No. 3 Canucks Vs. No. 6 Blues: Breaking Down the First Round Matchup

One team was expected to be here, the other certainly wasn't.

The Vancouver Canucks come in as the Northwest Division champs, narrowly edging out the Calgary Flames with a 100 point season and the No. 3 seed. Vancouver trailed Calgary in the division for most of the season before securing the Northwest title on the last day of the season.

St. Louis is one of the most intriguing stories of this NHL season. Expected to be a rebuilding year in St. Louis, the Blues have overcome talent gaps and a flood of injuries that would be tough for any team to deal with, and have risen from being out of the playoffs not even a month ago, all the way to the No. 6 seed on the last day of the season.

Forwards

Vancouver has a top six that revolves around the dynamic Sedin twins. The Swedish sensations led their team in points as both finished with 82. Daniel Sedin led the team in goals with 31. Daniel, regarded as a more complete player than his twin brother, Henrik, also finished as a plus-24, good for second on the team.

Ryan Kesler has enjoyed a breakout season, registering career highs in just about every statistical category and finishing with 59 points, while Pavol Demitra has proven to be a solid offseason pickup, filling Vancouver's need for a veteran presence following Markus Naslund's departure.

Alex Burrows comes in second on the team with 28 goals and is the team's resident agitator.

The team paid big money for Mats Sundin and in 41 games played, the classy Swede put up a respectable 28 points.

St. Louis features sharpshooters Brad Boyes and David Backes. Both had just over 30 goals, with Boyes leading the team in points with 72. Boyes however, is a minus-20 making him a liability defensively.

Second-year speedster, David Perron has been a pleasant surprise, putting up 50 points and coming in 3rd on the team with a plus-13.

Keith Tkachuck, at 38 can still play, turning in a solid 25 goals. He may have toned down the physical nature of his game slightly, but might turn it up a notch for what could be on last hurrah in the playoffs.

Rookie, Patrick Berglund rounds out the Blues four 20-plus goal scorers and also leads all forwards on the team as a plus-19. Seven of his 21 goals came on the powerplay.

Andy McDonald and another rookie, TJ Oshie round out the Blues forwards. Oshie's influx of ice time was mostly the result of a hip injury suffered by Paul Kariya back in November. Kariya remains out indefinitely.

Edge: Vancouver

St. Louis has some firepower to be sure as well as a pair of hot rookies who are fine 2-way players, however not only is Vancouver's star power more refined, they are far more defensively responsible from top to bottom as well.

Defense

Vancouver's defense is a much improved bunch.

Willie Mitchell led the team with a plus-29 rating while posting a career high 23 points.

Kevin Bieksa and Alexander Edler both had career highs in points with 43 and 37 respectively. Bieksa is skilled as a powerplay man, while Edler, at 6'3" and 222 pounds can throw his weight around.

Mainstay, Mattias Ohlund is a big presence on the blue-line and Sami Salo, at 215 is no lightweight either. The trio of Edler, Ohlund, and Salo can be daunting physically at times, and can chip in offensively as well.

St. Louis is more sporadic defensively. Carlo Colaiacovo was acquired via an early season trade with Toronto that sent Lee Stempniak to the Leafs. Colaiacovo ended up being the Blues highest scoring defenseman with 29 points, 19 of which came on the powerplay.

Barret Jackman has struggled to regain his form from 2006-07 and his minus-17 is a career worst. The seven-year veteran is still however, a solid physical presence on the Blues blueline.

Big men, Jeff Woywitka and Roman Polak play a clean game and add size, if not offensive skill to the Blues defense.

Edge: Vancouver

There are at least some questions defensively about both teams, but Vancouver holds a decisive advantage in defensive talent. Their D-men are more offensively gifted and slightly more defensively sound as well.

Goaltending

Vancouver used four different goaltenders this season, but leading the pack is the impressive Vezina candidate, Roberto Luongo. Luongo due to injury only played in 54 games this season, but registered nine shutouts, good for second in the NHL. He ranks fourth in the NHL in both GAA (2.34) and save percentage (.920)

Luongo was fantastic in his teams last playoff run in 2007, registering a 1.77 GAA and an astounding save percentage of .941

He is the captain of this team, and as one of the most dominating goalies of his era, is quite deserving of that title.

St. Louis went through five goalies this year before finding their man halfway through the season after Manny Legace succumbed to injury.

Chris Mason, the former Nashville Predator has been nothing short of amazing for St. Louis, playing at his best down the stretch run. Registering a career high, with six shutouts and a solid 2.41 goals against average, Mason has the Blues feeling pretty good about their chances

Edge: Vancouver

Tough call. Chris Mason is unquestionably the MVP for St. Louis, but Luongo has already won one Vezina and could be in line for another.

Intangibles

Vancouver played well down the stretch to secure the division title after missing the playoffs last year. They are hungry for more but draw a tough matchup in the feisty Blues who they tied the season series against. This could be the last chance for some of the game's greats in Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra to win a championship, they should be playing their best hockey here.

St. Louis far exceed expectations despite overwhelming odds against them due to practically half their team being out with injuries at one point this season. They are a young team, but showed what they were made of down the stretch run.

Edge: Even

Coaching

Vancouver is coached by Alain Vigneault who has had an up and down career. He was fired in Montreal after two seasons of not making the playoffs. His tenure in Vancouver has been better. This is his second division title, and a nice rebound after missing the playoffs last year. It will be the third time Vigneault has been in the playoffs with second round exits marking his first two trips.

St. Louis's Andy Murray should be commended for the job he did this season and will certainly be a Jack Adams candidate if not a shoe-in for the award. Murray returns to the playoffs after a long five year absence. Although Murray only has one playoff series win to his credit, that came against the Western Conference leading Red Wings of 2001. Murray will have to have another upset in him if he wants to taste the second round again.

Edge: Even

Both coaches have roughly the same amount of playoff experience and both have had their share of failures as well. This year might be the best example to speak to the talent of both coaches.

Prediction

Although Vancouver wins this matchup pretty handily on paper, nearly any other playoff team could do the same to St. Louis. The Blues are young and scrappy and have been playing playoff-type hockey for almost a month. They won't be an easy out, but in the end, Vancouver's goaltending and skilled offense will carry them.

Canucks in six