Holy cow. The Penguins and the Flyers are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. If you live or have lived in Pennsylvania, you understand what a big deal this is. The players from these teams don't like each other. The fans of these two teams despise each other. There's a ton of civic pride on the line here. This is everything fans look for in a playoff series.
But to make this series all about the rivalry doesn't give these two teams the respect they deserve. The Penguins have played great hockey since January. The Flyers have been on fire since around the trade deadline, when everyone had left them for dead. They both disposed of their very talented second round opponents with surprising ease. There's really no doubt left that these two teams are the best teams in the Eastern Conference right now. The rivalry only heightens the intensity.
This is the series most likely to be referred to as "the closest series in the second round." Both the Pens and Rangers finished the regular season on fire, both of them breezed through the first round, and they've already played each other eight times this year. I think it's fair to say that neither team will find this match-up as easy as their first rounder.
And we've got subplots, too! In addition to being division rivals, we've got Jaromir Jagr playing against Pittsburgh in what might be his last season and thus, last chance to take a team of his own to a cup. The Rangers took 5 of the eight regular season games from the Pens this year, but two of their wins went to overtime. This one really breaks down to the classic offense vs. defense battle.
There's one issue with this series that is really, really bugging me. It actually has me ramped up for the series and waiting for it to end with great anticipation ... How much bigger of a party riot will Montreal have if the Habs manage to get by the Flyers? We'll have to wait and see, but I'm going to go with 10 stores, 8 cop cars and some sort of burning effigy. Now with those pleasant images in mind, let's take a look at this series from a hockey perspective.
Offense: Both of these teams are great up front, there's no doubt about that. The Flyers had more goals in the first round than any other team, and that was thanks in large part to Daniel Briere, who silenced any haters that were hating on him. He recorded 11 points (6 G, 7 A) during the seven game series against Washington. Vaclav Prospal also had nine points in that series for Philly.
They made it interesting, but the San Jose Sharks were able to move into the Western Conference semifinals. They knocked off Calgary 5-3 in Game Seven Tuesday night to survive a first-round scare.
While the Sharks were heavy favorites to advance, the Dallas Stars were not. Their first-round win over defending champion Anaheim came virtually out of nowhere. The Stars neutralized the Ducks' big forwards with a crop of young defensemen who had never proven themselves in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They were so good over the balance of this series that Marty Turco was hardly tested, especially when his team was playing with a lead.
These are division rivals, meaning they met eight times during the regular season. They split those meetings, with two of San Jose's four wins coming in overtime. Even though the Sharks are going to enter this series as the favorite, you should expect to see some entertaining games.
It's that time of the year again. Yes, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have rolled back into town, and we've got all hands on deck to tell you what to expect over the next two months as the NHL determines its champion for 2008. Today, we'll look at both conferences in separate roundtable discussions. Earlier today, we looked at the West. We kicked off our series previews last night -- click here for all the rest -- and we'll have the balance complete before the puck drops on the first playoff game at 7:00 p.m. U.S. EDT. Enjoy.
Eric McErlain: Safe to say, things are a little more wide open in the East than the West. If I were grading it as Contenders, Pretenders and Darkhorses, I'd grade them out like this:
Contenders: Montreal, Pittsburgh Pretenders: Philly, Boston, Ottawa Darkhorses: Washington, New Jersey, New York
Outside of Detroit, Montreal is simply the best balanced team in hockey. I just don't see many glaring weaknesses there. Pittsburgh, as we all know, is incredibly loaded up front, though they have questions to answer in goal with Fleury. I don't think anybody gives Philly, Boston or Ottawa a real chance to get out of the Conference, though I think Philly's physical lineup probably has the best chance to steal a round.
As for Washington, they're the hottest team in hockey right now, and as much as I want to believe that they can keep it up a la Edmonton 2006, I can't help but wonder. New Jersey and New York both have the goaltending, but New Jersey has a tendency to disappear on the offensive side of the puck, while the Rangers still strike me as wildly inconsistent -- though their veteran-heavy lineup makes me wonder what they can do now that the real money is at stake.
It's that time of the year again. Yes, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have rolled back into town, and we've got all hands on deck to tell you what to expect over the next two months as the NHL determines its champion for 2008. Today, we'll look at both conferences in separate roundtable discussions, starting here with the West. We kicked off our series previews last night -- click here for all of the rest -- and we'll have the balance complete before the puck drops on the first playoff game at 7:00 p.m. U.S. EDT. Enjoy.
Eric McErlain: Just like last season, I get the distinct suspicion the top of the Western Conference is a bit stronger than the East, with three teams -- Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim -- the leading contenders to both represent the conference and to win it all.
In the next tier, I've got what I like to call the pretenders, the teams just happy to have punched a ticket to the postseason: Nashville (overmatched), Calgary (too inconsistent) and especially Dallas (not physical enough). Sure, they piled up the penalty minutes in their season finale against San Jose, but I just don't think they have the bodies to compete.
Then I've got the dark horses, in this case James' pick to win it all from a year ago, Minnesota along with Colorado. The Wild seem to have the goalie and the system set to go deep, but their offense has a tendency to disappear at exactly the wrong moment. As for the Avs, Theodore has shown flashes that indicate that he's back, and could possibly steal a series or two.
By now the storyline out of Washington is pretty familiar to most hockey fans. After a 6-14-1 start, team cans defensive-minded coach (Glen Hanlon) in favor of a minor league lifer (Bruce Boudreau) who unexpectedly jacks the team back to life. Led by an MVP caliber performance by left wing Alex Ovechkin, the team rises from the very bottom of the Eastern Conference to wedge its way back into the playoff race.
Bolstered by the best package of deadline deals in hockey (Sergei Fedorov, Matt Cooke and Cristobal Huet), the team wins nine of its last 10 games and edges out Carolina for the Southeast Division title by two points as hockey screams its way back to life in the nation's capital.
But if Washington hadn't successfully completed its incredible late season run, might we be serving some of that well deserved praise on Philadelphia instead?
There's nothing like renewing acquaintances in the playoffs.
Pittsburgh and Ottawa butted heads last season in the first round, but that was a different ballgame, a 4-versus-5 matchup where the then-powerful Senators held home-ice advantage and romped all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.
That doesn't seem likely this time around, and public sentiment certainly isn't on Ottawa's side.
Let's face it, this season has been a disaster for the Senators. Favoured to win the conference heading into the year, they kicked things off with a red-hot 15-2-0 start, but have played at just an 80-point pace since then, sinking all the way down between rebuilding Philadelphia and Boston as one of the final playoff seeds.
Ottawa may be the league's highest-scoring team, but no one's picking them to win this series against Crosby and Co.
The New Jersey Devils' 4-3 shootout win in the regular season finale gave them home ice in this series ... but what did it really mean? Did the victory give the Devils a little confidence that they could, in fact, hand the Rangers a loss after going 0-7 against the Blueshirts during the rest of the regular season? Or did the loss actually keep the Rangers from believing they had an unshakable hex on the Diablos, which could have potentially fueled overconfidence in the postseason?
If this sounds like a little too much psychology for two teams that are probably just going to bash each others' brains in for six or seven games, think again. This is a series that hinges on the Devils not allowing Henrik Lundqvist to get into their heads; or Jaromir Jagr not allowing players like Dainius Zubrus and Jay Pandolfo to frustrate him into ineffectiveness (luckily, the player that Jagr injured himself trying to punch two years ago is now his teammate); or anyone wearing red and black not overreacting when Sean Avery goes into pest overdrive.
It's a chess match between two smart coaches, and a psychological battle between and within players. It's also a series that could easily become the most brutal and tightly-played in the Eastern Conference's first round. So who has the advantage?
The San Jose Sharks/Calgary Flames first round match-up wholly captures the essence of "Blue Collar" hockey: grinding, physical play, fighting, and few goals scored.
The San Jose Sharks were a team expected to be a top contender, and roll into the playoffs near the top of everyone's picks list. Despite this, many players struggled offensively, and the Sharks certainly don't look, on paper, to be a team that should have finished 49-23-10. Will their good luck hold?
The Calgary Flames, ever since their run to the finals before the lockout, were expected to do a whole lot better than they did. With names like Iginla, Phaneuf, Kiprusoff, Tanguay, Huselius, and Langkow, it's hard to believe that this team had to fight tooth and nail just to secure a playoff spot.
So, we have one team that's sum is greater than the parts, and another team that is the complete opposite. Can the Flames upset the Ron Wilson's well-oiled machine?
