with us,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’re better playing even or ahead.”

The Hawks were expecting a Game 3 lift from the home crowd, which hadn’t seen them play since April 25, when they took a 3-2 lead over Calgary in their first-round series, closing out the Flames two nights later. The noise was there but the energy wasn’t — Vancouver took the play to the Hawks all night while protecting Luongo with Secret Service-like diligence.

“We didn’t have much jump in our play,” Sharp acknowledged.

Quenneville was even more candid.

“I didn’t like anything about our game,” he said.

Quenneville didn’t fault the effort as much as the execution. He felt the Hawks tried to do too much fancy skating and play-making rather than send the puck and a small army of big bodies at Luongo, a strategy that produced nine goals in the two games at Vancouver.

He also expected more than 14 minutes of play from Patrick Kane, who saw his ice time reduced after he took a bad hooking penalty late in the first period that led to a Vancouver power-play goal early in the second.

The Canucks were without defensive standout Sami Salo, their third-leading playoff scorer, who missed his second straight game with a dreaded lower-body injury. Winger Pavol Demitra was a scratch as well.

You can guess where the Canucks’ Darcy Hordichuk falls out in that debate.

“You come to expect it when you play that role,” says the Canucks’ winger. “You know you’re going to get more than anyone else. It’s definitely unfair. You look at what (Calgary’s Mike) Cammalleri did (to Chicago’s Martin Havlat in the first round). Talk about a double standard. That’s a perfect example.”

Hordichuk, of course, was reacting to the controversy surrounding the six-game suspension handed out to Washington’s Donald Brashear for his head shot on the Rangers’ Blair Betts in the first round.

Cammalleri’s head shot to Havlat, meanwhile, went unpunished and the league is still deliberating over a similar incident involving Anaheim’s Corey Perry.

Brashear, like Hordichuk, is a tough guy. Cammalleri and Perry are frontlliners.

“I don’t want to accept it,” says Hordichuk. “But the reality is, every time someone like me steps on the ice, we really have to be careful. It’s so easy to say three years ago you did this or two years you did that.

“It’s just my opinion but I think a lot of guys around the league share that opinion.”

He’s starting to make faces and become more responsive when he hears our voices and he gets a little bit of smile. He’s starting to recognize things and even start to get into a sort of routine – mostly – and that’s nice to have right now.

Our dogs have responded very differently to him. Frankie, our girl, was really protective at the start and she wouldn’t even let our other dog, Chandler, near him. She had protective instinct in her and he’d be growling whenever he came near. She’s not as protective any more but she still thinks of Braden as her baby. Chandler, our boy, on the other hand, could really care less about little Braden so it’s funny how different they are. They normally get along but when Frankie’s next to Braden, Chandler can’t come too close to her because that’s her baby.

On the hockey side, everything is so exciting right now at this time of year and with just two games left and a division title up for grabs, there’s just a lot of buzz around the arena and the city. I know when I was in Nashville, we made the playoffs a couple years in a row and it’s pretty fun to be part of something like this. I think everything’s just magnified that much more when you’re in a hockey city so we’re just focusing on these last two games and try to play well as a team and keep the momentum in the playoffs.

Speaking of everything being magnified though, I’ve heard about the media intensity that happens once the post-season starts and being in Vancouver, the media’s already huge during the regular season so playoffs will definitely be big. But luckily, I don’t let anything really get to me. Everybody will have their own opinion and I can’t make everybody happy in this world but as long as you go out there and continue do to give it all in what you do, work hard every game that’s all you can do.

My favourite playoff memories would have to in Orlando when we won the Turner Cup that year. It was a special team and a special moment for me coming out of juniors because I was supposed to go back as a 20-year old and the next thing you know, I’m on a championship team. I still keep in touch with a few guys from that team and it’s all good memories so that was definitely a good time in my life. I still have the ring but I think I’ve only worn it once and it’s secured my safety deposit box.

Maybe I’ll have to pull it out for some inspiration but that’s IHL and now it’s time to get an NHL ring. So it’s time to focus and get ready for the last two games

Lisa’s mom has been in town the last couple of weeks and I think we got through the tough part. The first couple weeks are the hardest bring your child home from the hospital but my wife’s done just a tremendous job. In the first while, you have to breast-feed every three hours so there’s no sleeping through the night.

He’s sleeping three-four hours now, which is great so both Lisa and I get some sleep but there’s been an adjustment. It seems like Braden’s in more of a routine and he’s certainly enjoying his baths just before he goes to bed, so that helps.

As Braden figures out his schedule, we try to help each other out and figure things out but we’ve also got two dogs so I’ve been put on dog-watch. I’ve been trying to do the fun things with them and trying to keep them happy so they don’t feel excluded.

Frankie, our smaller dog thinks that the baby’s hers so she’s very protective and everywhere we go with the baby, she seems to be laying beside him, so every picture that we have, there’s a picture with Frankie in it.

My mom and some of the other guys’ moms came on the trip with us to LA and Anaheim and now that I’m a parent, it makes me appreciate trips like that so much more. It’s pretty neat having my mom with me on the trip. She’s from a small town and she’s never been down to LA so I think the ladies from the team that organized the trip just did a tremendous job keeping them busy and the moms all got to meet each other, which I know they enjoyed.

They have tons of stories from the trip and I’m sure some that they didn’t tell us but she was talking about how much she loved everything. From coming on the plane and coming to the games to going to the beach, they just enjoyed it so much.

This life’s about memories and those provided a lot of special memories for them. All the moms got lost one day and they were trying to find a cab, which almost made them late for the game – that was pretty funny.

I think I speak for a lot of the players, that our moms are very important in our hockey careers even though you hear more about the hockey dads. With all of the games and practices and a busy schedule there wasn’t enough time in a day, with my sister too, my mom was good enough to be a stay-at-home mom and raise us and take us to practices, make sure we had food and everything in between.

They were both pivotal so it’s nice to get to bring them on trips like that last one and let them see what all that hard work means at this level.

I’m not sure what Braden will turn out like when grows up or if he’ll be more like myself or more like Lisa but I think that I’m like both my parents. I think I get my good looks and interviewing skills from my mom – she likes to talk and she’s good at it. I take some of my dad’s personality, his wheeler and dealer characteristics, and his stubbornness but those aren’t always bad things.