The Chicago Blackhawks are in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1995. They beat the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks to get here. Now they're playing with the big boys, and the difference showed. As far as the Hawks have come, today's game was a pretty good illustration of how far they still have to go. The Hawks never gave up, but the disparity of talent and execution was evident all afternoon.

Detroit bent and never broke, and capitalized on mistakes all afternoon, punishing the Hawks for every mishap, winning Game 1 5-2 in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Let's get to it...


THE GOOD:

Adam Burish. He scored the first goal of the game, albeit a fluky one. He was making things happen all over the ice, and you can just tell this is someone who thrives on playoff pressure. He took a shave from a skate, and never missed a shift. When you hear people talk about "character guys", they're talking about guys like Burish.

Andrew Ladd. The Wings better look over their shoulders whenever #16 is on the ice. He was picking pockets all over the ice all afternoon. If the Hawks are to have any success in this series, takeaways are going to be crucial. Even though he only got credit for one takeaway, he was coming up huge in the defensive zone.

Nikolai Khabibulin. 38 saves, he came up huge so many times against a Wings team that was relentless on offense. He looked absolutely unconscious, especially when the Wings were on the Power Play.

THE BAD:

Nikolai Khabibulin. The four goals he gave up were pillow-soft. Today's game was a total Jeckyll/Hyde act. He would be unconscious and comatose within a minute, with a huge save followed by allowing a brutal goal.

Brent Seabrook. I know he hasn't shown up in "The Bad" lately, but boy, oh boy. The puck skipped over his stick leading to Cleary's breakaway for his first goal, and he played too far off Franzen, giving him the wraparound, on the second goal of the game. Another time, he laid a huge open-ice hit on Duncan Keith. Just not a good game for Seabrook.

Kane and Toews. They were each -3, and Toews was 7-8 on faceoffs. It's only game one, but these two need to step up if they want this series to last beyond four games. Detroit clamped right down on them.

THE UGLY:

NBC's coverage. They have great access, including interviewing coaches during the game, more cameras than we're used to seeing, but seriously...an interview with Sidney Crosby instead of first period highlights? Jesus, spit the fucking guy out for a second - it's not like we had a period filled with action or anything. There's plenty of time to fellate Sid when the Pens play. These are two fucking good teams playing right here - focus on that.

Game 2 is Tuesday Night in the Joe, and we'll have a new PUCKCAST, with Bill from Abel to Yzerman. We'll have to eat a little shit, but it promises to be entertaining.,