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The Canucks <a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/4/16/1426332/reviewing-the-canucks-kings-game">got off to a pretty good start</a> [<I>Nucks Misconduct</i>] Thursday night with a 3-2 overtime win <a href="http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=3372">over the Los Angeles Kings</a> [<b>Matt Lee</b>, <I>Canucks Hockey Blog</i>]. It wasn't a dominating performance, but <a href="http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/4/16/1425828/friday-morning-coffee-son-of-sam#storyjump">it was an effective one</a> [<I>Nucks Misconduct</i>]; Vancouver outshot the Kings <a href="http://canucks.nhl.com/club/boxscore.htm?id=2009030171">44-27</a> [<I>Canucks.com</i>], something which always bodes well for winning. They didn't play perfectly, but they got the job done.

There were some troubling signs, though. The Canucks <a href="http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=3377">took some dumb penalties</a> [<b>J.J. Guerrero</b>, <i>Canucks Hockey Blog</i>], and that's something <a href="http://canuckpuck.com/2010/04/03/bouncing-back/">that's been an issue</a> lately. Both of L.A.'s goals came on the power play, and the Canucks allowed them to get too many good chances; they only took four shots on their three power-play chances, but two of them beat <b>Roberto Luongo</b>, and neither was a particularly bad goal. By contrast, Vancouver was able to fire nine power-play shots at <b>Jonathan Quick</b>, but only one snuck by him. They were getting pucks on the net, which is always a good thing, but many of those weren't particularly good shots because the Kings' penalty kill was doing its job and shutting down the shooting lanes. Vancouver will have to be more disciplined and more effective on special teams if they want to take this series.

On the whole, though, this was what the Canucks needed to do. As <b>Cam Davie</b> <a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2010/4/15/gdrc-gm-1-kings-canucks">pointed out</a> over at <i>Canucks Army</i> before Game One, Luongo had to turn in a solid performance, Vancouver needed to limit the Kings' chances and shots, and the Canucks' forwards needed to dominate the possession battle. All those things happened, and the Canucks took the game. If they can do that for the rest of the series, they should advance to the second round.

Beyond that, what will be crucial for tonight's game? In my mind, the element that really favours the Canucks in this series is their depth up front. When you can throw out <b>Henrik Sedin</b>, <b>Daniel Sedin</b> and <b>Alex Burrows</b> as your first line and still have guys like <b>Ryan Kesler</b>, <b>Mikael Samuelsson</b> and <b>Pavol Demitra</b> in reserve, it's tough to pick who to defend. The Kings have some forward depth of their own, with the likes of <b>Ryan Smyth</b>, <b>Anze Kopitar</b> and <b>Alexander Frolov</b>, but they can't compare to the Canucks. Both teams have some defensive issues and inconsistent-at-times goaltending, but I think it's the forwards and the firepower they present that give the Canucks the edge. We'll see how they do tonight. The puck drops at 10 p.m. Eastern.