Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

CHICAGO -- Here is what the Vancouver Canucks were actually saying:

Daniel Sedin: "It was a pretty even game, I think. We can't put too much emphasis on the score. We got the bounces here tonight."

But here's what Daniel must have been thinking after a 5-1 walk-in-the-park win: "Is this it? Wow. Henrik and I have a harder time cycling around the seawall than we did cycling in the Blackhawks zone Saturday night."

Shane O'Brien: "Aw, they've got a pretty good team over there. Lots of character guys who have played in big games. They'll be back."

What he really thinks: "The Blackhawks thought they could beat us with their ‘B' game?!? What a bunch of prima donnas. I can't wait to kick their butts again on Monday."

Yes, what transpired in a 5-1 opening game victory for the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday can be explained in a number of ways. For instance, you can simply boil it down to goaltending.

"We were able to finish, they weren't able to finish," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Our goaltender shut them down."

Or you could surmise that Vancouver's clinical strikes landed at the precise moments when they would inflict the most mental damage.

"We got the game we wanted," admitted Mikael Samuelsson. "We got the second goal late (in Period 1), then started out the next period with an early goal. When they were supposed to make their push, we were getting goals."

"You can write two or three different stories, if you want," assessed veteran Blackhawks winger John Madden. "The moral of the story is, they won more one-on-one battles in the trenches than we did.

"We'll regroup in the morning. I guarantee you: we'll come back with a better effort next game."

Boy, they had better.

On Saturday night they opened the series from which many believe the Western Conference's Stanley Cup finalist will emerge. Perhaps the Stanley Cup winner. The Canucks did their part, playing a nearly perfect game.

But Chicago? No push back. No physicality. No guts. No will.

And, as such, no chance against a Canucks team the Blackhawks may not beat at their best. Certainly, when they throw their sticks and skates over the boards while stifling a yawn, Chicago isn't going to challenge this Canucks club.

"We were slow out there right from the start, (and it) didn't really seem like it got any better," said Duncan Keith, the Norris Trophy candidate who was a shadow of his normal self in Game 1. "We were slow to react, slow to loose pucks, slow everywhere.

Why?

"I don't know," he said, echoing the thoughts of 22,184 quieted fans. "We were all slow. We have a fast team. We have speed. But for whatever reason we weren't moving out there."

The easy thing to say was that this was all about goaltending. That, Roberto Luongo -- who was in tears after his last playoff start at the United Center -- was great. And Antti Niemi -- who was crying "Uncle!" after being pulled from Game 1 -- was brutal.

But the Canucks whipped Chicago in intensity in Game 1. They crushed them in execution. They wanted it more, were better prepared and absolutely owned this game, building a 5-0 lead before Chicago finally beat Luongo -- on a 5-on-3.

"Probably his best game of the playoffs," defenceman Kevin Bieksa said of his goalie. "It's a lot of confidence for us. We're a good team and when our goaltending plays like that, we're a very good team."

Last time the Canucks played a playoff game in this building they scored five goals as well. The problem was, Chicago scored seven. But this one couldn't have gone better for Vancouver, who saw every itch scratched just 60 minutes into what we all believe (believed?) to be a long, drawn-out series.

The second line of Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows set up the first two goals of the series. The Sedins escaped the clutches of Chicago's shutdown pairing of Keith and Brent Seabrook and had their share of chances, with Henrik burying a Daniel pass for the third goal.

And the question marks around Niemi grew larger, while those concerning Luongo shrunk.

"A juicy rebound, and I was able to put it where I wanted," was how Raymond described his goal. And Luongo? "He wants back at those guys as much as anyone in here."

Yes, there were a lot of scenarios we could have dreamed up for Game 1, but one team absolutely throttling the other would have been way down the list.

"We haven't responded well in the playoffs after we've been scored on. Joel (coach Quenneville) pointed that out to us," defenceman Brian Campbell said. "It's a seven-game series. They threw the first punch. Now, we've got to punch back."

Punching back. Now, there's a concept the Chicago Blackhawks might consider.