What the Chicago Blackhawks Will Have to Do to Beat the Vancouver Canucks

The second round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs is off and running. The Hawks and Canucks find themselves in a familiar spot. In fact, the Hawks and Canucks battled it out in the Western Conference semifinals last year, with the Hawks prevailing 4-2. The Hawks proved a nuisance to Canucks' goaltender Roberto Luongo, but how will this year differ?

Almost as bitter as the Chicago-Detroit rivalry, the Canucks and Hawks hate each other, and hate brings us great hockey.  It brings us even better playoff hockey. I am both excited and scared for this matchup. I am excited because I am positive this series will live up the playoff intensity. That's almost a fact, but what scares me is the Sedin twins.

It's no secret that these guys, when paired up, are the best tandem in the NHL today.They scored, a combined, 197 points this season. They can shoot, check, and pass. They have it all and can hurt you in every aspect of the game

Defense and controlling the Canucks' forecheck will be the ultimate goal for the Hawks if they want to reach the Western Conference Finals.  Antti Niemi has to have presence in the net. Can he out play Luongo? It's a troubling question. We saw a great Niemi in the two shutout wins he had against Nashville, but we saw the OK Niemi in the two games he gave up four goals.

Which Niemi will we see? It's not something I can easily predict, but what I will say is Niemi will most likely have some trouble against one of the powerhouse offensive teams. Brian Campbell's return to the ice will be a huge boost to the already better Hawk defense. Campbell will only get better as he plays more games. Look for him to be a factor in this series.

Vancouver's penalty kill was easily the worst in the first round with a dismal 61.5 percent kill rate. If there is anything the Hawks will have to exploit, it's Vancouver's penalty kill. The Canucks' terrible kill rate almost gave their first round series to the Kings. Another dismal penalty kill rate against a better team could just doom the Canucks.

It's going to be a highly contested playoff matchup. There's no doubt about that. The Hawks have a good chance to beat Vancouver if they played like they did the last few games against Nashville, but if they play like they did the first two games, Luongo will easily stop the Hawks in their tracks.