With suspect or unproven goaltending at each end of the rink, these old midwestern rivals from the Central Division should provide a high-scoring, passionate series. In other words, it should be a fun to watch!

The Blackhawks have been most effective against the Blues when establishing an aggressive forecheck in the offensive zone. At the same time, they've been able to shut down the passing lanes, making it extremely difficult for the Blues to gain the attacking zone with any speed. The Blues, who like to have key defenders Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis trigger their offense with long breakout passes, will have to use short, quick passes to move out of their own end.

First-year Chicago coach Brian Sutter, a star left wing in St. Louis during his playing days and a former Blues coach, demands intense physical play and hard work from his troops. So, not surprisingly, this year's new-look Blackhawks have set the physical tempo on most nights. When they do, they're tough to beat. When they don't or their opponent is willing to go hit for glass-rattling hit, they're not nearly as dangerous.

Thus, that is the task for the Blues. First, they must match the Blackhawks' physical intensity. And, with rugged forwards like Keith Tkachuk, Dallas Drake, Scott Mellanby, Jamal Mayers and Shjon Podein, as well as the hard-hitting Pronger, the Blues have the manpower to get the job done.

The Blues also must make the Blackhawks pay every time they take a penalty. And, if the regular season is any indication, the Hawks will take penalties. They were among the most penalized teams in the league. To make matters worse, they did a terrible job of killing those penalties. Of the 16 teams in the postseason, the Hawks bring the worst penalty killing percentage to the Stanley Cup party. Usually, you don't win playoff series' if you can't kill penalties.

On the flip side, the Blues can do damage on the power play. Tkachuk and Pavol Demitra are particularly lethal with the man advantage. But, because the Blues have MacInnis, Pronger and Scott Young firing bullets from blue line, the Hawks won't be able to pay too much extra attention to Tkachuk or Demitra down low. And, we haven't even mentioned center Doug Weight, who'll return to the Blues lineup after missing more than a month due to injury.

The Blues also are pretty good at killing penalties. Their penalty killing unit received a big boost when the club acquired Podein (for Mike Keane) from the Avs in February. Podein brings experience and quickness to the top of the penalty killing box in the D-zone and he uses his speed to disrupt an opponent's breakout passes in the offensive zone.

Podein and his penalty killing partner, Mike Eastwood, will be looking to take Hawks' power play quarterback Phil Housley off his game. Down low, Pronger will have to keep his eye on big Eric Daze, who doesn't miss many chances below the dots. Pronger stands among the few defenders big enough to handle Daze in a one-on-one situation.

These teams, which might not have matched up as well as against other Western Conference playoff foes, should be happy they've found each other in the first round. And, if the Blues can win the battle along the boards and get better special teams play, they'll be getting ready for another trip to the second round. If not, it'll be another summer of player moves under the arch.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.