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The big question is will history repeat itself. The last two years the Vancouver Cannucks came out on fire against the Chicago Blackhawks, but each year they were sent home in six games or less. Those games looked a lot different compared to the games we saw in the previous two seasons.

As a serious Hawks fan, it pains me to say how good Vancouver looked on Wednesday night. The two things that looked different from the previous years were how fast they were, and how aggressive they were. The speed they were able to cross the neutral zone with was almost confusing to me. They were skating by hawks as if they were coaches running drills, and if there was a person around them with the puck they got hit. This went on the whole game, and they skated to a shut out win on the Back of Roberto Luongo who stopped 32 shots.

In the Hawks defense, they are coming off of one of the hardest final two weeks in the NHL, that included two must win games against the Detroit Redwings.  One of which they lost, and only getting into the playoffs on a miracle Dallas loss against the Minnesota Wild. The whole end of the season was a blur of “Must Win” games, and I could see how that could physically and mentally wear on a team.

The one thing every one agrees on is that in order to score consistently on Luongo they need to create traffic, as they can’t count on him having four rough nights. The goals that are going to get by him on a night like his last game are deflections in traffic, and even then it will be tough. They made mistakes that the Cannucks were able to capitalize on, and they need to put that game behind them and remember that they are still the Stanley Cup Champions.

Vancouver played a near perfect game in game one, and not just Luongo. Almost all of the forwards on the Cannucks made Chicago look slow, and the defense turned the neutral zone into a meat grinder. They just need to play a little smaller and keep some of their emotions in check. When you come out and play that rough of hockey with a team you do it to get a reaction, and you can’t be surprised when you get one. They need to make those plays and skate away otherwise the referees will start calling a few of those questionable hits.

All of our questions are going to be answered when the puck drops on Versus at 9 Central Standard Time.

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