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2015 NHL Western Conference Final Game 1
Chicago Blackhawks at Anaheim Ducks 2PM Central/Noon Pacific NBC/CBC/TVA
As the blog title says: been there, done that, got the t-shirt, gave it to Goodwill.
No team has played as much playoff hockey, or gone as deep consistently in the playoffs, since 2009, as the Chicago Backhawks. This is not to say that means Chicago will win the series or even Game 1, but the Blackhawks know how to play these Game 1's on the road.
Let's war-game how this one unfolds. The Honda Center will be electric and the Ducks will come out flying, hitting everything in sight.
The Hawks have been checked out of the building early in games like these (Vancouver, 2011 and Phoenix, 2012) and they've responded well and won (Nashville 2015). They almost came back and won in Game 1 vs. Vancouver in 2011. The bottom line for Chicago though is to weather the storm, because the adrenaline will fade, the game will settle down, and then it's anybody's game, assuming the Ducks haven't racked up a 3-goal lead. Wait. Make that a 4 goal lead.
The Hawks haven't played in 9 days, but the Ducks have had a bit of a layoff as well. That shouldn't be too much of a factor.
The Hawks will gladly take a double-overtime win today (or in game 2). But they probably also want to avoid too many overtime periods due to their depleted third defense pairing.
By now, we all know the teams and the lineups.
The Hawk defensive pairings will be ahem, "fluid" during the game, but when David Rundblad plays, it will largely be with Duncan Keith, and Kimmo Timonen's ice time will be for the most part with Brent Seabrook.
Corey Perry will play for Anaheim. How close is he to 100%? Well, public pronouncements aside, no one will really know until he either shows he is or isn't.
KEY PLAYERS TODAY
Chicago
Corey Crawford, G
Love him or hate him, this guy has really been money in the playoffs since 2011, with the exception of a horrible round 1 in 2012, and a mostly bad round 1 in 2015. He was lights out in round 2 versus Minnesota this year and he needs to be that today (especially) and throughout this series. Crawford might see more pressure early on today than he will through much of the series. For the Hawks to leave Anaheim with a game in the win column, Crawford needs to deliver when counted on to do so.
Antoine Vermette, C
Much has been made of the top lines in this series, and let me start with that: everyone seems to think this series is about Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf facing off against Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. It isn't. Not literally, nor figuratively. A critical aspect of these teams' matchups is that Kane and Toews play on separate lines and Perry and Getzlaf don't.
Unless you believe that Toews line and Kane's line separately aren't very potent, which is like believing the earth is flat, this is a defensive matchup issue for Duck coach Bruce Boudreau. OK, Ryan Kesler goes out against Toews. Who stops Kane? The Ducks didn't in the regular season, where Kane had 4 goals in 3 games and his line had 10 points overall.
But let's assume Boudreau can cobble some kind of lines and pairings to stop both the Hawks top scoring lines, if Vermette can get something going with Patrick Sharp and Teuvo Teravainen, both of whom have lots of offensive ability, the Ducks will be in serious trouble.
Vermette is also second in the playoffs in faceoffs. Continuing that dominance would be very helpful to Chicago's chances.
Anaheim
Fredrik Andersen, G
The Blackhawks outshot the Ducks by an average of 36-24 in the regular season and Andersen's numbers were dreadful. He will see more rubber, if not today, then over the course of this series, from more capable NHL scorers, than he saw in the first two series versus Calgary and Winnipeg, perhaps by a wide margin.
Ryan Kesler, C
I was a fairly big proponent of the notion of the Hawks trading for Kesler over the summer. A lot of the pushback I heard was about Kesler's negative intangibles. And I had to concede, there was room for concern. Kesler might be very popular in the Ducks' room, but he has a penchant for talking a better game than he plays come playoff time, and especially versus Chicago. His assignment is clear, he will need to shutdown either Toews' line or Kane's line. He will also likely try to agitate one or the other or both. But those assuming Kesler is the agitator and not the agitatee, remember this name: Andrew Shaw. I have a feeling Quenneville is going to try to get Marcus Kruger and Shaw out against Kesler, and Shaw will try to goad Kesler into taking the dumb penalties he has in the past. Live by the sword, or die by it. Kesler needs to just do his job and do it well to give his team a chance to win today and in the series.
It's a seven game series, this is just one. We will learn some things, but nothing will be decided in finality. The Ducks defend home ice, the Hawks try to take it away.
Should be fun.
JJ