I know not everyone uses Twitter, but there might be a reason for you to do so. Beyond Twitter being where all the cool cats are these days, I mean. What do I mean? Well…

During the Los Angeles Kings series, I suggested on Twitter that folks wanting to talk about the series could use a series hashtag, an idea that came to me during the Olympics and World Juniors, when folks were coming up with ‘official’ hashtags for each game. Anyway, I suggested #Regicide and it caught on.

Anyway! That’s not important. What’s important is that the Canucks are in the second round and we’re in dire need of a series hashtag. So dire, in fact, that the Vancouver Canucks are offering up a stick that’s been signed by the team for the person who is successful at coming up with one! How do you get in on that? Well, easy,

- Come up with a hashtag. It should be something witty, humorous or smack talking. Poke fun at the Blackhawks, Chicago or their players. Just remember to keep it short, so it’s easy to use! Examples: #BlackhawksDown (c/o @7thCanuck0, #DaggerChelsea (c/o @taryneliza_beth) and #ToKillAHawkingBird (c/o @nucksandpucks.) Don’t like ‘em? Come up with your own!

- Send it to @VanCanucks. Since the Canucks are the ones who are gonna be deciding the winner, that’s who you should send your hashtag ideas to! @VanCanucks will pick the top 5 and you guys can then vote on the best one at Canucks.com.

For more info, you can also check out Brian Wawryshyn’s post over at Canucks Corner

Sorry for no post after Friday’s game. There wasn’t really a whole lot to hash over on that game: everyone was brilliant and the Kings played like hot garbage. I hate blatant cheerleading (just subtle, restrained cheerleading, durrr) so no point in doing a wrap-up.

I gotta write about tonight’s game, though. First off, I’d just like to get something out of the way really quickly. Some of you may have noticed I participated in a roundtable over at Canucks Corner. In that roundtable, I made a couple of predictions. Regarding the Canucks, this is what I wrote on April 14th (scroll down to 8:47 or so):

Man, I love/hate the playoffs.

I love the playoffs because nothing, absolutely nothing, matches the excitement of watching live sports. The only thing that I think comes close is the atmosphere that comes with the World Cup. World Series? Yawn. Super Bowl? No thanks. I’ll stick with the Stanley Cup playoffs, thanks.

Not sure what brought this all about, but this is a rather disgusting display of team pride being exhibited, according to the uploader, by Kings fans post Game 3. I hate seeing stuff like this happen at sporting events.

I know emotions are running high for this series and that some fans are upset with how things are planning out. Heck, I was right there last night. Just remember there’s never a good reason to beat someone up over a hockey game. Game 5 is on Friday, hopefully there won’t be a repeat at GM Place of that Ducks/Canucks fan incident.

There are three things which the Canucks should be looking at, all of which are of varying importance and had an impact on tonight’s loss.

The first, clearly, obviously, is the penalty kill. Allowing three straight goals on essentially the same plays is problematic, regardless of this the preseason, regular season or postseason. More worrying is the fact that the bulk of these goals came with the Canucks top penalty killing unit out on the ice. People can start pining for Ryan Johnson all they want, but the problems transcend any sort of contribution he could be making on the penalty kill. Kesler and Burrows are supposedly the Canucks best guys on the penalty kill and they were on the ice for 2 goals against, Burrows was on for 3.

What an ugly finish. And I’m not talking about Kopitar’s grinning mug as he scored his very first powerplay goal. Fans serenading the on-ice officials as the Canucks lost in OT tonight wasn’t exactly what I was wanting in Game 2, nor was I looking for another instance of Kevin Bieksa getting sliced up by a skate blade or the Canucks taking a bench minor.

But it all happened, unfortunately. And as nice as it would be to blame the referees for the loss, as great as it would be to point to officiating as the reason why the Canucks were ’screwed’, you can’t really pin that on anyone but the Canucks themselves.

They’re almost here. The Canucks playoffs, that is.

With only a few hours to go until puck drop, I thought I’d do a quick preview of tonight’s series. Read on if you aren’t completely sick of the analysis, prognosticating and predictions that have infested anything NHL-related!

The Canucks are meeting the LA Kings in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Since we’re going to be seeing a lot of LA, I figure I’d go and take the time to provide a primer for Canucks fans who may not be 100% up to date on the Kings. Think of this comprehensive, all-inclusive guide as your ‘cheat sheet’ to the Los Angeles Kings.

Lack of postgame updates, I know. Bad blogger, no Wordpress plugins for you!

I did want to write a Canucks blog post now, though. Last night’s game was probably the best possible way to end the regular season. The Canucks were able to put another, similar game behind them when they were mercy killed by the Flames 2 seasons ago, a game in which the Flames were looking to ensure Iginla hit the 50 goal plateau. It stung back then, especially since the Canucks were on the outside looking in, so it was great that this team was able to exorcise that.