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Luongo and Canucks win opener over Blackhawks 5-1

For six games in the first round against Nashville, the Blackhawks played so-so hockey, made mistakes in their own end, and got away with it.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, the Vancouver Canucks are not the Predators.

It was a step up in class for the Hawks Saturday night and they weren't up to the task, losing to the Canucks 5-1 in embarrassing fashion at the United Center in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.

At least Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith saw a bright spot looking ahead to Game 2 on Monday night.

"There's no way we can be as bad as we were tonight," Keith said.

The Canucks capitalized on some glaring Hawks defensive mistakes that threaten to make this a short series if they continue.

"We can't be happy at all, the way the game went," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We had the puck tonight and then we gave it away, sometimes without pressure. We didn't manage it very well in all zones. I thought all three first goals against us were all plays that, technically or mentally, we played very poorly."

Hawks goalie Antti Niemi wasn't as good as he needed to be either, outplayed badly by Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, who stopped 36 of 37 shots.

Niemi was pulled after the second period, trailing 5-0, with backup Cristobal Huet seeing his first game action in five weeks.

"I'm not blaming the goaltender at all," Quenneville said. "They were around the net and got second and third opportunities. That's one area where we've got to be better."

Those same rebounds Niemi was allowing against the Predators were turned into goals by a Canucks team with far more skill.

"They're going to eat mistakes up if you make a bad play," Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell said. "You look at who they throw out there and they can definitely finish.

"It's a different animal you're facing now for us. We knew that going in and we should have been prepared as players better than that."

The 30-foot rebound goal Niemi gave up with 11 seconds left in the first period giving Vancouver a 2-0 lead was a killer. Niemi kicked Ryan Kesler's soft shot from the right side deep into the slot, where Mason Raymond hammered it home.

Just as damaging was Henrik Sedin's rebound goal 32 seconds into the second period that made it 3-0.

"With those 2 goals we lost basically all the pace in the game," Quenneville said.

The Hawks had a decent start, but they failed on a power play 1:31 into the game, then had Patrick Kane miss a mostly open net at the 12-minute mark.

Luongo was the difference in a first period when the Hawks outshot the Canucks 17-13 but came out of it down 2-0.

"Obviously, he had a real strong performance," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said of his goalie. "We knew they would have a strong start and come out with a big push.

"The difference was we were able to finish (chances) and they couldn't."

Kane said several times there were loose pucks around the net that Luongo managed to find.

"I can remember five or six times there were big scrums around the net and all we had to do was find the puck," Kane said. "There were a lot of chances to take the lead, but sometimes it's hard to beat a goaltender that's feeling it."

Only three of the 18 Hawks skaters weren't minus players in the loss - John Madden, Troy Brouwer and Dustin Byfuglien.

Defense partners Brent Sopel and Niklas Hjalmarsson had a tough night - especially Sopel, who was outworked by Raymond on Vancouver's first goal and turned it over on the second.

Hawks goalie Antti Niemi watches as Vancouver starts to celebrate as Vancouver's Christian Ehrhoff draws first blood in the first period with this goal. Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer

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<h1>More Coverage</h1>

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<h2>Stories</h2>

<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=377726">Imrem: Hawks take hospitality to a new low <span class="date">[5/2/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=377706">Huet sees some ice time, but expect Niemi in Game 2 <span class="date">[05/02/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=377702">Luongo's only looking forward <span class="date">[05/01/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=377701">Hawks just too slow to adjust <span class="date">[05/01/2010]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=377699 "><B>Rozner:</B> It's only one game, but it was a bad one <span class="date">[05/01/2010]</span></a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Photo Galleries</h2>

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<li><a href="/story/?id=377696">Images: Game 1, Blackhawks vs. Canucks </a></li>

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<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Tim Sassone's game tracker</b></p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">Canucks 5, Blackhawks 1</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">Three stars</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">1. Roberto Luongo, Canucks: He was particularly good early and finished with 36 saves.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">2. Ryan Kesler, Canucks: Two assists and a solid defensive job on the Jonathan Toews line.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">3. Christian Ehrhoff, Canucks: A goal and assist for the underrated defenseman.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">For openers</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">The Hawks outshot the Canucks 17-13 in the first period but came out of it down 2-0.</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">The quote</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">"We need to be better in all assets of the game. There's no way we can be as bad as we were tonight." - Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith</p>