By Danny Di Nicolantonio

In today’s edition of the fantasy hockey preview series we take a look at the back end of the drafted players, defensemen. The reason most are not drafted until toward the end for the exception for the top tier, is due to a low to medium reward.

A good balanced roster is the path to the success of your team and defense is just as important as any other position. There are times when you will see teams skip drafting defensemen or only fill one or two roster spots of out the four. This is a result of them stocking up on forwards, but causes havoc as more attention is necessary to streaks, injuries of a player. A good way to draft is not only by position but by the stats category that you know you will need more assists with. For example, if the first three defensemen I have selected provide an average amount of a goals and assists but not necessarily penalty minutes, I may use my last defensemen spot that produces more penalty minutes than the other categories.

It is always important to evaluate the stats attached to the name, instead of just the name before making your selections. Head-to-head leagues will have an average of 15 stat categories that you will need to try and conquer to win week to week. When it comes time to draft, grab these rankings and evaluate what is available with what you need as the draft progresses.

Ranked Defensemen 2011-12 Fantasy Hockey:

RANK DEFENSEMEN TEAM GP G A PTS +/- PIM PPP
1. Zdeno Chara BOS 81 13 31 45 27 87 18
2. Keith Yandle PHX 80 12 49 61 5 56 22
3. Mike Green WSH 70 15 33 48 20 56 21
4. Kris Letang PIT 78 11 42 53 7 71 21
5. P.K. Subban MTL 78 14 29 43 2 96 20
6. Nicklas Lidstrom DET 81 11 38 49 15 22 29
7. Christian Ehrhoff BUF 79 13 34 47 14 50 25
8. Dan Boyle SJS 75 9 35 44 4 66 26
9. Lubomir Visnovsky ANA 73 14 39 53 8 26 25
10. Drew Doughty LAK 79 11 31 42 10 62 21
11. Duncan Keith CHI 81 11 43 54 12 38 18
12. Dustin Byfuglien WPG 80 17 28 45 -2 91 19
13. Dion Phaneuf TOR 76 15 30 45 -3 89 17
14. Tobias Enstrom WPG 77 8 43 51 -5 38 22
15. Shea Weber NSH 80 15 28 43 4 54 18
16. Andrei Markov MTL 69 9 32 41 5 40 21
17. Chris Pronger PHI 63 5 28 33 12 63 18
18. Mark Streit NYI 76 9 30 39 1 48 20
19. Kevin Shattenkirk STL 75 9 40 49 3 32 17
20. Mark Giordano CGY 78 11 34 45 2 66 20
21. Ryan Whitney EDM 67 6 39 45 4 54 23
22. Ryan Suter NSH 77 5 36 41 9 54 18
23. Alexander Edler VAN 74 11 34 45 6 34 19
24. Alex Goligoski DAL 75 11 26 37 6 34 21
25. James Wisniewski CBJ 68 7 37 44 -7 52 21
26. Brent Burns SJS 72 10 25 35 3 71 15
27. John-Michael Liles TOR 74 10 38 48 -8 34 20
28. Alex Pietrangelo STL 78 11 36 47 8 22 16
29. Brent Seabrook CHI 81 7 34 41 11 54 14
30. Travis Hamonic NYI 78 6 27 33 6 119 6
31. Jack Johnson LAK 76 7 36 43 -17 48 20
32. Kimmo Timonen PHI 80 8 29 37 8 44 19
33. Erik Johnson COL 76 11 30 41 -6 59 13
34. John Carlson WSH 80 8 31 39 17 42 9
35. Tyler Myers BUF 81 10 26 36 5 36 15
36. Cam Fowler ANA 79 10 31 41 -15 28 21
37. Tomas Kaberle CAR 78 5 41 46 -2 18 24
38. Dennis Wideman WSH 76 9 29 38 2 36 18
39. Niklas Kronwall DET 71 11 25 36 4 38 14
40. Marek Zidlicky MIN 70 8 28 36 -10 50 19
41. Kevin Bieksa VAN 69 7 20 27 14 81 8
42. Erik Karlsson OTT 73 12 31 43 -17 40 18
43. Brian Campbell FLA 74 7 33 40 5 22 16
44. Matt Carle PHI 80 5 41 46 10 24 9
45. Sheldon Souray DAL 60 11 16 27 -11 78 15
46. Joni Pitkanen CAR 72 6 25 31 -3 64 14
47. Victor Hedman TBL 77 5 26 31 1 72 5
48. Joe Corvo BOS 72 10 26 36 -1 22 18
49. David Rundblad OTT 77 7 28 35 -6 24 12
50. Stephane Robidas DAL 80 4 23 27 -5 69 12

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Photo Credit: Cheryl Lemanski

Every year the formula changes.

After last season, general managers around the League believed they could cut costs with their netminder since rookie Antti Niemi and journeyman Michael Leighton backstopped their respective teams into the Finals. The season before that, we thought every championship team needed two elite centers (still valid) and the year before that the League emphasized skill and puck possession.

The winning formula changes every season whether it be a high-tempo offense with a blue line full of puck movers (Carolina Hurricanes) or a gritty team from the back end out full of high-end skill (Anaheim Ducks).

Once again, the formula will change.

Take this year’s combatants — the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.  Both teams have strong depth up front and on D. Each team also has an elite-level goaltender in Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas. However, the Canucks and Bruins play a completely different style as Head Coach Alain Vigneault features highly skilled offensive players who are defensively responsible and Claude Julien is more comfortable keeping the games tight and relying on his Vezina Trophy winner and a couple of All-Star defensemen and elite two-way forwards.

Of the two, only the Canucks really compare to the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks when you consider their sheer top-to-bottom depth. Considering after their salary cap purge the current Blackhawks team almost defeated the heavily favored Canucks, they could be the most dominant team to win a Cup in the post-lockout era.

But how do the two compare?

How they got there:

The Canucks almost blew a 3-0 series lead, allowing the Blackhawks to force a Game 7, and then force an overtime within the game. Less dramatically, they would defeat the Nashville Predators in six games (but could have clinched in five) and made short work of the San Jose Sharks in five. Now, against the Bruins they hold a 1-0 lead in the series with hopes of going back to Boston with a two-game lead.

By comparison, the Blackhawks took the Predators in six, Canucks in six, swept the Sharks and then took the Cup in six games against the Philadelphia Flyers. While the Predators and Canucks both proved to be worthy adversaries, they never pushed the team to the brink of elimination — something the ‘Nucks came face-to-face with in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. They seemed to be the most dominant team in the playoffs, which is something both this year’s tournament lacked as the Bruins faced Game 7 twice as well.

In terms of ease, the Blackhawks take this round.

Photo Credit: Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada

Head Coach:

Prior to last season, Joel Quenneville never won a Stanley Cup. After successful campaigns with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, the grizzled Head Coach made his way to Chicago in order to push them over the top. His success in the postseason gave him appeal to a young, up-and-coming team as he captured the game’s greatest trophy after only two seasons with the Blackhawks organization. His lowest winning percentage for any full season he coached was over 53 percent, making him a highly regarded bench boss.

Vigneault now enters his fifth season in charge of the Canucks and has won the Northwest Division four out of those five years. Unlike Quenneville, four of his nine years he missed the playoffs and he came to Vancouver after four relatively poor seasons in Montreal (missed playoffs three of four seasons). He was nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy while with the Canadiens but was fired the season after since the team once again missed the tournament.

Considering both coaches never won the Cup prior to their current teams, neither typically has an advantage. However, Quenneville held more past success which gives him the slight nod here again.

Photo Credit: Iwona Erskine-Kellie from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Forwards:

Depth, depth and more depth. Not the kind traded for at the deadline like stopgaps Maxim Lapierre or Christopher Higgins.  This Blackhawks team had the high-end talent in Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews and the complementary players in Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Troy Brouwer, Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd. Couple them with gritty defensive forwards like John Madden, Tomas Kopecky, Adam Burish and Ben Eager and we can determine that this could be one of the strongest groups of forwards assembled in the post-lockout era. Even with an implosion which severed ties with Versteeg, Byfuglien, Ladd, Madden, Burish and Eager the Blackhawks still clawed their way back into the playoffs which emphasizes just how good this team was last year.

Similarly, the Canucks have elite talent in The Sedin Twins and Ryan Kesler. Alex Burrows might even be able to force his way into that equation considering just how affective he has been in this year’s show. They also boast some tough defensive forwards like Jannik Hansen, Raffi Torres, Tanner Glass and Lapierre. Their calvary has been adequate in Higgins, the now-injured Mikael Samuelsson and regular season whipping boy Mason Raymond but the bottom end is one of uncertainty and inconsistency. Vigneault has rotated Victor Oreskovich, Jeff Tambellini, Alex Bolduc and Cody Hodgson in an attempt to find a perfect medium. Perhaps the return of Manny Malhotra could alleviate this issue.

Regardless, the Blackhawks take this by a mile as the top-end talent is there but the depth is simply not comparable.

Defensemen:

Photo Credit: CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith set the tempo as a perfect combination of ying and yang last season. Both mobile defenders, Seabrook’s intelligence allowed Keith to pick his spots in the offensive zone. Their stability allowed the second pairing of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brian Campbell to flourish and make up for the third pairing of Nick Boynton, Brent Sopel and Jordan Hendry. When all of these guys were on their game, they had Keith at over 28 minutes, Seabrook 24 and Hjalmarsson 21 with no other blue liner surpassing 20 minutes.

This may be where the Canucks first hold an advantage as they boast six quality defenders and three others capable of playing decent minutes. Their top pairing of Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler fits very well with the Sedins while Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa have formed a formidable shutdown pairing. The bottom set features some combination of Sami Salo and either Keith Ballard or Aaron Rome with mean d-man Andrew Alberts waiting to get into games. If Vigneault opts for a more mobile substitute, rookie Chris Tanev seemed up for the challenge in his limited playing time.

While the Blackhawks arguably have a higher end, the Canucks feature a more well rounded attack with the option of choosing mobility or snarl. Nobody has a more established top six in the League at this moment which gives the Canucks their first edge in the comparison.

Starting Goalies:

Niemi won the backup job from now-current starter Corey Crawford and then overtook Cristobal Huet for the starting gig in late March. As a veritable unknown, the Finnish rookie managed to get the job done despite what was considered a sub-par performance in the Finals. His success was questioned after winning as his arbitration reward earned him a ticket out of Chicago and into San Jose, where he would once again flourish. Due to his rookie status, the Blackhawks were able to win with a very tight budget which spawned the “don’t pay for goalies theory.” With two Vezina Trophy finalists vying for a championship, that theory has been debunked.

Luongo happens to be one of those finalists as he attempts to prove he can be the best goalie in the world. After toiling on the awful New York Islanders and Florida Panthers, Luongo was expected to win quickly and often in Vancouver. So far he somewhat disappointed fans after losing consistently to the Blackhawks in the playoffs but his ability to step up in big games like Game 7 of this year’s first round and in the Olympics last year has given him the confidence to try and take Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Elite netminder vs. raw rookie? Luongo and the Canucks take this one.

Photo Credit: Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada

Special Teams:

The Blackhawks got the job done with a 22.5 percent success rate on the powerplay and a 83.3 percent penalty kill. Their PP ranked fifth in the League but only second in the Western Conference while the PK ranked fourth but first amongst their Conference peers. While not necessarily dominating, the special teams was not a problem on either end which allowed them to continue their winning ways.

On the other hand, the Canucks PP has been a strength as they rank third in the League with a 25.8 percent success rate. The powerplay has been able to adapt from the hard-working Predators to the shot-blocking Sharks with ease making it a force to be reckoned with. Their penalty kill, however, has been a bit worse, succeeding at a 82.3 rate. Considering they lack actual shutdown forwards, players like Kesler and Burrows are forced to take on even more minutes.

The Canucks hold a better PP but the Blackhawks could shut them down better. Push.

The Bottom Line:

As both Jeff Quirin and Dave Strehle predicted, the Canucks should wrap up this series. Of course, we likely counted the Bruins out of the playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens, the Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning so anything can happen. As far as comparability to last year’s formula, the ‘Nucks are the closest thing to last year’s Blackhawks but the latter takes the small edge due to depth up front, more experience behind the bench and ease in getting to where they need to go.

Feel free to post in the comments your thoughts on the matter as this article is merely the tip of the iceberg, not a definitive conclusion.

By David Strehle
NHL Hot Stove NHL / Philadelphia Flyers Correspondent

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Patrick Kane somehow squeezed a bad angle shot through Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltender Michael Leighton in overtime of game six at the Wells Fargo Center last June.  Kane’s goal gave the Chicago Blackhawks their first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years, and kept the Flyers drought going at 35 seasons.

The two clubs have had their problems at different times during the current season.

Chicago struggled through much of the regular season, possibly due to a combination of ”Stanley Cup hangover” and the fact that the team had a completely different look after being dismantled because of salary cap issues over the summer.  There tends to be a certain lack of chemistry when nine players are stripped from a club’s winning makeup, including an impact defenseman (Dustin Byfuglien) and the Cup-winning goaltender (Antti Niemi).

Despite their up-and-down year, the Blackhawks backed into a spot in the postseason on the last day of the regular season, courtesy of a loss by the Dallas Stars to the Minnesota Wild.

Philadelphia was breezing through their 2010-11 schedule, battling the Vancouver Canucks in a see-saw joust for the overall NHL lead in points.  But their play fell off significantly as the calendar flipped to February, and the Flyers saw the Eastern Conference crown slip away in the last weekend of the campaign.  As a matter of fact, the team limped badly down the stretch and had to pull out a 7-4 victory over the New York Islanders on the final day of the season just to take the Atlantic Division title away from a bruised-and-battered Pittsburgh Penguins squad.

Even though it was two very different paths taken by the 2010 finalists to this season’s playoff dance, both found themselves in a very similar predicament on Easter Sunday, as Chicago and Philadelphia each faced elimination games.

Both teams had to rally from third period deficits to send their respective contests into overtime, and both found the resiliency within to gut out a triumph in the extra period to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Blackhawks knew their series with the Vancouver Canucks would not be easy.  The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Canucks were a well-oiled machine throughout the course of the entire regular season, and despite Chicago’s history of defeating Roberto Luongo and Vancouver in past postseasons, raced to a 3-0 games lead.

Just when it looked like the champions were set to face extinction, they suddenly came back to life in game four.  The ‘Hawks blitzed the Canucks for seven goals and chased Luongo on the way to a 7-2 drubbing at United Center.

The victory just happened to coincide with the return to the lineup of center David Bolland – who has helped to confound the Sedin twins in the past – and the resurgence of defenseman Duncan Keith, who had a rough start to the series.  Keith has three goals and five points in the last three contests.

A last hurrah for the home crowd, perhaps, or was there a detectable heartbeat coming from Joel Quenneville’s team?

Game five back in Vancouver provided a resounding answer to those questions.  The Blackhawks stormed out to a 3-0 first period lead and chased Luongo in the second period again, on their way to a 5-0 white-washing of the Canucks.  The champs were not only pulling themselves up off of the mat, they also looked ready and willing to defend their title.

Yesterday’s game six was a thriller.  After defenseman Kevin Bieksa had given Vancouver a 3-2 lead in the first minute of the third period, Chicago once again found themselves on the brink of elimination.  But less than a minute and a half later, Michael Frolik was tripped on a breakaway by Dan Hamhuis and awarded a penalty shot.  Cory Schneider,  who received the start after it was reported that Luongo suffered an ”injury” in game four, was injured in an attempt to stop the subsequent penalty shot goal by Frolik.  It appeared that he either pulled something in his right leg or groin area, and into the game came Luongo with a 3-3 score.

Reuters / Frank Polich

With the chance to redeem himself Luongo stopped the first 12 shots he faced, but surrendered the game-winner to Ben Smith at 15:30 of overtime to take the loss.

In addition to Bolland’s defensive play, he has also contributed two goals, six points, and a +6 rating in the three games since his re-insertion into the Hawks’ lineup.

A year after Philadelphia pulled off the unthinkable by coming back from an 0-3 series deficit to beat the Boston Bruins – the first time that feat had been accomplished since 1975 – the Blackhawks are poised to make history in game seven on Tuesday night in Vancouver.

Speaking of Tuesday, there will also be a game seven played on that night in the Flyers – Buffalo Sabres series.

After Buffalo took a 3-2 series lead with an overtime win Friday night in Philadelphia, things looked very bleak for the Orange-and-Black yesterday.

And there was some history that didn’t bode well for Philly.  The Flyers had lost their previous two meetings to the Sabres in six games, and both ended with very ugly losses in the elimination contest.  In 2001, game six in Buffalo was an 8-0 pounding at the hands of the Sabres.  In 2006 the sixth game was played in Philadelphia, but had an almost-identical finish, as Buffalo trounced the Flyers in front of their home crowd, 7-1.

Game six yesterday had an early feel like the Sabres were primed to duplicate the process of annihilation in an elimination game against Philly.

Like much of this series has proven, the Philadelphia goaltending was once again in a very-giving mood.  Leighton curiously got the call to start for Peter Laviolette’s club, then proceded to yield goals on some pretty ordinary shots that staked Buffalo to an early 2-0 lead, and a 3-1 lead after one period.

It didn’t look like a “History Will Be Made” moment as much as it wreaked of history repeating itself.

Even though he would see just 4:33 of ice time – and all on the power play unit – defenseman Chris Pronger returned and provided inspiration for his teammates after missing 21 games with a broken hand.

As they had much the same way from an 0-3 hole in game five, the Flyers scratched and clawed their way back to tie the game at 3-3 midway through the second period.  But when mighty-mite Nathan Gerbe beat Brian Boucher – who had come in to replace Leighton after the first period - with a shot past his waving glove hand late in the second, it appeared Philadelphia was out of gas.

There were several factors working against the Flyers heading into the third period trailing by a goal.

The team that scored first in each of the first five games of the series had gone on to win that contest.  With Buffalo scoring the first two goals on Sunday, the Flyers would have to do a tremendous amount of work to reverse that trend.

Also in the mix was the reality that Philadelphia had lost in the first round the last three times in the year immediately following a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals (1986, 1988, 1998).

While these two statistics left nothing set in stone about Sunday’s tilt, it does seem that history has a way of repeating itself.

Ryan Miller, who had twice shutout Philadelphia by 1-0 counts earlier in the series, was still providing an amazing goaltending display for the Sabres.  Going into the third he had stopped 28 of 31 Flyers’ shots, many of the quality scoring chance variety.  Philadelphia hasn’t been able to muster much in the way of offensive firepower for the better part of the last two months, and the prospect of getting even just one past Miller in the remaining 20 minutes would prove to be a tall order.

With only 9:17 left in regulation and just four seconds after a Buffalo penalty had expired, Scott Hartnell was able to shovel a Mike Richards pass into the open Sabres’ net as Miller unsuccessfully tried to scrambled to get back in time to make the save.

The game headed to overtime.

Just 4:43 into the extra session, Ville Leino was able to knock home the game-winner on his second whack at the puck to grab the win for the Flyers and stave off elimination.

AP Photo/David Duprey

There would be no hand shakes following the Easter Sunday games involving the 2010 Stanley Cup finalists, but there will be after both game sevens on Tuesday night – in both Philadelphia and Vancouver.

Looking ahead to those games, there seems to be a tremendous amount of momentum garnered by both the Blackhawks and Flyers.

Chicago has a chance to match what Philadelphia pulled off last year against Boston, and something that has been accomplished only three times in NHL history.  Don’t think for a second that this won’t be on their minds when the puck drops Tuesday.

Add in the leadership of captain Jonathan Toews, the fact that rookie Corey Crawford has greatly outplayed Luongo in goal, the balanced postseason scoring attack (six Chicago players have five points or more; Vancouver has just two), and the determination of a proud champion, and all signs seem to point in the direction of the ‘Hawks.

Daniel Sedin leads all players in scoring in the series with five goals and seven points, but has just two goals and is a -6 in the last three games.  Twin brother Henrik has only one assist and is a -7 in those same three contests.

Call it the “Bolland affect”.

And Ryan Kesler, who tied Daniel for the Vancouver lead with 41 goals during the regular season, has just three assists in the series.

But the Canucks will not go quietly.  Having fought so hard during the season to build a strong foundation for success in the playoffs, Tuesday night will be all-out gorilla warfare.

In the City of Brotherly Love, game seven will also be a hard-fought affair.  There has been no love lost between the two clubs, and a war of words has erupted in both cities.

Richards aired his grievances to the media regarding some penalties being doled out on his club -particularly an elbowing major he received in game three when he raised his arms to protect himself from a Patrick Kaleta charge - and the lack of calls on the Sabres.

Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff snapped back that “They’re doing a lot of whining“, and that the Richards comments was just posturing for upcoming games.  “That’s a bunch of crap,” Ruff said earlier in the series.  “That’s for the media.  That’s for the officials to read.  That’s ‘Here, let’s get the next call.’  That’s a bunch of crap.”

Things haven’t gotten any better since Richards’ push of Tim Connolly from behind that sent the head of the Sabres’ forward into the glass.  Connolly has had problems with concussions in the past and he will not play in game seven.

The injury may not even be his head at all but rather his shoulder.  But at any rate, Buffalo did a bit of posturing of their own after the game.  “That’s the kind of hit the league has been talking about is dangerous,” Miller told the Buffalo reporters after the game.  “They better seriously look at that one.  It’s unbelievable.”

“It’s something the league definitely is going to have to take a look at,” Ruff chimed in on the subject.

Seems getting the Philadelphia captain out of game seven is a priority, but the NHL evidently has decided to not take any further action against Richards for the hit, according to Rogers Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, by way of Philly.com’s Frank Seravalli.

Boucher – who has garnered all three Flyers’ wins in this series - will get the start between the pipes for Philadelphia.  Going against his usual silense on the matter, Laviolette made the surprise announcement in his post-game press conference yesterday.  “Yes, Brian Boucher will start game seven,” he said.

The Flyers’ big guns have been Claude Giroux (a goal, seven points, +4), ex-Sabre Danny Briere (five goals), Kris Versteeg (four assists, +5), and James van Riemsdyk (three goals, +2, NHL-leading 38 shots on goal).

Another key aspect has been offensive contributions from a pair of blue liners - Andrej Meszaros (a goal, five points), and Kimmo Timonen (goal, three points, team-leading +7).  The added dimension has helped Philadelphia generate more quality scoring opportunities as the series has progressed.

Buffalo has gotten the most out of Tomas Vanek (five goals, -6), Tyler Ennis (goal, four points, +1), and Tim Kennedy (goal, three points, +3).  But they are missing one of their leaders in Jason Pominville (goal, four points) after a scary incident in which he was cut along the back of his left leg by van Riemsdyk’s skate blade.

Ruff also added that Derek Roy would be taking Connolly’s spot in the Sabres’ lineup for game seven.

“He’ll (Roy) be ready, we’ll get him ready tomorrow,” the coach said.  “This team is going to battle to the bitter end.”

Depending on how game seven ends will determine just how bitter it ends up being for Ruff and the Sabres.

When the new “History Will Be Made” videos are made after tomorrow night’s contests, will they include a Blackhawks’ miracle comeback, as well as one by the Flyers?

That remains to be seen.  But for one day, at least, the 2010 Cup finalists were both able to avoid elimination and force a game seven in their respective series.

______________________________________________

If you have any comments or questions, you can email the author at dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com.  You can also follow him on Twitter – @David_Strehle

As the Chicago Blackhawks take the ice for game 5 tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, the question isn’t as much if the Hawks can beat their top-seeded rivals, but if they can do it again.

Chicago proved Tuesday night that they are more than capable of skating with, through, and around the Canucks in a 7-2 rout that chased goaltender Roberto Luongo in the third period and had the entire Vancouver team playing a step behind all night. Much of that was due in large part to center Dave Bolland‘s return to action from a head injury for the first time in over a month. Bolland was visibly excited to rejoin the team, and made the Canucks suffer to the tune of one goal and three assists, not to mention frustrating both Henrik and Daniel Sedin who were a combined -7 with one goal and only four shots on net.

The entire Canucks team seemed to all but abandon Luongo on defense, leaving him to face a swarming Hawks attack that mustered 35 shots on the Vancouver net and won a good majority of the one-on-one puck battles. The knee-jerk reaction might be to say that the Hawks are back in Luongo’s head, but it’s important to realize that the Canucks are still in the driver’s seat. With a 3-1 series lead, it will be a lot easier for Luongo and his teammates to shrug off that debacle and come back with a clear head tonight. The easiest way to prevent that from happening will be to jump on the scoreboard early. Quick goals have always rattled Luongo’s cage.

The Hawks also saw a resurgence from their blue line as the defensemen seemed to steel their resolve in the absence of Brent Seabrook, who was out due to a head injury suffered Sunday on a hit from Raffi Torres. Duncan Keith had one of his best games in recent memory and he and Brian Campbell set an NHL playoff record for quickest two goals by defensemen by beating Luongo 17 seconds apart. They will definitely need a similar if not better effort from them all to ensure this series comes back to the United Center.

A simplified game plan as well as contributions from top players like Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa will also again be key for the Blackhawks’ success in game 5. Extra and unnecessary passes always run the risk of getting intercepted and heading the other way and ending up in the wrong net. The Hawks need to get pucks on Luongo early and often and keep the Canucks on their heels to have a chance to keep their repeat bid alive.

Ryan Hackett
NHLHS Blackhawks Correspondant
rhackett@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @hawknut

Game twos can be pivotal. Home-ice advantage can be taken away or secured, a 2-0 lead can be clinched, rivalries can be made…

In this game two, players made all the difference.

Shane Doan showed how key he is for the Phoenix Coyotes‘ offense. Pavel Datsyuk proved he has that magic, flashy ability whenever he’s on the ice. And Johan Franzen proved just how tough a breed hockey players truly are.

Franzen was heading into the corner behind the Phoenix net and was losing his balance. Doan was backchecking on him, gave him a nudge, and Franzen went face first into the boards. Play was halted, and The Mule stayed laying face-first on the ice. After a few minutes, he got to his feet and with the help of Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom, skated gingerly to the bench.

One thought rang through Detroit: concussion.

Trust me, I was holding my breath as he went down the hallway back into the locker room, wondering what this team was going to do without Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg. The more they replayed the play (a clean hit by Doan, but there is such a thing as letting up on a check. Then again, Franzen was already losing his balance…I call it a moot point.), the more I prayed it wasn’t a concussion, but just a broken nose; after all, he went face first into the boards, so his neck wasn’t crushed or anything similar.

Photo courtesy of Official Red Wings Facebook page

Franzen reappeared on the bench a few minutes into the third period, looking as if he had just gotten out of a fight with Wolverine. Or a blender. Not as intense as the Cup Finals last year when Duncan Keith lost seven teeth and only missed one shift, but still pretty bad-ass. And he didn’t even come out with a visor on.

Datsyuk was a key factor in this game. He scored a goal and had three assists and proved that even without Zetterberg, the Red Wings are a team you cannot underestimate. For the next game, keep an eye on Tomas Holmstrom. He’s known for hanging around the very top of the crease, literally on the border, driving goalies and referees and Wings fans crazy. But watch him next game: he’s started standing three or four feet in front of the crease, still accomplishing the same goal, but with much less controversy.

But let’s not count the Coyotes out just yet. Being down 4-0 halfway through the game, they didn’t let that gigantic deficit take over their mindsets. They kept with it, coming within one with almost twelve minutes left in the game, plenty of time to tie it and hope to head back home with the series tied. Their comeback gave me constant heart attacks for the last five minutes with consistently good chances.

And Shane Doan was getting on my nerves with his physical play and offensive prowess. Franzen returned and got in the middle of a scrum behind the Red Wings’ net; Doan gave him a facewash with the 23 stitches he had just received. And his positioning in the pocket during the power play to make it a one-goal game.

Not to mention, they’re on their home turf for the next two games…even if there’s a lot of controversy and uncertainty around the future of the team. Home ice is always a little more comfortable to play on.

Game Three is Monday night, 10:30pm EST from Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes can either cut the series lead in half, or the Red Wings can take a 3-0 series lead and begin to dash the hopes of the Coyotes advancing to the second round. It will be interesting to see how each team responds.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

Take a deep breath in this fine Monday. Do you smell it? Yep, that’s playoff hockey alright. For some puckheads it’s a sweet scent they’ve become accustomed to. For others it’s the bitter stink of another failure.

In the Western Conference the journey to the hockey god’s promise land was as arduous as ever. A whopping 97 points was required for entry beyond the red iron gates. Marking the second consecutive season 95 points or more was the entry fee and at least 6 teams finished with 99 or more.

Who made it through?

1. Vancouver Canucks
2. San Jose Sharks
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Anaheim Ducks
5. Nashville Predators
6. Phoenix Coyotes
7. LA Kings
8. Chicago Blackhawks

Who didn’t?

9. Dallas Stars
10. Calgary Flames
11. St. Louis Blues
12. Minnesota Wild
13.Columbus Blue Jackets
14.Colorado Avalanche
15. Edmonton Oilers

In this week’s Around the League: Western Conference Edition I’m deviating from the norm. Over the course of the week I’ll be taking a look at each first round matchup and what the seven teams setting tee times should be up to this summer.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Is there a more anticipated pairing in the opening round than the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks? No, it’s not possible.

The old axiom that playoff series build rivalries holds true for these two clubs. They’ve met in two consecutive spring sessions with the Hawks coming out on top of both viral series. Needless to say that Coach Joel Quenneville’s boys are in the heads of the Canucks and their fans, whether they admit it or not. How Vancouver deals with historical trends will tell the league as a whole if they are the next “San Jose Sharks” or “Detroit Red Wings”. Playoff flopper or dynasty in the making. Alian Vigneault’s legacy will go much the same way after this watershed showdown.

All of the pressure in this best of seven battle falls on Vancouver netminder Roberto Loungo. Who has gone from extraordinary to ordinary when facing the black and red. Allowing 42 goals in 12 playoff games against the Hawks. An average of 3.5 per game. Quite a stark contrast to his 2nd best in the league 2.11 GAA this season.

If any team can score four or more over an extended stretch to overcome goaltending adversity, it should be the Canucks. The Brothers Sedin, Daniel and Henrik, tore through the NHL this season. Combining for 60 goals and 198 points. Add in Ryan Kelser’s 41 goals (and Selke winning like all around play) and Alex Burrows 26 goals in 72 games and putting the puck in the net should be a given.

Tasked at stopping the leagues most prolific offense (NHL high 3.15 goals/game) will be former Norris winner Duncan Keith and his pairing partner Brent Seabrook. The duo was the backbone of the Blackhawks surge to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup a year ago and must rediscover their prowess. After slipping throughout the 2010-11 campaign, all the pressure in the Windy City falls to them. Can they shut down the dynamic Sedins? Can they help put the 4th rated power play (23.1%) over the 3rd rated (85.6%) Vancouver penalty kill? can they pump up the 25th rated PK (79.2%) to stop the top ranked power play (24.4%)?

Corey Crawford is the Hawk to watch for. The rookie goaltender assumes must hold back the Canucks attack when eventual breakdowns occur in the defensive scheme. It’s not the same type of guys in front of Crawford that were in front of another wet around the ears netminder, Antti Niemi, when Chicago won last season. Number 50 will have to step up and make bigger individual saves than his predecessor. Too much to ask of a 26 year old in his first time around the block? Probably, but he is a better option Marty Turco.

Who Has The Edge?

Forwards: Vancouver
- Jonathan Toews and Patrik Kane match up well with the Sedins. As does Marian Hossa with Ryan Kesler.  With Patrick Sharp hobbled, Dave Bolland questionable and the supporting cast in the bottom 6 and third pairing degraded due to cap constraints, Vancouver gets the edge. The likes of Tomas Kopecky, Troy Brouwer, Viktor Stalberg and Michael Frolik don’t match well against Mikael Samuelsson, Alex Burrows, Raffi Torres and Mason Raymond.The edge in defensive specialists would go to Vancouver if not for the loss of Manny Malhotra. Instead the advantage goes to the Hakws with former Canucks center Ryan Johnson and Jake Dowell.

Defense: Push
- Vancouver should have the edge due to experience in their depth, but injury issues could come back to haunt them. Up and coming Swede Alex Edler has played only two games since January 24th due to back surgery. Who knows if he can knock all the rust off to get back to where he was. Top free agent signing Dan Hamhuis missed 18 games due to injury this season and is just came back from a Concussion. Given the health issues and questions there, gritty Kevin Bieksa and offensive dynamo Christan Ehrhoff will be key contributors to reaching four victories.

The Hawks don’t have injury issues, but instead of depth concerns. How will Nick Leddy handle the elevated pace and pressure as a rookie? Can Chris Campoli be counted on for 20 minutes for a legitimate contender? Will Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brian Campbell be able to stop the second wave known as Ryan Kesler? Questions from the regular season linger. It’s just not the same type of group and that raises red flags.

Health questions vs Depth questions = Push. That said, if Keith and Seabrook come out ready to play, advantage Hawks.

Goaltending: Vancouver
- Say what you want about Bobby Lou, he is the elder statesmen between the pair of starting goalies and deserves to be the favorite. History tells us the advantage isn’t by much however.

Prediction: Vancouver in 6
This one is almost going all the way. Chicago may be limping in, but they’ll steal a couple and give the Canucks a wake up call.

For the past few weeks, the Detroit Red Wings have been ranked in the top three in the power rankings at ESPN.com and TSN.ca. While this is way too early in the season to really care about power rankings, it shows that the Red Wings must be doing something right.

They are currently fifth in the conference, with a 7-2-1 record. Their power play is ranked fifteenth in the league at 16%, but their penalty killing is third-best in the league at 90.2%. If you didn’t get a chance to see the game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, then you missed some intense penalty killing (despite the fact that they gave up a power play goal on a 4-on-3); Dan Cleary had a breakaway attempt while Darren Helm did his usual thing of playing keep-away in the Flames’ zone.

Jimmy Howard is on fire so far. He’s 5-0-1 with a goals-against average of 1.95 and a save percentage of .926; his only loss came in a shootout against the Colorado Avalanche. Chris Osgood is faring a little better than usual stat-wise; he’s 2-2-0 with a GAA of 2.76 and a SV% of .893. If Osgood could keep playing solid hockey when it’s needed of him (and maybe even play more than the one start in 23 games like he had at the end of last season), this could be a dynamic duo in net. However, as far as any Wings fans know, he is day-to-day with a groin injury. Howard was even out for a few games with back spasms, but that didn’t deter him.

Injury-wise, the Red Wings are much better off this year compared to last year; while we’re missing Osgood, Brian Rafalski, and Johan Franzen, we don’t have to rely on Osgood as heavily, Rafalski is slated to come back most likely Monday, and Franzen probably won’t be missing a game and will play against the Edmonton Oilers Friday night. At this time last year, the injuries I can remember off the top of my head would be Franzen until March, Valtteri Filppula until at least February, and I think it was around this time that Jason Williams broke his leg, and same goes for Niklas Kronwall; so far this year, those guys (minus Williams) have combined for ten goals and six assists.

Production-wise, every Red Wings line looks solid, except for that third line of Cleary, Jiri Hudler, and Mike Modano. You know, the line that a decent amount of analysts were saying may be one of the best third lines in the league, back before the season started. While Modano scored in the home-opener, he hadn’t done anything until Wednesday night, when he scored the game-tying goal against the Flames. Hudler was actually benched that game to make room for Justin Abdelkader, who scored the game-winning goal; Hudler only has three assists so far this season. Cleary hasn’t scored a goal in several games, but had so many chances in Wednesday’s game that he says he’s feeling better.

Other than the third line, the other three lines seem to be working out fairly well. It took Tomas Holmstrom a while to get his first goal, but he’s back to doing his normal thing – ticking off goalies by blocking their view with his butt, and then tipping shots past them. Nicklas Lidstrom is tied for the defensive points lead (currently 12 points) with Duncan Keith. Keep in mind that Keith is 27 years old and Lidstrom is 40…and a six-time Norris Trophy Winner.

Ever since I posted that article about Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg needing to find their magic again, they’ve both been on fire. They’re tied for the team points lead with Lidstrom and their magical ways seem to be rubbing off on everyone else. A few games ago, Datsyuk scored with under twenty seconds to go in the third period to win the game for the Red Wings.

Now to the negatives. In the first six or seven games, the Red Wings were still having difficulty clearing the puck of out their zone. They would make lazy passes from behind the net that would get picked off at the blue line and lead to a scoring chance by their opponents. I haven’t noticed as much of it lately, but maybe I haven’t been playing attention as close as I should have been.

There was also a problem with consistently playing sixty minutes. In several different games, the Red Wings gave up leads or let their opponents score with under a minute to go in the period, and it would take the wind out of them. They haven’t done this in the past three games or so; head coach Mike Babcock probably scared them in order to make them play to their usual standards.

The Red Wings need to be more aggressive in clearing the puck away from the front of the net. With the lack of Rafalski in the lineup, they don’t have as many players who have that perfect shot to clear it up the boards and out of the zone. Howard has definitely improved on his rebound control, bu there are still those dire times when a sweeping shot could be used to get rid of the pressure.

Random other tidbits: Franzen is one goal away from his 100th career goal. Osgood is two wins away from 400. Howard has now gone 21 regular season games without a regulation loss.

• Tomas Kopecky/Jonathan Toews/Marian Hossa
• Fernando Pisani/Patrick Sharp/Patrick Kane
• Brian Bickell/Dave Bolland/Troy Brouwer
• Viktor Stalberg/Jake Dowell/Jack Skille

• Duncan Keith/Brent Seabrook
• Niklas Hjalmarsson/Nick Leddy
• John Scott/Nick Boynton/Jordan Hendry