Six key players in Hawks-Canucks series

Of course, it's expected that Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Henrik Sedin and Roberto Luongo will be major factors in the second-round NHL playoff series between the Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks that begins Saturday night at the United Center.

But it's not always the stars that make the difference when the dust settles.

Three Canucks not to forget about 1. Mikael Samuelsson: A terrific off-season free agent signing, Samuelsson had 7 goals and 4 assists in six games in the first round against Los Angeles after being promoted to the top line with the Sedin twins. Samuelsson has hurt the Hawks in the past while with Detroit. 2. Mason Raymond: The speedy winger is not afraid to play in traffic as part of a very good second line for Vancouver with Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows. 3. Alex Edler: The underrated defenseman was plus-7 against the Kings and along with partner Sami Salo shut down L.A.'s top line centered by Anze Kopitar. Edler and Salo figure to draw the assignment of stopping Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.Three Hawks that need to be heard from 1. Dustin Byfuglien: Back home at wing, Hawks coach Joel Quenneville is counting on the wide-bodied Byfuglien to be a factor in front of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo. 2. Troy Brouwer: He was the Hawks' best power forward during the regular season with 22 goals, but in the first round against Nashville, Brouwer was mostly invisible with no points and a minus-4 in six games. The Hawks need Brouwer to come out hitting in Game 1. 3. Kris Versteeg: Another Hawks forward who wasn't heard from much against the Predators. Versteeg had no goals and was minus-2 and needs to be more of a pain in the neck to play against.\False12712000The Blackhawks look for Dustin Byfuglien to get more scoring chances and disrupt goalie Roberto Luongo in the series.Associated PressFalse