After dismantling the St Louis Blues in round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Canucks turned thier sights onto a very young, fast and skilled Chicago Blackhawks team. On paper the odds were in favor of the Canucks, and after winning game 1 on home ice, many Vancouver fans may have had the Western Conference finals in thier sights. But the young and resilant Blackhawks team never gave up, and we saw this numerous times throughout the six game series, with the Hawks having to come back from a deficit in all 6 games, including multiple 2 and 3 goal leads that the Canucks had at various points in the series.

With the Hawks winning this series in 6 games with game 6 having a stunning score of 7-5 for the home team, that game in a sense summed up the entire series in 60 minutes of hockey. The Canucks took too many penalties, their penalty kill was ineffective, the young snipers of the Hawks put the puck in the net, the Canucks defense seemed very slow and a step behind on every play, and Khabibulin outplayed Roberto Luongo. Not many people are overly surprised at all the the items at the top of the list, penalty kill, slow defence, etc..., but no one, including myself thought that Roberto Luongo would be the second best, by a fair margin, goaltender in this series.

After a quick four game sweep of the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks have been on a extended break waiting for the second round to begin. In the meantime the Blackhawks have been in a tough and physical series with the Calgary Flames which went 6 games and was filled with emotion, hits, fights and bruised bodies. Although many picked these two teams to be first round combatants with about a week to go in the regular season, the Canucks surged past Calgary to win the division and have home ice both in the first round and now in the second against the Hawks as well. And after the Hawks going 1-2 on the road and the Canucks 2-0 at home in the first series, home ice may be the difference between these two teams.

Canucks 45-27-10 (3) vs. Hawks 46-24-12 (5)

With the last two games left against the Kings and the Avs do the Canucks rest a few bodies and give the likes of Davison, Vannanen, Hansen and Labarbera a couple of games? Or is the division and home ice that important that we go all out and push for the division while risking both fatigue and injury to a couple of our top guns, especially Roberto Luongo. With the Flames having their last two games against the Oilers, who will definatley be playing spoiler but will also be playing their backup goalie along with giving a couple of kids a shot in the last couple games, the Canucks need some help when it comes to the division titile.

So do we forfiet a division title and start on the road against the Blackhawks, who we may match up better against, or do we want to push for that division banner and face the Blue Jackets in the first round and maybe run into the hottest goalie in the league in Steve Mason. If we dont beat the Kings on Thursday I guarantee we see a couple new faces in the lineup for the season finale, but if it comes to that last game versus the Avs it will be a tough choice as all we may need is a win to clinch the division. Either way the next couple of days will be very interested and both fans and players will be keeping a close eye on the Battle of Alberta.