Thursday night at the United Center wasn’t 2009 or 2010 or 2011. Sure, Patrick Sharp was on the top line for the Blackhawks with Patrick Kane, but there was no Jonathan Toews, who will miss the next few games with an upper-body injury.
The Sedin brothers, Daniel and Henrik, were present in Canucks sweaters, along with Alexander Edler. Former Hawk Dave Bolland once referred to the Sedin brothers as the “Sedin sisters” and said they probably slept in bunk beds, comments he later took back.
Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith were present, too, for the Hawks’ 5-2 loss.
Seabrook even assisted on the Hawks’ first goal, with 11:58 remaining in the first, when his shot deflected off Nick Schmaltz. That was after Edler scored the first of his two goals to put the Canucks up 1 minute, 1 second earlier. Henrik Sedin had the secondary assist and scored the Canucks’ second goal with 2:18 left in the first.
But the playoff battles that took place during those three seasons, and the bad blood and two Hawks victories that resulted, were but a distant memory Thursday when the last-place teams met.
The Canucks entered on a seven-game losing streak and with the second-worst record in the league. The Hawks had dropped four in a row and had the seventh-worst record.
The teams were battling for position in this summer’s draft – the Canucks had a 12.5 percent chance at landing the No 1 pick and the Hawks a 7.6 percent chance, according to tankathon.com – rather than the right to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Some of the most competitive series we have been a part of, that’s for sure,” Sharp said. “There was some bad blood there, some hatred. As time’s gone on, maybe a little more respect has been shown. But two good teams at the time.
“You look up and down the lineup and there are new faces all through it. This team you could say that, too. I’m not sure that rivalry is as strong as it has been, but they still have some good players over there.”
Toews, though, was one player who wasn’t there Thursday thanks to an injury Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said he suffered during Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Avalanche.
Toews was absent from the Hawks’ morning skate and will be re-evaluated next week, according to Quenneville.
Toews had an assist and played 20 minutes, 32 seconds during Tuesday’s loss, a team-high for forwards. He played late during the third period and did not appear to leave the game with an injury. He has four goals and eight assists in his last 10 games, and 20 goals and 32 assists in 74 games this season.
Thursday’s game even featured some fisticuffs when Andreas Martinsen and Derrick Pouliot exchanged blows during the second period.
But the Canucks delivered the ones that counted most, scoring twice during the period to take a 4-1 lead and force Hawks starting goalie Jean-Francois Berube to the bench in favor of Anton Forsberg. It was the 10th time this season the Hawks have pulled a starting goalie.
Corey Crawford and Berube, who has given up 19 goals in this last four starts, each have been benched twice, while Forsberg has taken a seat six times.
The Hawks fell to 0-23-5 when allowing at least four goals this season.
“We had some great runs with these guys, intense series and real close matchups as well,” Quenneville said. “Certainly a different game. ... The excitement of playing in this building in meaningful games is great. It’s a little different but we’ve been fortunate here for a while.”

Leafs cool off hot Predators
Auston Matthews and William Nylander scored goals 98 seconds apart late in the second period Thursday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs handed the Nashville Predators their first regulation loss since February 17 with a 5-2 decision at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
James van Riemsdyk added his eighth goal in five games for Toronto, which got 23 saves from goalie Frederik Andersen while strafing Vezina Trophy favorite Pekka Rinne. In losing for the first time since mid-February, Rinne made 23 saves.
Toronto came out with the jump, earning an early power play and capitalizing with a weird goal at 4:03. Trying to make a centering pass after gathering in the rebound of Mitch Marner’s shot, van Riemsdyk instead scored his 34th goal when the puck hit Roman Josi’s skate and went through Rinne’s pads.
The Maple Leafs put the game away with two goals in the first 3:39 of the third period. Marner scored his 20th of the season on the power play just nine seconds into the period, while Jake Gardiner added his fifth exactly 3-1/2 minutes later. The Predators had scored a point in 15 straight games.