2nd Round Western Conference

                              The Vancouver Canucks vs The Nashville Predators

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Before the Vancouver Chicago series started, Chicago had previously had Vancouver's number for the past two seasons. The Blackhawks twice handled the Canucks and even went on to win the Stanley Cup last season. A new-look Hawks team came into the post-season as an 8-seed while the Canucks walked away with the Presidents Trophy this year with seemingly no issues. They started the series that way as well going up 3-0. Chicago then benefited mightily from the return of Dave Bolland in game 4. Bolland was able to shut down the Sedins for the remainder of the series while still putting points on the board. This allowed Chicago to come back in the series and almost become the 4th NHL team to come back from being down 3-0 in a best of 7 series and the second team in the last two years. However two goals from Alex Burrows in game 7, including the OT winner, was enough. The real story in this series was Roberto Luongo. Luongo had another stellar regular season and was looking to put his playoff failures behind him. Things started well but he was then pulled in games 4 and 5 and didn't get the start in game 6. Cory Schneider got the nod after coming in well in relief the previous two games. However during a penalty shot attempt by Michal Frolik, Schneider went down with a severe leg cramp and back in went Luongo. He then played well enough to get the series clinching victory in OT in game 7. Vancouver will need Luongo to be consistent if they are looking to be more than just the best team from the regular season.

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The Nashville Predators were able to move on to the second round for the first time in their franchise history by defeating the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were looking dangerous as they came into the playoffs with Corey Perry on fire and a determined 41year-old Teemu Selanne. Selanne was able to score 6 goals in the 6 games the Ducks played in the series but perhaps staring Dan Ellis in goal was not the way to begin the series. He was pulled in favor of Ray Emery who held down the fort the rest of the way. The Preds used great defense and goaltending along with great play from Mike Fisher and were able to take out the Ducks in 6 games. The goaltending of Pekka Rinne was superb and will have to be more so if the Preds are going to take out the Canucks. Not a lot of people have had faith in the Preds in years past but I feel they could have easily past the first round in years past but let those failures help them this year. A team that had two 50 point players in Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn did enough defensively to take out the likes of Corey Perry, Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf. This Predator team has great coaching in Barry Trotz and leadership in Captain Shea Webber.

This match-up may seem obvious to some as the high-powered Canucks look to continue on for their quest for the Cup. This series will be low scoring and probably quite physical. The Predators are not afraid of the Presidents Trophy winners and will use their team depth to possibly catch the Canucks off guard. Vancouver is coming off a tough 7 game series last round as they only finished off the Hawks a few nights ago. The Predators have had some time to rest and take a look at their opponents and will look to jump on Roberto Luongo who looking to regain his confidence.

X Factor
The X factor for this series is going to be Mike Fisher. The role of Fisher will be similar to that of Dave Bolland in the previous series. He is the top centerman for the Preds and will enjoy the roll of attempting to shut-down the Sedin twins. He will also need to put some point on the board if Nashville will skate away into the Western Conference Finals.

I personally felt the Cancuks would do enough to get by Blackhawks this year and they made that much more difficult than it had to be. I still feel that Roberto Luongo is not going to be able to take his team through a two month playoff run. Mike Fisher will prove to be a huge deadline trade for Nashville as he will shut down the Sedin twins.

Predators in 7

                                    The Detroit Redwings vs The San Jose Sharks

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The Detroit Redwings made moving on the second round look so easy I nearly forgot they were involved because their series ended so long ago. The Wings made and easy exit of the Phoenix Coyotes in a four game sweep even without the services of Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg will likely be back for the next series as he has had plenty of time to rest up. The Coyotes were looking to get revenge after being embarrassed on home ice in game 7 of last year. They were unable to win a game in the series and for many moments looked like they didn't belong there in the first place. The Wings have too much experience and were just too much to deal with. Jimmy Howard out played Ilya Bryzgalov and that was the ultimate difference in the early defeat. Shane Doan was again the only Coyote that really stood up to the mighty Wings who are now looking at revenge on San Jose for their playoff exit last season.

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The San Jose Sharks last season were able to make it all the way to the West Finals where they were swept by the eventual champions. This was still considered a slight success as the Sharks were being known as playoff busts after years past. They were handed division opponent Los Angeles in the first round this year and should have been able to handle them easy given the Kings loss of Anze Kopitar just before the playoffs began. Instead the Kings fought hard and lost a few close games in overtime and benefited greatly from the goal tending of Jonathan Quick. The Sharks finally got that big goal from Captain Joe Thornton as he was able to score the game winner in the series clinching game. This was a huge lift of the big man's shoulders as he has been given the blame many times in years past when his team has been unable to advance. Other Sharks stepped up as well in this series as they had too even coming back in game 3 when down 4-0 to win 6-5 in overtime. Comebacks like that can do a lot for a team's confidence when they know they are never really out of a game. Will the confidence carry on against a healthy Detroit team?

The Redwings are incredible deep and have steady goal tending. This team has been there and done that and will look to again make quick work of their opponent. The Sharks have many more offensive weapons than the Phoenix Coyotes did and will definitely pose more of a problem. Last year San Jose took advantage of a Detroit team that was forced to 7 games by the same Phoenix Coyotes. They were able to take care of the Wings in only 5 games but that will not happen this year. The Sharks will have to jump on the Wings early and hope Antti Niemi is able to play better than he did in the LA series as he was pulled twice. A tandem will not set the Sharks up for success as they can not allow the Redwings to get big leads.

X Factor
The X factor in this series will be the play of Joe Thornton. Jumbo Joe is the striving force behind this Sharks team as he was given the captaincy over Patrick Marleau, who was arguably the best player for the Sharks last year during their playoff run. Thornton will have to be a physical presence along with produce on the score sheet. If he can make a significant impact the Sharks have a chance to do just what they did last year.

The Redwings are healthy and rolling along and that spells bad news for the Sharks. The Wings only issues proves to be nothing behind goalie Jimmy Howard, so given he stays healthy the Wings should be just fine.

Redwings in 6

Stanley Cup Finals

         The Stanley Cup Finals are here and after two short series that still managed to provide some excitement we are left with the #2 seeded Chicago Blackhawks and the #7 seeded Philadelphia Flyers. There are many stories that can be talked about with the way these two made it to the finals and I will look into the basics then break down the teams.

The Chicago Blackhawks
       The Hawks really got going last season with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews developing into to huge stars in the league. Chicago went to the Western Conference finals last season but ultimately fell to the more experienced Detroit Redwings. Like the Flyers, the Hawks were a preseason pick by many to bust through to the finals this year. This team was considered one of the worst in the league a few years back and has made a huge turn around by revamping this team with young talent. Jonathan Toews is only 21 years of age and he captains this team even though through interviews he appears wise beyond his years. This team has one of the hottest lines in the playoffs made up of Toews, Kane and Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien was playing defense at the start of the playoffs and since being placed on a line with Kane and Toews he has done nothing but score big goals. He scored in all four games of the Conference Finals sweep of the San Jose Sharks including a couple of game winners. He will be a heavy task to deal with in front of the net as he stands at 6'5 and 257 lbs. The defense men for the Hawks is a talented group and includes one of the best shut down pair in the league with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. This skilled group also includes Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Sopel. The Hawks have a lot of momentum and celebrities on their side along with a city amped with excitement.

The Philadelphia Flyers
      The story of the Flyers has been well documented in how they fought through injuries after making it into the playoffs on the last game of the regular season in a shoot out against hated rivals the New York Rangers. At that point in time it looked as though the Flyers excitement would be short lived until they realized they would be playing the New Jersey Devils in the first round. Philadelphia had beaten the Devils five times during the regular season this year and took care of them in only five playoff games. After Montreal upset the Capitals it meant the Flyers would play the Boston Bruins in the second round. This series did not begin well as stars Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Ian Laperriere would all be forced out of competition due to injury. G Brian Boucher struggled against the Bruins and the Flyers found themselves in a 3-0 hole. Simon Gagne would return for game 4 and bring the team a huge lift as he would score the winner in OT to propel the team to victory. It was also in this game that Boucher would too go down in what has been an injury plagued season for Philly men between the pipes. The hero from earlier in the season Michael Leighton was ready on the bench and helped the Flyers make history as they were the 4th team in pro sports to come back from a 0-3 deficit in a best of 7 series. Montreal was their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals and it was there where Michael Leighton really made a name for himself. Leighton posted three shut out in the first four games of the series and the Flyers beat the Canadians in five games. Mike Richards showed all kinds of heart in the series clinching victory and sets up what should be a great race for the Conn Smyth trophy between the two young captains. The Flyers have also gotten healthy and now have Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere back in the line-up just in time.

Match-up Breakdown
      There are many interesting match-ups in this series and how the coach's choose to deal with them will be heavily important. The main one being talked about is the line of Kane, Toews and Byfuglien and who on the Flyers defense will be left to deal with big Buff. The man that is assumed to be left with that task is Chris Pronger. Pronger was picked up by the Flyers to be a shut down defense man and help this team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He has done his job so far by logging a lot of minutes each game and is, I think, the best D man left in the playoffs. However Flyer coach Peter Laviolette could also put very capable D man Kimmo Timonen on big Dustin Byfuglien. Timonen is a 12 year veteran who has spent most of his career shutting down talented forwards despite being only 5'10 and 194 lbs. Timonen makes up for his lack of size with great positioning skills and an active poke check. Pronger and Timonen are not defensive partners so Laviolette will be able to maybe use both on Byfuglien instead of only one at different times.

      The top line of the Philadelphia Flyers includes captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne. This highly skilled line of the Flyers will probably be forced to deal with Dave Bolland of the Chicago Blackhawks. Bolland is a great agitator and is very effective at getting at the other teams top lines and did a fantastic job against the Sedins' in the Vancouver series and followed it up quieting the powerful forwards of the San Jose Sharks. Bolland is also the teams best penalty killer and has even put in a few big goals to help the Hawks move on. Another veteran that will be used for defensive purposes is John Madden, who like Ian Laperriere of the Flyers, is the kind of player every championship team needs. They are the kind of players that lay it all on the line and will do anything to win.

Depth
      In order to make it to this point in the year you have to have scoring depth and both teams have just that. The Blackhawks get scoring from lines other than their top group with guys like Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Kris Verteeg and Andrew Ladd. The Hawks overpowered the Predators, Canucks and Sharks but the Flyers can also throw back four lines. Philadelphia has been getting scoring from Daniel Briere, Claude Grioux, Ville Leino and James Van Riemsdyk. The top lines will be important but possibly more important is the depth.

      The defensive depth is impressive as well for both teams. One of the best shut down pairs in the league is that of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. They did a great job in keeping the high octane offense of San Jose down. San Jose only scored 7 goals in the entire series against Chicago and Patrick Marleau scored 4 of them. Philadelphia has four D men that will have a large task in front of them as well. The pairs of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle along with Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn have been successful thus far in the playoffs and will see all kinds of time against the many offensive weapons that the Blackhawks have.  Pronger will no doubt continue to see large of amounts of ice time and his success in his job will be very important if Philly is to pull away with the Cup. 

       When people picked these two teams at the start of the season Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton were not the goalies that were in their minds. Both goalies before this season spent more time in the AHL then the NHL. Cristobal Huet was brought in to be the goalie for the long haul last season and the play of Niemi gave him the starting job and he has been wildly successful this year. In the four game sweep of the Sharks, Niemi had two games where he made 44 saves. On the other side Michael Leighton has spent a lot of his time in the NHL moving from team to team. Leighton was drafted by the Blackhawks in 1999 and since then has not been able to stay put. His journey may be over as he saved the Flyers season in December when down went both Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. The Flyers had been struggling and then in came Leighton off waivers and he went on a great run. He again came in to save the Flyers in the playoffs and since he has been in has been playing out of his mind. In the last series alone he had three shut outs in the first four games, the series only lasted five. 

     Both these goalies are red hot and are showing no signs of slowing down. In my opinion all the match-ups mean nothing compared to this one. This series will come down to which goalie makes less mistakes. Neither of them have been on a stage like this and one of them will have to falter, at least a little. This will be a long series with a lot of back and forth play. Many people have made the "easy pick" with the Blackhawks but I don't think it that simple. This series could easily go either way and it will depend on who shows up and who doesn't crack under the pressure. 


X Factors
      For the Chicago Blackhawks the X factor is Marian Hossa. He will be competing in his third straight finals with a third different team( He has yet to win). He looks like nothing more than bad luck at this point due to his lack of performance for at least what he could bring to the table. With all the great players the Redwings have, the role of Marian Hossa was uncertain. On this Blackhawks team he seemed to shine early when being put with Toews and Kane, but who wouldn't have. Now that he is one the second line if he is able to produce more in the playoffs then in years past, it could be the overwhelming factor that brings Chicago its first Stanley Cup since 1961. 

For the Philadelphia Flyers the X factor is Chris Pronger. The Philadelphia Flyers are the third team since 2006 that Pronger has taken to the finals. He brought the 8 seeded Edmonton Oilers to a game 7 in the finals against his current coach Peter Laviolette and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes won that one but Pronger would play a pivotal role in winning the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. Now at age 35 he is looking to continue what has been a stellar 14 year career with another chance at Stanley Cup glory. He is logging more minutes than any other player in the playoffs and whether or not he is able to do his job of shutting down key forwards against Chicago could determine the finals. 

Flyers in 7  

Conference Finals

               There are not many words that can describe what has happened in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. Remarkable, improbable and incredibly entertaining come to mind. The Eastern Conference looked pitiful all season long except for a few choice teams at the top. None of the lower half teams looked anywhere near worthy of a playoff spot. Yet here we are at the Conference Finals with two teams left, the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers and the 8th seeded Montreal Canadians.

              Everywhere in American sports television it has been said how the fact that Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are out of the playoffs is bad for hockey. Those people have no idea what they are talking about. For the true hockey fans this postseason has been filled with surprises and what more could you ask for? I for one am very happy not to see another rematch of Penguins vs Redwings in the finals for the third straight year. This excitement is much more the case in the Eastern Conference then the West and here is why. The paths taken by the two teams remaining in the East Finals is simply amazing. The Montreal Canadians as an 8 seed had the mighty task of facing the 1 seed Washington Capitals in the first round. I for one picked the Canadians to bail out after only 5 games and after being down 3-1 in the series I felt great about that pick. 3 games later the Capitals were left wondering what just happened as the Canadians were moving on to face another superstar and last year’s Stanley Cup Champions. Sidney Crosby and the Pens would face the same fate as in yet another game 7 the Canadians prevailed against all odds. This time I didn’t make the same mistake as I chose the Canadians in 7. (They really helped me look good on that one).

         The Philadelphia Flyers were a team that had a roller coaster ride of a season after being many people’s preseason pick to make it out of the East. Injuries would be their downfall for much of the season as they struggled to even make the playoffs. Ray Emery was the starting goalie at the beginning of the season but he would be forced out due to hip surgery. Brian Boucher would be his replacement and it was quickly realized that someone else would have to come in. When Boucher too would go down to a fluke injury in came journeyman Michael Leighton. Leighton was brought in to be a part time solution until the others healed, yet with him in net the team began to win. There was once again hope in Philadelphia. Although near the late push for the playoffs, Leighton too would find himself on the list of injured goalies in Philly. By this time Boucher was back and would have to keep the team a float. The Flyers were the last team to make the playoffs as they beat their bitter rivals the New York Rangers in a dramatic shoot out. They would then handle the New Jersey Devils in only 5 games in the first round of the playoffs. In round two the Flyers met another rival in the Boston Bruins. Boucher struggled as the Flyers went down 3-0 to start the series. Then came some good news as Simone Gagne would return to the line-up just in time to help the Flyers pull off a Game 4 OT win to stay alive. Then once again came the injury news as Boucher would indeed go down with yet another injury. This would happen in the same game Leighton was activated to back up Boucher as he became healthy. Leighton and the rest of the Flyers then went on a tear as they became the 3rd team in NHL history to erase a 3-0 deficit to win a series. They also came back from a 3-0 lead in Game 7 in dramatic fashion.

                So here we are the 7 and 8 seeded teams in the East defying all odds to make it to the Conference Finals and a chance to play for the Stanley Cup. The Canadians now appear to be a team no one wants to pick against because of the play of G Jaroslav Halak. His play has already put him in the running for the Conn Smythe if the Canadians find their way to the Finals. Montreal has also benefited from the spectacular game of Mike Cammalleri, who is looking to set Canadian playoff records with his goal scoring. The Flyers now have home ice as a 7 seed in the Conference Finals, something that has never happened in the history of the NHL. The Canadians have been great on the road so home ice should mean little in this series. Both teams needed 7 games to get to this point in their last series and the Canadians have played more than anyone thus far. Montreal has been deemed the team of destiny after their performance so far and look to make it to the Finals. However, the Flyers have been so impressive and haven’t lost since getting Gagne back and seem to have an abundance of confidence in Michael Leighton by the way they have played in front of him all year. Chris Pronger was added to this Philly team to do one thing and that is take this team through the playoffs and he is doing just that. It would appear to be foolish to pick against the Canadians if this series goes seven games. Which is exactly why the Flyers must take care of business before then and I think they will.


Flyers in 6.

The Western Conference Finals will again display the Chicago Blackhawks who exploded on to the scene last year with the emergence of young stars like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. They fought their way to the West Finals last year only to look very young and inexperienced against the mighty Detroit Redwings. This year they look like a team that has learned from their past mistakes and are ready to take the next step. Their opponent will be the San Jose Sharks. The last few seasons the Sharks have been seemingly unstoppable in the regular season and have finished with the best record in the West. Then would then go into playoffs only to exit soon after. Their recent collapses have made them an easy target for jokes around the league. I once again had little faith in the Sharks to win the cup this year because of those faults but did think that this year they would make it to at least this point.

            Chicago is full of youthful exuberance and the line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien was extremely strong in defeating the Vancouver Canucks for the second straight year in the Western Semi-finals. This team added depth and has gained experience over the last year and is looking to make a name for itself. Marian Hossa was added to this squad last offseason after making it to the finals the last two seasons with both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Redwings. His playoffs experience will be quite valuable however in both those trips to the finals with those different teams, Hossa was on the losing end. The Blackhawks faced all kinds of criticism of their goaltending all season long and many said it was their only downfall. This was not a problem last year when Nikolai Khabibulin was between the pipes for the Hawks but they let him go for G Cristobal Huet. Huet was later replaced by newcomer G Antti Niemi, who has claimed the starting job for the Blackhawks run at the cup. They have great defense with the likes of Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Kim Johnsson who should cause problems for the San Jose offense.

            The San Jose Sharks started the playoffs against the 8^th seeded Colorado Avalanche and survived a scare of last year’s fate. They would come up big though against the Detroit Redwings as they handled them easily in 5 games. The poor play of G Jimmy Howard for Detroit had much to do with that. The Sharks won a few close games with some great play from Joe Pavelski and also their big dogs in Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley , and Patrick Marleau. Nabokov still looks a bit shaky in net for the Sharks and hasn’t really looked great since his collapse at the Olympics that sent Russia home early. How will he play this series?

            The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of speed that was too much to handle for Nashville and Vancouver but San Jose can match it. Both goalies don’t look particularly strong and are neither teams anchor. This series may be a high scoring affair if both teams get going offensively. Both these teams have a lot of star power as they should being 1 and 2 seeds in the powerful Western Conference.  This one will come down to which teams stars show up and which goalie is able to steal a game or two for their team. It is so difficult to choose the San Jose Sharks one year after getting bounced from the first round by an 8 seed. The Sharks finally are living up to their potential as they are in the Conference finals but the Blackhawks were here just last year and are looking for a better showing. The Blackhawks are probably many people’s pick in this one and I’m no different.

Blackhawks in 6