NHL Playoffs: Blues vs. Canucks Game 1 preview, stream, start time, TV channel and more

The St. Louis Blues begin their defense of the Stanley Cup tonight vs the Vancouver Canucks. Will the Blues begin things on a high note, or will the upstart Canucks cause them to go flat?

In one of the more intriguing matchups of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the defending champion St. Louis Blues face-off against a young Canucks team with plenty to prove. From the outside-looking-in, the Blues seem as though they’d be the easy pick, but the two teams’ respective performances during the Stanley Cup Qualifying Round complicated things a bit.

How we got here

The Blues picked up the 2019-20 campaign right where they left off. They were one of the league’s most consistent teams throughout the season and looked to be a safe bet to potentially repeat. However, following an 0-2-1 performance during the Round Robin, things are a bit more complicated.

The Blues looked flat-out lost in the Round Robin. They allowed the 10th most goals per game and scored just two per game. They also allowed the second-most shots per game while generating the least. What’s worse is that they lost their top seed in the Western Conference in doing so. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for their Cup defense.

The Canucks didn’t exactly set the world ablaze through the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, but they did send the Minnesota Wild home with relative ease — winning three straight after dropping game one. Vancouver was so-so at even-strength, getting out-chanced by the Wild, but they were propelled by their excellent special teams.

The Canucks powerplay was scoring at over 21 percent vs the Wild and their kill was fifth-best among the teams playing in the Qualifiers (excluding the Round Robin).

What to watch for

The Blues had about as bad a start to the playoffs as they possibly could, however, that all can go away if they get off to a strong start against Vancouver. St. Louis has a healthy and dangerous Vladimir Tarasenko back in their lineup, and young players like Rob Thomas continued to develop in the prelim round. Add the fact that Jordan Binnington can (and should) play lights out for them, and they’ve still got a great opportunity to win this series.

For the Canucks, they’re basically playing with house money. This is a tremendous year of development for young stars like Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. Playoff experience against one of the league’s best teams is vital for their development.

That being said, they certainly want to prove they’re good enough to compete now. If they can limit the damage St. Louis can do at even-strength and take advantage of their power play chances, then lookout. Also, don’t sleep on goalie Jacob Markstrom. He took a long time to develop, but he had a sneaky-good season for the Canucks.

Don’t sleep on the Blues, though. We’ve seen before how they can flip the switch. They went from worst to first during their run to the Cup and the core group is still the same. Until someone knocks them off, they’re still the champs.

How, when and where to watch

When: Wednesday, 10:30 pm ET

Where: NBC Sports Network, Fox Sports Midwest, CBC (Canada), Sportsnet (Canada)

Streaming: NBC Sports App