Yes, Frolik leads Hawks in Game 1 hits

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Of all the players to lead the Blackhawks in hits in their Game 1 loss to the Canucks, who could have guessed it would be Michael Frolik?

But it was Frolik who had 6 of the Hawks’ measly 21 hits in his playoff debut.

“I never was a big hitter; I tried to put it in my mind that I wanted to hit them and win the battles,” Frolik said Thursday. “It’s the playoffs and they had more hits than us.”

Quite a few more, actually, as the Canucks outhit the Hawks 47-21 in probably the most important stat of the night other than the final score.

“It was my first playoff game and there were high expectations,” Frolik said. “It’s exciting to be here and play those types of games. I tried not to be nervous and enjoy the game.”

It certainly wouldn’t be a good sign for the Hawks if Frolik has to be their hits leader again tonight in Game 2 at Rogers Arena.

“We have to be hard to play against and hit them too and be good on our forecheck,” Frolik said. “We have to be good from the start. We have to be just like them and hit hard back at them.”

Hawks captain Jonathan Toews didn’t feel his team was skating well enough in a first period that was dominated by the Canucks.

“We weren’t moving our feet enough,” Toews said. “We were making ourselves easy targets for those hits.”

The Canucks targeted the Hawks’ defensemen in the first period in Game 1, looking to make life miserable for Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Chris Campoli and Nick Leddy.

“I wouldn’t say we were intimidated, but we were maybe a step behind at the beginning of the game and they took it to us early,” Campoli said. “We knew they were going to come out hard and we have to match that intensity in Game 2 or even better.

“Even better it would be nice to get off to a good start and take it to them a little bit and have them have to adapt to us. We know what’s at stake. This is a huge game for us and hopefully we can come out and take it to them.”