Mikael Samuelsson will play on the top line for Vancouver when Game 1 opens in Chicago.

BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

CHICAGO — If the Canucks second line is feeling any pressure to contribute offensively, you wouldn’t know it.

Head coach Alain Vigneault is sticking with leading playoff goal scorer Mikael Samuelsson on his first line alongside the Sedin brothers, which puts Ryan Kesler between Alex Burrows and Mason Raymond again for the beginning of Round 2 Saturday night in Chicago.

“Right now those guys are playing well together,” Vigneault said of the Sedin line. “We’re going to keep them together for now.”

Ya think?

That line scored 10 of the Canucks’ 19 even strength goals in Round 1. The Kesler trio managed just three goals in Round 1 — two of them into empty nets.

“We scored plenty of goals as a team in the first round,” Burrows said. “We got the four wins we were looking for. We want to play well, definitely. But we don’t want to run and gun with them.”

Raymond, who had just one point in Round 1, was singing off the same song sheet as Burrows.

“Well, we did get the wins we needed to win the series,” he said. “But as a line we expect ourselves to better, get more pucks to the net.”

Kesler’s unit had 36 shots on net in Round 1.

Wait, someone defended the officials?

As a time of year when the officials take a nightly thumping, Blackhawks defenceman Brian Campbell rose to their defence Saturday.

“It’s kind of nice now, the way they’ll call penalties in overtime,” Campbell said. “It’s just getting back to calling the rule book (in the playoffs) — we got away from that.

“It’s a tough job. You’ve got to give these guys credit,” Campbell continued. “All they do is get bashed on. Obviously they aren’t going get everything right. But you can say they’ve done a better job than the umpires in baseball, and football refs over the past couple of seasons.”

Maturity and adversity

So, how much wiser are the Canucks after walking out of this building with their tails between their legs a year ago?

“It’s maturity,” said defenceman Shane O’Brien. “The adversity we’ve been through the last two years — on and off the ice… We felt really good coming out of the (first round) St. Louis series last year. Maybe a little invincible. Couldn’t be beaten.

“We kind of lost our edge against Chicago. They played well, but we know now we kind of beat ourselves too.”

“You get to learn from your failures,” agrees Roberto Luongo. “After we lost the fourth game here (Game 6), we had to regroup. We were saying the right things, but it kinda hurt a little bit.”

As much as the Canucks learned in defeat last season, we forget that 2009 was the Blackhawks’ first post-season experience in six seasons as well. They met their comeuppance in the Conference Final against Detroit, and Chicago is also looking to further themselves this spring.

“I think both teams are better,” allowed Vigneault. “Adding (Marian) Hossa, the experience for their younger players with their playoff push last year... Without a doubt, we’re meeting a better team.

“Obviously wishing to play against the Blackhakws would not make you a very smart person,” he added. “But, we are very motivated. We wanted another kick at them, and we’ve got that opportunity.”

Rolling the lines

Series’ like these are often decided on depth. To that end, Vigneault was talking a good game when it comes to using his entire lineup in Chicago, even though his fourth line and sixth defenceman played sparingly in Round 1.

“We’re going to have to play our fourth line,” said Vigneault, who would welcome back then injured No. 4 centre Ryan Johnson with open arms. “Without a doubt Chicago … they use four lines. And they have a high pace, high turnover (rate). Really short shifts and intense. We’re going to need all four lines and six (defencemen).”

We’re betting he uses his fourth line more. But the No. 6 pointman? That figures to be Andrew Alberts, and in Round 1he averaged 10:39 per game of ice time.