Chicago On The Ropes Going Into Game 2

It may be a little premature to say that this Blackhawk team is in trouble, but they don't look like the dominant superpower that they think they are. In fact there are only two teams in the playoffs that have given up more goals than they've scored. Montreal is the obvious one, but the other is Chicago. Doesn't sound like a superpower to me. I don't think it's a stretch to call this a must win for the Hawks. Going into Vancouver, where the Canucks have been all but unbeatable, down 2-0 would be a nightmare scenario for this team.

The Canucks on the other hand have not played well when they start to get complacent. If they play like that tonight they are in trouble. There is a lot of talk about how dominant the Canucks were in game one, and I don't agree. They were outplayed by a pretty good margin throughout most of the first period. They were a little lucky to have the lead after one, let alone a two goal lead. The key to the entire game was definitely the play of Roberto Luongo. If he can play like this consistently from here on out, there may be no stopping this club. There's a long way to go however, and judging by the way Luongo has played most of the season, that's still a pretty big if.

Look for Chicago to play much more physical tonight. They had trouble getting to Luongo, I expect that to change in game two. Grabner moves up and Demitra moves down to the fourth line which I think is a good move. Demitra was virtually invisible in game one, and if he plays better tonight, Vigneault can move him up if he wants.

I was very happy with the play of the Sedins in game one. Particularly the first shift of the second period. Raymond scored a late goal to end the first and instead of sitting back and protecting that two goal lead, the Sedins and Samuelsson came out and attacked on that first shift of the second, with Henrick eventually putting it in the net. That basically finished off the Hawks who collapsed like Devin Setaguchi after somebody looks at him the wrong way. Maybe the Sedins are the real deal. They are starting to prove that they can perform in the playoffs. People have underestimated them every step of the way, and I don't expect that to change until they win a Stanley Cup. That, by the way, is looking more and more like it could be a serious possibility. We will have a better idea about that in a couple of hours.