Blackhawks vs. Canucks 2nd-round preview

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 30, 2009 1:11 AM EDT

The Blogs

The Storyline

Vancouver put a quick stop to the St. Louis Blues with a sweep in Round One, while the Blackhawks took six games to fight off a gritty, but battered Calgary squad. This matchup pits deep, diverse lineups backed by excellent goaltending. It has all the makings of a classic playoff series.

The Numbers

	Chicago		Vancouver
Record	46-24-12	6th	45-27-10	7th
Pts %	0.634	6th	0.610	7th
Goals For/Game	3.17	4th	2.96	11th
Goals Against/Game	2.55	5th	2.60	7th
5-on-5 GF/GA	1.18	5th	1.21	3rd
PP%	19.3	11th	18.8	16th
PK%	80.6	17th	81.4	16th
Shots/Game	32.7	5th	28.5	24th
Shots Against/Game	28.6	8th	29.2	10th
FO %	48.1	22nd	51.9	5th

A very evenly matched pair of teams here, but the skaters for Chicago get a slight edge in terms of the Shots and Goals For/Against. Another point to consider here is that Vancouver has been much better in the 2nd half of the season than the 1st, so current performance is likely better than many of these total-year figures.

Goaltending

Chicago

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Cristobal Huet	41	2351	20	15	4	5	99	2.53	1087	988	.909	3
2008 - Nikolai Khabibulin	42	2467	25	8	7	1	96	2.33	1192	1096	.919	3

Vancouver

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Roberto Luongo	54	3181	33	13	7	5	124	2.34	1542	1418	.920	9

Penalties

No OtF preview would be complete without a look at Penalty Plus/Minus, to see which players will head to, or send other players to, the box:

Chicago	Penalties Drawn			Vancouver	Penalties Drawn
Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-	Player	Draws	Fouls	Pen +/-
Ben Eager	33	45	-12	Alex Burrows	58	48	10
Patrick Kane	32	19	13	Ryan Kesler	37	23	14
Dustin Byfuglien	31	29	2	Kevin Bieksa	34	35	-1
Jonathan Toews	29	23	6	Daniel Sedin	32	18	14
Dave Bolland	28	21	7	Henrik Sedin	31	23	8
Kris Versteeg	27	14	13	Darcy Hordichuk	28	30	-2
	Penalties Taken				Penalties Taken
Ben Eager	33	45	-12	Shane O'Brien	27	57	-30
Dustin Byfuglien	31	29	2	Alex Burrows	58	48	10
Brent Seabrook	16	28	-12	Mattias Ohlund	13	46	-33
Matt Walker	16	26	-10	Kevin Bieksa	34	35	-1
Duncan Keith	8	26	-18	Darcy Hordichuk	28	30	-2
Adam Burish	25	24	1	Willie Mitchell	22	27	-5

Both teams get plenty of power play action (Chicago was 3rd in the league, Vancouver 9th), but on the flip side, the Blackhawks appear to have more discipline in avoiding penalties. Vancouver had to fight off the 5th-most penalty kills in the league this season (371), while Chicago ranked 18th (336). The Blackhawks burned Calgary on the power play in the 1st round, and the Canucks must take care if they're to avoid a similar fate. The guys to keep an eye on are Shane O'Brien and Mattias Ohlund on Vancouver, who held down the very bottom of the Penalty Plus/Minus rankings this year.

The Prediction

Expect a ton of hype over Pittsburgh/Washington in the East, and there's lots of bad blood between Detroit and Anaheim in the West, but I think this could be the most entertaining and closely fought battle in the 2nd round. Based on Vancouver's 2nd-half performance, home-ice advantage, and the hot goaltending of Roberto Luongo (who never gave up more than 2 goals to St. Louis in the opening round), I'm taking the Vancouver Canucks in a nail-biter of a series. I expect Luongo to make the difference with a shutout or two that will frustrate the talented Chicago forwards.

Poll

Which team will win this series?

Chicago Blackhawks

41 votes

Vancouver Canucks

42 votes

83 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

A great take on the series. It’ll definitely be close and most definitely it should be fun to watch.

And your conclusion is spot on :)

'Nucks Misconduct - Housing Swedish Millionaires Since 2000.

by Yankee Canuck on Apr 30, 2009 7:58 AM EDT reply actions

As the poll states it will be close

I think this one has the earmarks for a 7-gamer and lots of OT’s. I think of any two teams in the West, these two are the closest matched in terms of speed and size. If I had to put my money on it – I’d go with Vancouver. Khabibulin won’t be able to go the distance like Luongo will, being the elder that he is.

by bradfordw on Apr 30, 2009 9:29 AM EDT reply actions