Blackhawks need to push back in Game 2

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Friday, April 15, 2011
Posted: 10:54 a.m.Updated: 3:08 p.m.By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.comVANCOUVER, British ColumbiaThe Chicago Blackhawks got pushed around to start Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks. Now they need to push back.

Tomas Kopecky is out and Fernando Pisani is in as the Blackhawks try to even up their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena. Its not unusual for the Blackhawks to be down 1-0 in a seriesthey were in this same spot against this same team last postseason. But if the Blackhawks have another gritless start like they did on Wednesday night, they could be looking at the unusual 0-2 hole.

We all have to take responsibility. Everyone has to be engaged, coach Joel Quenneville said. Everybody has to bring that part of the (physical) game.

Ryan Johnson said a lot was made of physical play being dominated by them and it was because we didnt do a good job of putting ourselves in position to play physical. There were a lot of east-west plays. Its very important for third and fourth lines to establish ourselves.

The Blackhawks were saying all the right things on Friday morning: they need to be more physical, get traffic around Roberto Luongo and earn the split. Theyve done it before. They know what itll take to do it again.

If we had it our way wouldve won game 1 in all those series, Patrick Sharp said. You cant spot a good team games but we cant worry about whats happened. We have to focus on tonights game.

Johnson, who didnt finish Game 1 after taking a knee-to-knee hit with Vancouver left wing Tanner glass, will play tonight. He said his knee is fine and that it doesnt hamper his speed.

Im just thankful it isnt any worse than it is, Johnson said. The first few seconds afterward I wasnt feeling too good, I was a little worried. But I feel good and ready to go.Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.

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