That was a wild first round with three game 7s played on the
same night. If you are a San Jose Sharks
fan, I feel for you. Being up 3-0 then
losing four straight has to hurt. Let’s
quickly recap, see how our experts did in round one, then move on to round 2.
Experts Standings
Clarence “Screaming Buffalo” Swampton 7
Tim “Dr. Hoo” McCraken 6
Me 6
Throb Longpenis 5
The good news is we all beat the monkey score (for those of
you who did not have Mr. Ploplys for high school physics, the money score is
the score a monkey would get by randomly choosing an answer). Swampton also picked the correct number of
games in 6 of the 7 series he correctly called, McCraken got 3, Longpenis 2 and
I correctly got 3.
The NHL’s new playoff format was intended to foster
rivalries in the playoffs, and did just that for three of the four series. Let’s start in the East
Eastern Conference
Montreal Canadians vs. Boston Bruins
Montreal eased their way to a four game sweep of the Tampa
Bay Lightning, although 3 of 4 were decided by a single goal. They will have a much tougher matchup in
round 2 against Boston, who spanked the Detroit (sucks) Red Wings. The Wings gave their fans hope by winning game
one, but that’s all they could muster.
It’s great to see two Original Six teams match up against each other. Tukka
Raask was magnificent in the first round and Boston is still the best of the
East. Boston in 6.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers
Wait, Crosby hasn’t scored a goal yet and the Penguins
advanced past the first round? Oh yeah,
they’ve got plenty of scorers. The
Rangers survived against Philly even though they were maddeningly
inconsistent. The team who plays better
defense will most likely win the series.
Fortunately for Pittsburgh, they have a larger margin of error. A lot rides on the stick of Rick Nash for New
York but Sid and the rest of the Penguins should win out. Pittsburgh in 6
Western Conference
Minnesota Wild vs.
Chicago Blackhawks
Well, so much for seeding.
I’m still trying to figure out how Minnesota improbably rallied down 3-2
to beat Colorado in overtime last night.
So much for being cannon fodder.
Wait, I take that back. They will
be second round cannon fodder this year against the Blackhawks, instead of
first round cannon fodder. The Hawks
rallied back from a 2-0 hole and beat the Blues four straight to move on and in
this round they have home ice. Anyone
know who has been the best goaltender in the playoffs so far? Well, its Rask, but Corey Crawford is a close
second. He stole game 3 for the Hawks
and it looks like the Hawks forwards remembered how to put the puck in the net
in game six. Hawks in 5.
Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. Los Angeles Kings
The series will the least amount of travel. I never wavered in my belief that the Kings
were going to beat San Jose, not even while down in a 3-0 hole. The Ducks were trailing by two goals with
less than three minutes left when they stunned the Dallas Starts by scoring
twice to send the game to OT then winning early in the OT. It’s going to be a long off season if you are
a Sharks fan or a Stars fan. This is the
first post-season meeting between these two teams. Two deep teams who are good on both offense
and defense. This will be a great
series, but it will come down to goaltending and Jonathan Quick is the
man. Kings in 7.
Here are the expert's predictions.| Series |
Clarence
"Screaming Buffalo" Swamptown
|
Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken
|
Throb Longpenis
|
Mike Smolarek
|
| Round 2 | ||||
| Eastern Conf | ||||
| NYR vs Pittsburgh | Rangers in 7 | Pittsburgh in 7 | Pittsburgh in 6 | Pittsburgh in 6 |
| Boston vs. Montreal | Boston in 6 | Boston in 6 | Boston in 6 | Boston in 7 |
| West Conf | ||||
| Anaheim vs. Los Angeles | Anaheim in 7 | Anaheim in 7 | Anaheim in 6 | Los Angeles in 7 |
| Chicago vs. Minnesota | Chicago in 5 | Chicago in 5 | Chicago in 5 | Chicago in 6 |
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