2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs: 3 Reasons the Vancouver Canucks Should Not Panic

Step away from the ledge, Canucks fans—it's not that bad.

Yes, the No. 1 seed and two-time defending President's Trophy winning Canucks dropped Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series with the No. 8 seed Los Angeles Kings 4-2 last night.

Yes, it was not a pretty game by any means, at least not from the standpoint of what Canucks fans are used to.

Yes, the Kings looked very good and have now grabbed home-ice advantage in this series.

But, by no means is this series over. Not even close.

As a Capitals fan, I am all too familiar with the almost helpless feeling a fan can have when their team, the No. 1 seed, drops the first game of a series against a supposedly inferior No. 8 seed.

All the questions have to be asked. All the insecurity surfaces and fear of a stunning, and early, exit from the playoffs comes to the forefront.

Relax Vancouver. It is not time to panic—at least not yet.

And here are three reasons why.

1. Its Only 1 Game

If the Canucks can learn something from the team that bested them for the Stanley Cup last season, it's that one game does not mean all that much.

Last season, the Boston Bruins dropped the first two games of a series not once, but twice—and they still won the Stanley Cup.

Obviously, every team wants to get off to a fast start in a series, and dropping the first game—let alone the first two—is no recipe for success.

But, it is no reason to press the panic button.

There is a bit of a feeling-out process in Game 1, even amongst teams very familiar with each other. Canucks fans should take solace in the likelihood that there was some of that going on last night.

As for the Canucks yielding home-ice advantage, that is really a non-issue. Vancouver was quite strong on the road this season posting a 24-12-5 record.

For those looking ahead, the Canucks split the two games in Los Angeles this year. If they can win Game 2, and then earn at least a split in LA, the Canucks will take back home ice.

Regardless, after just one game, nothing that happened last night should cause any Canucks fans to abandon all hope.

2. The Canucks Can't Play Much Worse

The Canucks lost Game 1 on a late goal by Dustin Penner. Up until then, they were right in the game and could very easily have won.

The encouraging thing about that is that the Canucks could not have played much worse than they did last night—and they still could have won.

Playing an uncharacteristically nervous and tentative style for the first half of the game, the Canucks were outplayed, outworked and flat-out beaten by the Kings.

The tempo of the game favored the Kings, and the Canucks could not seem to get their type of game going.

Worse than that, the Canucks made an alarming amount of mental errors and did not play their style of game. Too often they went for the big hit and ended up out of position, or taking dump penalties that left them perpetually short-handed.

"I thought we had a lot of energy, but we ran out of position to get those big hits," is what Alex Burrows said after the game.

And he is right.

How bad was it last night?

The Canucks were out-shot 39-26; they were outhit 28-26.

The Kings had eight power plays compared to five for Vancouver, including five straight during an 11-minute span.

About the only thing the Canucks did better was win the faceoff battle 41-33.

Suffice to say, there is a lot of room for improvement.  The Canucks are a very good team. They will cut down on the mistakes and mental errors and play much better in Game 2.

3. Roberto Luongo Looked Strong

Roberto Luongo is always under the microscope and last night was no exception.

He answered the challenge last night. In fact, as poorly as the Canucks played, Luongo's performance is the only thing that kept the Canucks in the game.

As Dustin Penner said after the game: "Their goaltender kept them in and they could have easily stolen it from us. We had a lot of power-play opportunities, and when you get a lot of power-play opportunities and don't capitalize as much as you should, it's one of those games they can pull out of the fire."

Simply stated, Luongo looked strong for most of the game last night, stopping 35 of 38 shots against him.

The first goal he gave up I would call a bad goal—not a soft goal—from a bad angle. I am sure Luongo would like to have that one back.

You can't really fault him for the second or third goals. He never saw Willie Mitchell's power-play goal. Penner's game-winner fell right on his stick, in perfect position, after a lucky bounce. Luongo really had no chance.

Luongo can be good. He can also be downright bad. Canucks fans know this all too well.

If last night is any indication, it looks like the good Roberto Luongo has shown up for this series.

That should be a rather comforting thought for the Canucks and their fans as we head to Game 2.