Round one of the NHL Playoffs is in the books, and there are now just eight teams who can still set their sails toward Lord Stanley's Cup. The Lightning closed out the Red Wings 2-0 in Game 7 Wednesday night to close out the first round. Those fans in Detroit join their brokenhearted brethren in Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver, St. Louis, Nashville, and yes- Long Island (at least the pockets of LI who aren't pro-Rangers.)
So what did we learn in the first round? Well, the higher seeds ran the table in the East (despite Tampa and Washington needing 7-game marathons to do so.) While the West was appropriately wild- three lower seeds overcame home ice disadvantage to oust their foes.
The blog's first round picks were passable- thumbs up on the Rangers/Canadiens/Lightning/Ducks/Flames/Blackhawks; thumbs down on the Blues and You-Know-Who-landers.
And now that we've mentioned them, a quick aside on this season...
Simply incredible. The Isles made some offseason splashes, had folks wondering if there was something coming together for the organization, and then BAM. They won four straight at the start of the season, never let too many cold streaks hit them across the long season, and transformed themselves from a lottery team into a perennial playoff squad that's only going to get better as their insanely young core grows and matures.
Which is why the whole move sucks. So much. It's been beaten into the ground, and very few outside of LI want to hear about this while there's still a Stanley Cup to be won in the coming weeks, but being at all three Nassau Coliseum games gave me such a thrill. A thrill that I just cannot believe will be missed out by future generations of Long Islanders.
Driving along Hempstead Turnpike and seeing the outside video board that simply hasn't been operational for months and months....the entire 16,000+ seat building being accessible via just one concourse....the concessions/bathroom anarchy that results from aforementioned 16,000+ seat building having just one concourse...being able to literally touch/whack/bludgeon the low-hanging ceiling from the top rows, while still having a ridiculously good view of the action...the hundreds of rhythmic car horns sounding "BEEP-BEEP-BEEPBEEPBEEP" to the tune of "Lets-Go-Is-Lan-Ders!"...
It was something special for each and every fan. Right, attendance wasn't great throughout the past several seasons. Correct, several bandwagon fans hopped aboard for the playoff push. But for a team who hasn't won a playoff series in 22 years (by far the highest drought in the NHL- only 5 teams have streaks longer than 10 years), even the bandwagoners haven't had it easy!
The Brooklyn era awaits, and I will begrudgingly welcome it with open arms. After all, as I've learned with Bud Light Lime, The Big Bang Theory, and zumba... "Don't knock it til ya try it." But not-knocking is a far cry from "better experience than the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum." Because the Brooklyn atmosphere is never topping what went down those last three playoff games in Uniondale.
...
Still with me? Good. Great! On to the second round. Let's take a look at who will still be standing as eight becomes four over the next couple weeks....
EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1M New York Rangers (113 points) vs. #2M Washington Capitals (101 points)
Season Series: Rangers won three out of four games, all in regulation.
Stanley Cup Odds: Rangers 3/1 (best in NHL); Capitals 10/1 (7th best)
Relevant Mighty Ducks Quote: "THE GOA-LIEEEEEEEEE!!" - Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson, D2
Round One Roundup: Is Henrik Lundqvist of this planet? ; Can the Caps conquer New York?
Round Two Breakdown: As many Ranger fans can attest, that was no ordinary five-game romp over Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby went Sid Vicious in Game 2, tying the series as it shifted to Pittsburgh. But three consecutive 2-1 victories- with the final two coming in overtime- thrust the Rangers into the second round. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist was unbelievable in every sense- completely shutting down the Penguins as the Blueshirt offense did just enough. Can he continue it against the potent Capitals attack?
If you're a Washington fan, you pick between two mindsets. Door number one: "The Islanders effectively shut down superstar Alex Ovechkin for much of the series, and Long Island was without three of their best defensemen. We're screwed against this Ranger blueline!" Door number two: "Ovechkin was facing some serious monkeys on his back and was just pressing. He won't be held down two series in a row...look out, Rangers."
The Capitals have some serious playoff bones to pick with the Rangers. With this being the best regular season NYR team since the 1994 Cup run, nothing would give Ovechkin and the boys more joy than ousting them. Braden Holtby would have to be terrific- as he was for much of Round One.
But in the end, the Rangers just have too much. As good as Holtby has been, the fear of burnout is still ever-present. And even on his best day, he's not Lundqvist. Rick Nash, Derrick Brassard, etc. give the Rangers enough to solve the Caps defense. Washington's spirit will be willing, but the body will be weak.
The Pick: Rangers in Five
#1A Montreal Canadiens (110 points) vs. #2A Tampa Bay Lightning (108 points)
Season Series: Lightning won ALL five games.
Stanley Cup Odds: Canadiens 6/1 (5th best); Lightning 8/1 (6th best)
Relevant Mighty Ducks Quote: "12 to 1. 12...to...1. You know what word comes to mind when I think of that? PATHETIC!" - Gordon Bombay, D2
Round One Roundup: Did Montreal needlessly miss out on valuable rest? ; Did Tampa's marathon series exhaust them, or allow them to grow up?
The Breakdown: The two squads who battled for Atlantic Division supremacy throughout the six-plus months of the regular season finally get to duke it out in the playoffs. It's time to pick your cup of tea when watching this series- do you want the best scoring offense (Tampa) or the NHL's best 2015 goalie and surefire MVP (Montreal's Carey Price)? Rarely do you see a team earn 110 points in a season and get blanked five times by the same opponent during that season...but good grief the young Lightning must be sky high with confidence.
In what many (present company included) thought would be a relative stomping, Detroit gave Tampa all they could handle.But goalie Ben Bishop lived up to the billing in his game 7 shutout. Incomprehensibly, Tampa won a seven-game series with superstar Steven Stamkos being held without a goal. That will need to change in a hurray if the Lightning are going to solve Price and the Canadien defense.
These teams truly are neck and neck. At the end of the day, though, I see the Eastern Conference coming down to the best goalie of the past decade (Lundqvist) facing off against the unquestioned king of Goaltending 2015 (Price).
The Pick: Canadiens in Seven
WESTERN CONFERENCE:
#1P Anaheim Ducks (109 points) vs. #3P Calgary Flames (97 points)
Season Series: Ducks won three out of five games.
Stanley Cup Odds: Ducks 4.5/1 (2nd best); Flames 12/1 (8th best)
Relevant Mighty Ducks Quote: "Yes sir, Mr. Ducksworth. Quack Quack QUACK QUACK QUACK, Mr. Ducksworth!" - Gordon Bombay, D1
Round One Roundup: Are the Ducks finally living up the the hype? ; Is Calgary content just winning a round, or are they primed for an underdog run?
Round Two Breakdown: Was there even a Ducks-Jets series? Did I miss it? Was it cool?
The Winnipeg fans gave their squad a hearty salute at home after the Ducks swept them four games straight, but despite one overtime game it really wasn't much of a battle. Frederick Anderson was tremendous in goal for the Quackers, who now take on a Calgary team that out-bullied and out-hustled and most, importantly, out-scored the higher seeded Canucks in Round One.
Jonas Hiller, now with Calgary, goes up against the squad where he enjoyed the most success in his career. Jiri Hudler and Johnny Gaudreau were phenomenal against the Canucks, but it's hard to see that continuing against what appears to be a no-nonsense version of the Ducks. Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Ryan Kesler lead an attack that will be just too much for the Flames to handle. Though they provided plenty of thrills against Vancouver, the Calgary Flames just don't have the look of a final-four team.
The Pick: Ducks in Six.
#3C Chicago Blackhawks (102 points) vs. (WC) Minnesota Wild (100 points)
Season Series: Blackhawks won three out of five games
Stanley Cup Odds: Blackhawks 4.5/1 (3rd best); Wild 5/1 (4th best)
Relevant Mighty Ducks Quote: "I told Coach Orion that you were the heart of the team...and that you would learn something from each other. I told him that you were the real Minnesota Miracle Man. So be that man, Charlie. Be that man." - Gordon Bombay, D3
Round One Roundup: Who the heck plays goalie for Chicago? ; Can Minnesota continue to be goal-scoring maniacs?
Round Two Breakdown: The must-watch series of Round Two. Chicago has all the talent in the world throughout their roster, but their one apparent blemish is where...you never ever want to have the blemish. Corey Crawford is the proven Cup winner, but lays an egg in Game One. Backup Scott Darling went on to pull the game out of the fire, and yet the Blackhawks went back to Crawford in Game Two- only to get blasted 6-2 by Nashville. Then they hand the keys to Darling, who wins games three and four before taking his own beatdown in Game 5. Crawford wins Game six, and Chicago advances in "what the heck do we do here?" fashion.
In comes the Zach Parise-led Minnesota attack, which ripped the heavily favored Blues defense to shreds in Round One. but the story of the series was goalie Devan "Get The Tables" Dubnyk, who put on a fantastic Jeckyll & Hyde routine. When he was good, he was great (four goals total surrendered in Wild's four wins.) When he was bad, he was an albatross (10 goals surrendered in two losses.)
So do we trust the greatness and playoff moxy of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, etc. to make up for the goaltending wackiness in Chicago? In a word, NO!
Three higher seeded teams advance this round, and one plucky Minnesota Wild squad crashes the party as well. Be those men, Minnesota...Be those men.
The Pick: Wild in Seven
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the second round action!!
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