BOSTON — As all NHL players knows, the playoffs are a long and grueling process, extending from the start of April to mid-June if you make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. All rounds of the playoffs are best of seven series. The players will hook, grab, and really try anything within the rules of the game to reach that final series. For some teams, their playoff pushes began back in February and have been playing at an extremely high level since.
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs featured very strong teams, all with a chance to make that final push. The match-ups in the Western Conference were Detroit Red Wings/Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks/Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild/ Colorado Avalanche, and the Dallas Stars/ Anaheim Ducks.
In the Eastern Conference, the match-ups were between Pittsburgh Penguins/Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadians/Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals/Philadelphia Flyers, and the New York Rangers/New Jersey Devils.
On paper, Detroit/Nashville appears as the most uneven series, but some timely goals and a goaltending change gave Detroit the edge. Detroit’s veteran and elite players took a quick lead in the series behind goaltender Dominic Hasek. But facing an uphill battle, Nashville’s young but hardworking team won the next two games to even the series at 2-2. This forced Detroit to make a goaltending change by replacing future Hall of Famer, Hasek, with veteran Chris Osgood. The Wing’s players got the message and won the next two games, winning the series 4-2.
The Sharks/Flames series went to seven games with the Sharks coming out victorious. The Flames put in a long, hard-fought battle, surprising the Shark’s players and their fans, too, at every turn and continued to work trying to reach the second round until the bitter end. This series had everything — scoring from all players, hard hits with the best from Corey Sarich (Flames) on Sharks captain Patrick Marleau leaving him bloody skating towards his bench, and the goaltending of Nabobov and Kiprusoff, leading their respective teams in the series. The Sharks ended up winning 4-3 through some timely goals and great goaltending.
The Minnesota/Colorado series was full of ups and downs for both teams; but in the end, it was the Av’s goaltender, Jose Theodore, that kept his team in contention and lifted them to a victory in six games. The Av’s hadn’t been playing well down the stretch while the Wild had been, so it was somewhat of a surprise when Colorado came out of this series relatively unscathed and ready to take on their next opponent. With Theodore’s goaltending, Peter Forsberg contributing offensively, and Joe Sakic looking like his old self, the Av’s will make a real playoff push towards the Finals.
The Stars/Ducks series had everything, as well, and every single second was highly entertaining. The defending Stanley Cup champs had their hands full with a Dallas team who had something to prove, especially goalie Marty Turco, who had some critics to silence in terms of actually being able to win a playoff series. Turco was brilliant the entire time, allowing his team to scrap their way to a game 6, in which we all found out that there will definitely be a new champ this year, as the Ducks were knocked out of contention.
The Montreal/Boston series had all the makings of great, old-time hockey, and they didn’t disappoint. Montreal was the heavy favorite, as the Bruins had limped their way into the playoffs and seemed to be almost at a standstill by the time the regular season ended; whereas in contrast, the Canadians were flying high on the strength of rookie goaltender Carey Price and their phenomenal play down the stretch to grab the top spot in the East. However, after jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, Montreal allowed the Bruins to surge back and force a game 7, finally eliminating Boston in a decisive fashion with a 5-0 shutout.
The Penguins/Senators didn’t even really have a series, as Ottawa pretty much didn’t even show up. It looked like the Sen’s players out there, and they were wearing Senators uniforms, but the Penguins dominated in every single aspect of this series from start to finish, ending before everyone else (practically before some of the series even got started) by sweeping the Senators under the rug and trampling on it for good measure. All the Pen’s young stars showed up, and they looked like they were trying to prove that they’re the team to beat in the East.
The Flyers/Caps series featured the games’ most exciting players. Alexander Ovechkin made his first playoff appearance in his very young, three-year, pro career. The Flyers took an early 3-1 lead on a very young and inexperienced Caps team. But as the series moved so did the Caps comfort level and confidence in being a playoff team. They battled back, forcing game 7 with some very inspiring play from their players. Game 7 was a heartbreaker for the Caps, having battled back in the 3rd period to force OT, only to be beaten on the power play by Philly’s Joffery Lupul at 6:10 into the extra time, losing the series 4-3.
The last series, Rangers/Devils, was a battle of old rivals with the Rangers looking for revenge after being swept by the Devils in the 1st round two years ago. Through the great goaltending of the Rangers Henrik Lundvqist, and timely scoring, they jumped to a 2-0 lead. At home, the Ranger’s played inspired but ended up losing one to take a 3-1 lead in the series. New York had beaten the Devils all year except for one game, and that momentum carried over into the playoffs, because it didn’t take long for the Rangers to shut New Jersey down and head on over to the next round. New York has a lot of firepower and made easy work of the Devils winning the series 4-1.
With the first round over, the Conference Semifinals begin Thursday, April 24 with Detroit playing Colorado and Montreal playing the Flyers. The Rangers will play Pittsburgh and San Jose will play Dallas starting Friday the 25th. Each series should be even more competitive with the stakes even higher.