2nd Round Eastern Conference

                     The Washington Capitals vs The Tampa Bay Lightning

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The Washington Capitals made quick work of the New York Rangers in only 5 games, while playing an impressive defensive game. The Capitals have attempted to change their game to be more ready to make a deep run in the playoffs by adding veterans Jason Arnott and Dennis Wideman while also benefiting from the emergence of Marcus Johansson. Much has been said about Alex Ovechkin only scoring 30 goals this season yet the Capitals still finished with the east's best record. Mike Green is also expected back after again running into concussion problems. Alexander Semin will have to continue his recent scoring touch as he has played well with Arnott.

They now meet division rival Tampa Bay fresh off their comeback defeat of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 7 games. The Lightning play a laid back style in the neutral zone which can easily affect the zone entry of the Capitals. The big story of this series will be the play of 41 year old Dwayne Roloson between the pipes for the Lightning. Roloson was key in defeating the Penguins even shutting them out at home in game 7. The Capitals remember vividly the late season acquisition of Roloson as he shut the Capitals out at home while still dawning Islanders pads, twice. The Lightning also have Hart candidate Martin St. Louis who will look to have a big role. Don't forget about Steven Stamkos even though it is easy to the way he finished the season and for how he has been thus far. Simon Gagne has also been a bright spot with his 7 points last round which ties him with former teammate Danny Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers for the overall lead. 

The X factor for this series will be Steven Stamkos and whether he is able to get going like he was early in the season when critics threw out the question of 50 in 50. ( 50 goals in 50 games) So far he has looked exactly like a young player playing in his first playoff series, scared. If he turns it on it could me a trip to the east finals for Tampa Bay.

The goalie battle is between 23 year-old Michal Neuvirth and 41 year-old Dwayne Roloson. If Neuvirth looks shaky Washington has only more youth behind him with Braden Holtby and Semyon Varlamov. Roloson is experienced and is looking as confident as ever and may be able to steal a few games completely on his own. The Capitals late additions could be monumental in their ability to move on in this series with Jason Arnott being added to the lineup bringing a Stanley Cup ring with him. 

Capitals in 6

                                  The Philadelphia Flyers vs The Boston Bruins

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The Philadelphia Flyers were taken to 7 games by the Buffalo Sabers mainly due to incredibly inconsistent goal tending. Ryan Miller was his usual self as he shut the Flyers out twice. In goal for the Flyers was first rookie Sergei Bobrovsky but he was unable to last past game 2. Brian Boucher was then the next to start with Leighton now backing him up and Bobrovsky sitting in the stands. When Boucher allowed three weak goals in the first period of game 5, Leighton came in relief and impressed. He would then get the nod the next night but he too only lasted the first. Boucher then regained his starting position and will now look to be the guy for Philadelphia. Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux are running the Flyers offense just how they did in the Flyers run to the finals last season. Briere has 6 goals and 7 points thus far. Chris Pronger will look to have a bigger impact in this series after only playing 2 games against the Sabers.

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The Boston Bruins are trying to forget their collapse from last season where they became the 3rd NHL team to lose a best of 7 series after having a 3-0 lead. The Bruins can't help but hear it everywhere now as they once again meet the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round. This Bruins team is much different from that one however with 7 new names on the roster. Nathan Horton and Chris Kelly have been the most important additions for them in the post season so far. Goalie Tim Thomas will also be in net this time as he once again is in the running for the Vezina trophy. The Bruins were also taken to 7 games in the first round with Montreal just falling short in overtime. The Montreal Canadians however, do not have the scoring depth that Philadelphia has and the Bruins defense will have their hands full. Mark Recchi continues to impress at the age of 43 and has no signs of slowing down. Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle will have to slow down the Flyers offense or Tim Thomas will be in trouble. 

The X factor of this series is Milan Lucic as he is yet to score a goal in these playoffs. Lucic will have to do what he does best and be physical and show why he was able to be a 30 goal scorer in the regular season. If Lucic can be that presence for the Bruins it could help them immensely in their chances to advance.

The Flyers goalie woes were an issue but the better goalie performances in other series didn't always win. Both Roberto Luongo and Antti Niemi were pulled twice in the first round but their teams still advanced. Brian Boucher will likely have to take control of the staring position if the Flyers expect to advance. 

Flyers in7

Playoff Breakdown: Eastern Conference

  With the last games of the season over the playoff picture is clear and the East needed the final day to finish the current spots.

Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals vs 8. Montreal Canadians
The Washington Capitals' offensive statistics are staggering compared to any other team in the League let alone the Eastern Conference. Starting at the top with Alex Ovechkin, (50 goals 109 points) who should have little problem doing what he does best in this series. This high powered offense includes Nicklas Backstrom (33 goals 101 points), Alex Semin (40 goals 84 points) and D man Mike Green with (19 goals 76 points).  This team is built to score and they will, a lot. Although being in the bottom 1/3 of the league in penalty killing may catch up with them but as far as this series goes it won't matter. The Montreal Canadians lie in that area of teams that make up the bottom half of the Eastern Conference to make the playoffs. Teams that were in the top 8 in their conference but were not in the top 16 of the league and are lucky to still be playing. Brian Gionta, Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri make for decent play but not enough to compete. Scott Gomez was a recent acquisition that has been a clear disappointment in what it could mean for this team if he was playing what his contract is worth. 57 points in 78 games with 47 being assists is average and not worth his 8 mill a year. Don't forget that number one seeds do get up set in hockey but not this time. 

Washington in 5

2. New Jersey Devils vs 7. Philadelphia Flyers
The New Jersey Devils look pretty good going into the postseason and Brodeur with another 40+ win season. The Devils finished the season beating out the Penguins for the division title and taking the 2 seed from Buffalo. Then on the last game of the season the Flyers beat the New York Rangers to slide in to the 7th spot and are the last team in the playoffs. The Flyers could have very easily not been here and have some serious questions marks in net. Brian Boucher has done well lately but this is a team that has not been successful when Boucher is behind the pipes. But when you look at the season series the Flyers have taken 5 of 6 and look to be the one team the Devils didn't want to see. This is why the Flyers went to get Chris Pronger whom the team named team MVP at seasons end. He carried an 8 seed Edmonton Oilers team to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in 2006. Not saying that is likely with Boucher in net but it may get them through a rough long series.

Flyers in 7

3.Buffalo Sabers vs 6. Boston Bruins
The Buffalo Sabers have won behind the incredible play of Goalie Ryan Miller and find themselves with home ice advantage in the three spot. The Sabers are not much talked about but have a goalie that can carry a team far. Derek Roy quietly scored 69 points with Tim Connolly and Jason Pominville not far behind. Boston on the other hand won their way into the playoffs at the end of the season and are looking to not be an easy out. Scoring is spaced out on this Boston team much like Buffalo but have only two 50 point players. Boston will end up with two number one draft picks to come but misses scoring from Phil Kessel. Tim Thomas has not been the same since last season but the emergence of Tuukka Rask will have him with the start even with no prior playoff experience. This series may show some surprises later but Buffalo looks to be a bit stronger and sits where Boston maybe thought they would be at the start of the season.

Buffalo in 6

4.Pittsburgh Penguins vs 5. Ottawa Senators
The Pittsburgh Penguins have an abundance of talent lead by Captain and 51 goal scorer Sidney Crosby. The team is not quite where they thought they would be at this point but no one is over looking the two-time defending Eastern Conference champs. Fluery has been inconsistent but again come playoff time he has played more time in the last two years then anyone. Ottawa Senators will miss the play of Alexi Kovalev and it's difficult to know how Elliot will play in net. The Senators do have Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza both whom had good seasons but the only other notable player to have an impact on this series is Anton Volchenkov. The Pens are much more built for the playoffs then Ottawa and shouldn't have much of a problem with them.

Pittsburgh in 5

Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is finally over and there is a lot to look at.  Not a lot of big names moved as many of those happened before the Olympic break. Names like Kovalchuk to New Jersey and Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef to Toronto. A lot of things that we knew were coming did and then some that were expected that didn't. This wasn't the craziest trade deadline day but significant changes were made and there were definite winners and losers today.

Noteworthy trades
The Phoenix Coyotes were rumored to possibly be looking to dump Peter Mueller and add some offense to their line-up. By the end of the deadline the Coyotes ended up making several moves. Most worth mentioning was that of sending Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter to Colorado for Wojtek Wolski. This is a great move for Phoenix considering the disappointing play of Mueller this season while the team is excelling. Both Wolski and Mueller are looking for new starts in their new homes. The deal that was done shortly before this one was that which brought back defenseman Derek Morris from Boston. Morris was with the Coyotes from 03-09 and was well respected in the Coyotes locker room. Also on defense for a young team going to the playoffs, the Coyotes brought in Mathieu Schneider. He may help on a power play that is ranked 29th in the league or he may not find his way on the team at all. The Coyotes were very busy today as the also added Lee Stempniak, Alexandre Picard, and Petteri Nokelainen.

The Washington Capitals added some depth as well to what is expected to be a long playoff run. The Caps high octane offense needs no help so they added D men Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina. Jurcina was previously with the club and I'm sure is happy to be back as the Caps are a top the league standings while Columbus is struggling mightily. Washington also added F Scott Walker and F Eric Belanger for 3rd line depth purposes and to help their penalty kill.

The Anaheim Ducks are looking to make a push for a playoff spot and may have helped themselves by adding Lubomir Visnovsky for Ryan Whitney and later Aaron Ward.  Vesa Toskala didn't last long as the back up as he leaves for Calgary in exchange G Curtis McElhinney. G Joey MacDonald was added as well.

The LA Kings had talk of taking F Ray Whitney and before that Ilya Kovalchuk. Instead they have brought on F Fredrik Modin and F Jeff Halpern. Not nearly the same amount of power but still improvements for a good team.

The Pittsburgh Penguins added Jordon Leopold and Alexei Ponikarovsky to their line-up making them again dangerous, especially in the East. Ponikarovsky has yet to play for the Pens as he has issues with his visa for playing in the United States. This problem should soon be resolved and the Pens will be a force in the Eastern Conference yet again come playoff time as they are looking to repeat as champions.

The Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs did their big trades prior to the Olympic break. As I mentioned earlier Toronto brought on Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef. The Flames recieved Ian White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers from Toronto while the Leafs also got Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie in addition to Phanuef. In order to bring on Giguere the Leafs also traded with Anaheim by giving up Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. The Flames started the season well but were going through a rough patch and decided to go through with the big change. They also traded away  Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik of the New York Rangers, who don't appear to be any better or worse. It is too early to tell if the Flames made the right choice but GM Brian Burke and the Maple Leafs are clearly looking to make a lot of changes and adding Phanuef and Giguere is a great start. As for the Ducks Jason Blake is a nice addition and they have already traded away G Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney.

There was a long debate on where Ilya Kovalchuk would go after turning down a $101 million deal over 12 years from Atlanta. The Kings seemed like a good fit as they would be able to possibly give him an extention and not make him simply a rental player. I personally enjoyed hearing the possibility of this as I live in Phoenix and would get to see him quite often. This deal never happened because The New Jersey Devils came in an gave the Atlanta Thrashers enough to make them give up their superstar. Although to others looking in it doesn't appear the Devils gave up that much. In the deal the Devils traded youngster Niclas Bergfors, D man Johnny Oduya, the young captain of the world junior Canadian team Patrice Cormier and a 2010 first-round pick. This deal has seemed to make the Thrashers play more like a team while the Devils struggled out of the gate. I'm still unsure whether this deal will pay dividends for the Devils this season. They will try and re-sign him after the season but that may be unlikely, so this is probably a rental situation and the Devils are going for it all this postseason.

The Chicago Blackhawks were very quiet this trade deadline however they have close to the best record in the league and shouldn't need to change much. The only question mark is whether the combo of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi is good enough to take the Hawks to the Cup. All the experts were sure the Hawks would at least attempt to make some move at the goaltender position but they didn't and we will see how that works out for them. The one move they did make was trading young defenseman Cam Barker for some experience on D in Kim Johnsson from the Minnesota Wild.


The Ottawa Senators made a couple trades that seem minor but should ensure them a playoff spot. They picked up Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton which in the East are actually good acquisitions. The Eastern Conference is close right now and some poor teams will make the playoffs. The Senators were considered a bad team to start the year but have played well as of late and have the talent to maybe upset in the early rounds but shouldn't go deep in the playoffs.

Winners
The Phoenix Coyotes for the first time were buyers at the deadline and they may have made significant progress in becoming one of the elite teams in the West. (at least for now)The Coyotes have added some scoring and solidified their defense and hope to surprise some people in this years playoffs.

The Washington Capitals made moves that should make them a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup. I'm sure they were already considered a contender but these moves at least let people know they are leaving it all on the line this year.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have added defense which come playoff time should be very beneficial. The Pens are looking to repeat and have a some what better team than last year and in the East could maybe at least still get to the finals.

It would be hard to say that the New Jersey Devils hurt themselves in any way by adding the likes of prominent 50 goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk has done little lately but it will be interesting to see what happens with him and this team come playoff time.

Losers
There were teams that were expected to make specific moves and chose not to and were considered losers on this day as they did not improve their teams in anyway.

The Philadelphia Flyers lost 1st string goalie Ray Emery for the season and were looked at to make a significant move. With many goalies available the Flyers chose not to make any moves and chose to stick with Michael Leighton as the starter, who has been on waivers 3 or 4 times in his career and that is exactly where the Flyers got him. He replaced Brian Boucher as the back-up with his play and has become the starter. The Flyers will have to look to Leighton in the playoffs even though he has never started a postseason game due to their lack of activity during the trade time period. This move or lack their of may not hurt the Flyers but only time will tell how Leighton will payoff for a team that has been searching for a franchise goalie since Ron Hextall retired.

The Edmonton Oilers have many players on their roster with large contracts that are not paying off and could have been dealt, most notably Sheldon Souray. The Oilers are last in the league but mainly due to injuries however, they could have eased the pain by unloading some money and chose not too. They did unload Visnovsky and will also probably take the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft. 


The Boston Bruins were also expected to make a move for a scorer and chose to stick with their current squad except chose to add defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. A need seemingly not necessary by the fans.

Several other moves were made as it was a busy trade deadline day however, none to important. If I didn't mention the moves made by other teams that is because the team did not improve or decrease they instead stayed the same and will probably not affect the overall standings in many ways.