Sedin Brothers Hoping for a 2 - 0 Series Lead

If there was one thing the Chicago Blackhawks had going for them in Game 1 of their NHL Playoff Series with the Vancouver Canucks, it was that their top line of Patrick Kane - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Sharp outplayed the Sedin Brothers.

Is this a trend that is widely believed to continue in this series? I think most people would say no. The Blackhawks are most dangerous when you give them time and space, sit back trying to protect leads, and your best players don't match their best players. Henrik and Daniel will need to fight through the tight checking they're seeing right now and just simplify their style of play.

The Canucks had some good success generating second and third scoring chances on young goaltender Corey Crawford, they'll need to do the same tonight as after a nervous first ten minutes for the young netminder, he settled in and made some key saves to keep the Blackhawks within striking distance.

The Toews line will get their chances, and they be even skill wise with the Sedins and Alex Burrows, but the Canucks top offensive guns will need to at least match, or outplay the Chicago superstars, which is not something outside the abilities of the Sedins, as they dominated offensively and both finished top 4 in NHL scoring this season, with Daniel leading the way.

Game 2 is critical in this series, the past two seasons the Canucks have come out and snatched Game 1, only to have the Hawks storm back to win Game 2, and steal home ice advantage. The concerning part in recent years has not been the fact the Canucks lost Game 2, but the way in which they lost those games. In both previous years, the Canucks held 2 - 0 leads in Game 2, only to let them slip away and have Chicago come back for the win.

This cannot happen tonight, the Canucks may lose this game, and the series is not decided tonight, but the Sedins have said all year that this is a different, more focused hockey team with one goal in mind. A big step towards showing that could be taken tonight, by making a loud and clear statement to the Chicago Blackhawks by going up 2 games to none in this best of 7 series.

I look for Henrik and Daniel to have a much stronger outing tonight. If you told the Chicago Blackhawks that you kept the Sedin brothers off the score sheet and the Canucks PowerPlay didn't produce, you'd probably think they'd feel they had a good chance at winning that hockey game, that wasn't the case Wednesday evening.