BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

VANCOUVER -- We watched last summer, as the Chicago Blackhawks were deconstructed. One by one they went. A Dustin Byfuglien here, an Andrew Ladd there. Ben Eager, Kris Versteeg, Adam Burish, John Madden…

It was the greatest export of Chicago beef since the Union Stock Yards.

So we should have been prepared for this, after seeing the Hawks scuffle through the regular season; as we averted our eyes while the once-mighty Stanley Cup champs backed into the playoffs on the final day of the season, courtesy a win by lowly Minnesota.

Somehow though, you have to see the machine in a playoff atmosphere before you can appreciate that the sum of its current parts is, obviously, nowhere near as great as what the Vancouver Canucks faced a year ago.

Daniel Sedin had said it best at Wednesday’s morning skate, when he said, "The balance we have, it’s probably a deeper lineup than they have. We are a deep team — that’s how we are going to win games.

"If we play against Keith and Seabrook, and the Toews line, and we do a good job against them, we know that our other lines are going to step up and win the games for us."

By the time Game 1 was over, neither the Sedin Bros., nor the Blackhawks top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa — who was replaced by Patrick Kane — had picked up a single point.

And the Vancouver Canucks won, 2-0.

Toews’ line played like demons, but couldn’t solve Roberto Luongo. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook held the twins off the scoreboard, a feat that usually opens the gates to victory against the Canucks.

But not anymore. The final score was 2-0 on goals by Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen, and while the Blackhawks will tell you they can play a lot better, their biggest problem may be that the Canucks can tell you the same thing.

"We know they’re going to match our line," said Henrik. "But we don’t need a Keith and Seabrook to put out there all the time. We’ve got three good pairs to use against whoever we want."

Now, you should know that in each of the last two playoff meetings between these two teams — both won by Chicago in six games — Vancouver took Game 1.

The problem for Chicago is, the recipe they used to come back and claim each of those series just doesn’t exist anymore. The ingredients are now in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas and Minnesota.

We’re not saying Chicago can’t win this series — we’re only one game into this thing. But we are saying that if they’re going to win it, it will have to be in a different fashion than previous years. Because Vancouver is the deeper team now, and for one game in a row, anyhow, it had the flawless goaltender.

"We did generate some high quality stuff, some posts. But we still need some more traffic," muttered Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville.

There was the school of thought that said Chicago, which had been playing playoff intensity games for the past two weeks, would have a head start against a Vancouver club that had been on auto-pilot since about mid-February.

Well, that went out the window in a first period dominated by Vancouver. The Canucks took a two-goal lead after 20 minutes, and the rest of the game was evenly played, though Vancouver maintained an edge in physicality, out-hitting Chicago 47-21 in Game 1.

"In the process of a series," began Chicago winger Troy Brouwer, "it’s important that you get on the body early. It wears guys down, and that’s obviously what they were trying to do tonight."

Just 60 minutes into this series, the team with less depth may be down two depth players. Tomas Kopecky played 2:22 of the first period and never returned, felled by that playoff nemesis, the upper body injury.

And former Canuck Ryan Johnson is said to be fine, but he was also dinged up Wednesday.

Michael Frolik, with six hits, led all Blackhawks in Game 1. In terms of the Hawks’ physical engagement, that’s about all you need to know.

There is plenty of series left here, and a split on the road would send Chicago home in the driver’s seat. But one game in, we know this much: If that is going to happen, it won’t look the same as in years past.

The Canucks are deeper now. That means that, for Chicago, so is a 1-0 series deficit.

Mark Spector is the lead columnist for Sportsnet.ca

Follow me on Twitter.com @SportsnetSpec