VANCOUVER, BC – Thursday night the Vancouver Canucks will meet the Los Angeles Kings in what will be the Kings’ first playoff run in eight years. Vancouver has an ideal first round opponent in the Kings, if for nothing other reason than the two teams share the same time zone and minimal travel time. Considering the oft-repeated mantra of “anyone but Detroit” heard among the Western Conference teams leading up to the first round matchups, the Canucks benefited from Detroit’s late surge and Colorado’s ability to extinguish what dim light was left of the Calgary Flames.
This first round is uncomplicated to analyze but a tricky one to call. The Canucks took the regular season matchup with the Kings 3-1-0, but a 8-3 loss to the Kings on April 1st drove a stake into that otherwise respectable record. It was a severely notable loss due mainly to Roberto Luongo’s worst post-Olympic performance, but also because when Vancouver plays LA, the top lines tend to mysteriously falter while the team relies on goals by players such as Kyle Wellwood, who scored two of Vancouver’s three that night, to soften the blow.
The Canucks arguably have an edge in goal especially with Roberto Luongo’s fierce hatred of failure and tendency to improve vastly when the pressure is on. Much discussion centers on his recent slump, but Luongo has rarely let his team down when it comes down to the wire (remember the Olympic gold medal game?).
The Sedins are at the top of their game and are finally being given the respect they deserve due to Henrik’s glamorous Art Ross trophy performance this season. It is possible that he has snatched the trophy from Alexander Ovechkin’s grasp, and the twins have a consistent linemate in Alex Burrows. Along with Ryan Kesler’s stunningly consistent performance this season, Samuelsson’s recent cup win with Detroit, and Demitra’s performance for Slovakia at the Olympics, there isn’t too much for Canucks fans to be concerned about offensively.
The blueline, however, is where the Canucks are faltering. Willie Mitchell, the Canucks’ best stay at home defenseman, is almost certain to miss the playoffs completely and are rumored to not have much of a career ahead of him following his concussion on January 16th. He has been listed as “day-to-day” for nearly three months. Sami Salo, an enormous playoff asset on the blueline with his thunderous slapshot, is perpetually injure and has just been cleared to play in Thursday’s opener. Also questionable are recently injured defensemen Shane O’Brien and Aaron Rome. As it stands, O’Brien will play Thursday while Rome remains day-to-day. Defensive problems are exacerbated by Kevin Bieksa’s inconsistency since coming back from his own injury, and by penalty killer Ryan Johnson’s broken foot, which will see the shot-blocking martyr out for the next 4-5 weeks. The Canucks have been calling up the occasional player from the Manitoba Moose (also riddled with injuries who are embarking on their own playoff efforts) without much effect. Christian Ehrhoff has been the Canucks’ most valuable defensemen this season, but even he just returned from injury. So, how do the Kings compare? Well, despite the fact that some may still be questioning how L.A. managed to make their first playoffs in eight years, are in a particularly competitive Western Conference this year (that even more extraordinarily saw the Phoenix Coyotes making the playoffs cut and seeing Arizonian’s filling the seats of the Jobing.com arena), this young, fast team has been good. Solid offensive players include Jarret Stoll and Ryan Smyth. Anze Kopitar may find a way to solve the Sedins, no matter how statistically unlikely it may be. He will need some help in containing the dynamic duo.
L.A. has the edge on the blueline with Drew Doughty, who was brilliant in the Olympics, along with shot-blockers Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi and Sean O’Donnell. Jack Johnson joins the mix to round out a solid defense for the Kings. But when guys like the Sedins, Kyle Wellwood, Mikael Samuelsson and the like are bringing out the finesse plays on the offence, this group of young Kings defensemen had better be intelligently matched in part due to Kings’ coach Terry Murray who is a solid tactician on defense.
Los Angeles’ goaltending is not as strong as they were in the beginning of the season. Jonathon Quick may have represented his country at the Olympics, but he didn’t play a major role, and hasn’t won a game since March 22nd, and does not historically have the kind of great-under-pressure flair that Luongo possesses. Jonathon Bernier solved the Canucks’ top scorers in their most recent meeting with Vancouver, but that was an anomaly that is unlikely to be replayed considering Bernier will spend the majority of his time on the bench unless the Kings go down early in the series.
The top two Canucks players to watch out for are Henrik Sedin (who inevitably carries his talented linemates Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows along for the ride); along with the passionate second line center and US Olympic star Ryan Kessler. Considering his season stats against L.A. and his impressive playoff efforts last year, the underrated sleeper pick Kyle Wellwood shouldn’t be overlooked. For the Kings, the stars will most likely be Jarret Stoll, Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth.
Assuming Vancouver’s defense will be effective in staving off L.A.’s dangerous top two lines while Luongo shakes off his slump; our prediction is the Canucks in six.
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