CHICAGO, Ill – We can guess that the path to the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks must go through Canada as the team will travel approximately 600 miles west to Vancouver after eliminating the Flames in Calgary in round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Canucks are the only remaining Canadian team left in the playoffs as Montreal was also eliminated in the opening round.
Vancouver got to this point by sweeping the St. Louis Blues on April 21. That will be well over a week between games for the team. As for the affects, we won’t know until after the game starts. But what we do know is as the days went by; Canucks practices became a little chippy as the players got tired of looking at each other instead of an actual opponent.
As for the ‘Hawks, they have proven that as series gets longer, they can adjust to the play of the team. Credit can be given to Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville and his staff as the trends that were set early in the series were broken. An example of this was winning the last game as the visiting team which hasn’t happened throughout the series with Calgary.
In the regular season match-up both teams split the series with each winning two games, one at home and one away. But the last game on March 29 in Chicago had all the intensity of a playoff game. The Canucks won that game by a score of 4-0 but more glaring was the 98 penalty minutes called in the game with all but eight of those minutes being called in the third period alone. If you thought that the match-up with a bigger, more physical Calgary team was tough, the Blackhawks will now face a team that is very identical to themselves except in one department, speed. Chicago will need to use this to their advantage and the rest of the pieces should fall into place.
As in past, way past, playoff history between this two clubs, we have to start back in 1982 in the third round as the Canucks won in five games on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals only to be swept out by the New York Islanders. The only other time that these two teams met was in the 1995 Western Conference semifinals as the Blackhawks swept with three of those games ending in overtime. Chicago eventually lost in a tough conference final series against Detroit.
As for the match-up between the two teams Quenneville has the experience in post season coaching in 93 games so far with a record just under .500 with 46 total wins. As for the Canucks Alain Vigneault he has 26 games coached going 13-13. So we give the tab to Chicago based on experience.
From a goaltending standpoint, Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin has four years more experience than Roberto Luongo. But Luongo wants something that Khabibulin already has, a Stanley Cup ring. Luongo, throughout his career, has never had a great defense in front of him as his shots against average per night are higher than the league norm. As for Khabibulin he has been blessed this season with great defensemen that take the initial shot or two before it even reaches him. Khabibulin’s leadership in front and around the net gives him the advantage.
Offensively it is youth versus experience and speed against size. Chicago is pretty deep at forward and their speed slowly chopped away at the defense in the Calgary series. The Blackhawks night after night do not have to depend on the top guys to score every night. Every player contributes in many ways. Chicago can dig deep with a player like Dustin Byfuglien who is listed as a right winger but can transition well a defensive mode as needed since he played defense earlier in his career. Byfuglien was instrumental in the Calgary series a he was all over and causing traffic in front of the net to allow the play to set up for a shot on goal. As for the Canucks, what can’t you say about the Sedin twins of Henrik and Daniel? Teams also have to look out for left winger Alexandre Burrows who has poured it on in the playoffs.
From the blue line the Blackhawks tandem of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. They both averaged close to 25 minutes on the ice and except for one game against Calgary, kept Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen in check. One good thing that the layoff between series for Vancouver was that it helped the team heal up. Sami Salo returned and made an immediate impact in the first series with a goal and three assists in the three games that he played. You look up and down the defensive corps of the Canucks and they all look like uniform soldiers ready for battle with the same large size with the ability to break out at anytime. You line them up side to side you have to give the advantage to the Canucks defensively but if the Blackhawks are able to sustain using their speed look for them to get stronger as the series goes longer as it happened with Calgary.
Special teams are fairly even as the Blackhawks have a power play efficiency of 29.2% in the playoffs but the Canucks are up to the task on the penalty kill knocking off at 95.8% and the reverse is true as Vancouver’s power play is at 22.2% to Chicago’s 88.9% penalty kill. Due to the other team’s power play success both teams need to stay at even strength to be effective. Special teams are where Vancouver actually has a slight advantage over the Blackhawks.
With the two teams as close as they are it is going to be a long, hard, fought battle. The Canucks have a slight advantage since they have the home ice advantage in the series, but the momentum is currently with the Blackhawks as they played a few days ago. The key will be how much the long layoff actually hurt the Canucks and if they have their legs under them. Game One on Thursday night will be a telling tale on how the series will go. A first game win for the Blackhawks will be huge if they can take advantage early.
Contact matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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