Living after Midnight

No rest for the weary.

A scant 48 hours after the Vancouver Canucks vanquished their playoff nemesis, the Chicago Blackhawks, the puck will drop tonight for Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi Final against an opponent the Canucks have never before played in the post-season: the Nashville Predators.

The similarities between the two teams can be quite striking. Both of them just got over a major playoff hump. For the Vancouver Canucks, that hump was personified by the Chicago Blackhawks. In the case of the Nashville Predators, they have finally escaped the first round for the first time in their franchise's history.

Both the teams are littered with some of the top players and minds in the NHL today. While the Canucks boast back-to-back Art Ross Trophy winners Daniel and Henrik Sedin, along with three-time Selke trophy finalist Ryan Kesler (the third nomination coming just yesterday), a three-time Vezina trophy finalist in Roberto Luongo (again, the third nomination coming just last week) and a Jack Adams award winner in Alain Vigneault behind the bench, the Nashville Predators are no slouches in that department. They also have a goaltender up for the Vezina Trophy this year in the towering Pekka Rinne. They also boast a defensemen up for the Norris Trophy in B.C.'s own Shea Weber. And it would be considered by many to be a crime if Nashville coach Barry Trotz was not at least nominated for the Jack Adams award this year.

But for all of those similarities, the Nashville Predators will present a very different challenge to this Vancouver Canucks team. Where the Blackhawks' game plan consisted of scoring first, scoring again, scoring some more, and just when you think they're done, they'll score a few more times, the Predators rely on an incredibly effective tight-checking, suffocating defensive style.

Shea Weber's defensive partner is American Olympian Ryan Suter. Those two represent the top defensive pairing in this series for either team. Once you punch through them, the daunting task becomes getting a puck past Pekka Rinne. And this is to say nothing of the Nashville Predators' forward group, who presented one of the most balanced offensive attacks of any team in the 1st round--12 players for Nashville scored at least 1 goal in their six game series against the Anaheim Ducks. A series in which they limited the NHL's regular season goal scoring champion, Corey Perry, to only two goals.

This series will have the odd storyline or two as well. Ex-Canuck Shane O'Brien plays on the third pairing for the Predators and he is remembered well by Canuck players, fans and media alike. A likeable player amongst his teammates, he is perhaps best noted for his frequent trips to the Vancouver nightclub scene and an inability to report to practice on-time while having trouble staying in shape. He blasted Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault after being dealt to Nashville, claiming he was never given a fair shot in Vancouver. Throughout the season, that didn't change. When the Canucks and the Predators met four times in the regular season (splitting the series 2-2), Shane O'Brien came out and stated that he would love to play Vancouver in the playoffs as he felt that Nashville would do quite well against them. He is now about to get his wish.

On the Vancouver side, prized free agent acquisition Dan Hamhuis spent his entire career in Nashville before joining Vancouver this summer. Hamhuis has not played a game in Nashville (injured on both visits) since signing with Vancouver, so Game 3 of this series will represent his first return. Alain Vigneault reportedly picked Hamhuis' brain yesterday on the ins and outs of Nashville's system and what the Canucks can expect from their new opponent.

While some fans may feel a tendency to overlook Nashville, I would strongly caution against that. The last time a high-flying, offensive Vancouver Canuck team matched up against a suffocating defensive team guided by a terrific coach in the 2nd round, it was in 2003 against the Minnesota Wild. For those that don't remember, the Canucks went up 3 games to 1 before Minnesota came back to win the last three games, including Game 7 on Vancouver ice.

Nashville is going to be a formidable opponent and this series is going to be extremely difficult. The Vancouver Canucks must now show that they have learned from their past failures and now recent success against the Chicago Blackhawks, and they need to show the same effort and drive to win that won them that series.

Puck drops tonight at 6.