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The L.A. Kings put 17 shots on Blackhawk netminder Corey Crawford in the second period of yesterday’s game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-final.

Aside from that, the Kings looked outmatched much of the afternoon in losing 3-1.

Like last year’s WCF, which the Hawks took from the Kings in 5 games, the Kings outhit the Hawks. And even though in this game they outshot the Hawks, Chicago won in a number of other important statistics: blocked shots, takeaways, giveaways, power play conversions, penalty kills.

The two teams were even in faceoffs, which is a statistic that is typically supposed to favor the Kings. And were it not for Peter Regin’s 2-for-12 and Marcus Kruger only taking 2 draws, that stat might have fallen in the Hawks’ column.

In a larger sense, the Kings looked tired. Which is not surprising in light of their finishing a tough 7-game series Friday night then flying almost immediately to Chicago for Sunday’s matinee. The Hawks, by contrast, were coming off a 4-day rest, having played two less games than the Kings thus far in the playoffs as well.

That will likely even out somewhat in the series, especially once the Hawks start travelling out West.

But the Kings, for all their talk about how mentally tough they are, should be worried. And this, for the same reason that all those who keep betting against the Hawks might want to reassess.

When the NHL changed the rules after the 2005 lockout, and clutching and hooking and grabbing became less part of the game, most teams recognized the coming trend and started building with speed. What Chicago did was build an on-ice system that required speed, but also taking advantage of it.

Most will point to the successive drafts of 2006 (Jonathan Toews) and 2007 (Patrick Kane) as the things that separate the Hawks from most of the league. And while that is at least partially true, I would submit that it’s what the Hawks have done with their blueline, and the style of play that enables, that makes them arguably the best team in the NHL. And also, a very tall order for the LA Kings.

The Hawks look for a number of qualities in their defensemen, but a few stand out especially: speed, sound positioning, and especially, the ability to make a quick, accurate first pass out of the defensive zone to initiate the offensive break.

Keith, Hjalmarsson, Seabrook, Oduya, Leddy. All fit this description to a T.

What this ability and this style of play do is force the other team to pay catch-up, not just getting back to cover their zone, but in all aspects of the game, over 200 feet of ice.

If a team wants to run around and go for big hits, look out, because the puck is coming back your way very fast. Same thing if they want to really penetrate on the forecheck, that’s fine, but they will have to get back very quckly and cover their end.

And if they do get an odd-man rush, they’d better emphasize ‘rush’, because a fast Hawk forward or defenseman is likely coming hard on the backcheck—witness Leddy stealing a goal from Mike Richards yesterday.

And when you’re playing catch up over the course of a 7-game series, it gets very, very exhausting.

Yet again, speed—translated effectively into a lightning fast transition game—kills.

I’ll have more prior to Game 2 tomorrow.

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