Roberto Luongo was an animal on Wednesday night as the Vancouver Canucks waltzed to a 1-0 series lead in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Chicago Blackhawks. They did it behind 32 saves from their goaltender, who looked everything like the capable, steady hand that led them through the regular season.
Blackhawks Vs. Canucks, Game 2: Chicago Hopes To Solve Roberto Luongo, Even Series
As a whole, the Canucks team looked extremely solid in Game 1, and they looked like a team that could finally overcome two years of failure against this Blackhawks team. If you’re a Chicago fan, however, you’re hoping that what you saw in the latter portion of the game is what’s going to carry over to Friday night’s Game 2.
More pucks on Luongo, quality chances, and yes, miracle saves. Surely, Luongo can’t be that good again (if he is, the Canucks have this thing in the bag), so it’s just a matter of plugging away and hoping he turns human again.
At the same time, the Blackhawks had success defensively against the most potent members of the Canucks -- the Sedin-Burrows line, in particular. That’s reason for optimism, and if that can happen again, Chicago has a fantastic shot at evening up this series.
Then again, it’s not as if the Blackhawks are nervous in this down-by-a-game situation. The Canucks won the first game of the series in each of the last two years before the Blackhawks won Game 2 to even the series, never looking back before advancing. For the defending champs, history isn’t really all that bad.
Full series coverage: Our blogs: Nucks Misconduct for the Vancouver perspective, Second City Hockey from Chicago. You can find complete SBNation.com coverage here.
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