OK, hockey fans, it's that time of year again! It's time for the most difficult tournament, and most glorious trophy, to win. It's time for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs! Here are the first round match-ups and their seedings... EASTERN CONFERENCE (1) Washington Capitals vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens (2) New Jersey Devils vs. (7) Philadelphia Flyers (3) Buffalo Sabres vs. (6) Boston Bruins (4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) Ottawa Senators WESTERN CONFERENCE (1) San Jose Sharks vs. (8) Colorado Avalanche (2) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (7) Nashville Predators (3) Vancouver Canucks vs. (6) Los Angeles Kings (4) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (5) Detroit Red Wings ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post your predictions below, and we'll see how we stack up against each other. Then after each round, I'll post the next set of match-ups and we'll pick again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington over Montreal in 5 Philadelphia over New Jersey in 7 Buffalo over Boston in 6 Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5 San Jose over Colorado in 6 Chicago over Nashville in 5 Vancouver over Los Angeles in 6 Detroit over Phoenix in 4
Washington over Montreal in 6 New Jersey Philadelphia in 6 Boston over Buffalo in 7 Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5 San Jose over Colorado in 5 Chicago over Nashville in 6 Los Angeles over Vancouver in 7 Detroit over Phoenix in 6
Washington over Montreal in 5 New Jersey over Philadelphia in 5 Buffalo over Boston in 6 Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 4 San Jose over Colorado in 7 Chicago over Nashville in 5 Vancouver over Los Angeles in 5 Detroit over Phoenix in 6
Washington in 7 New Jersey in 6 Buffalo in 5 Ottawa in 7 San Jose in 7 Chicago in 4 Vancouver in 6 Phoenix in 6
EASTERN CONFERENCE Washington Capitals 4, Montreal Canadiens 0. New Jersey Devils 4, Philadelphia Flyers 2 Buffalo Sabres 4, Boston Bruins 1 Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Ottawa Senators 2 WESTERN CONFERENCE San Jose Sharks 4, Colorado Avalanche 2 Chicago Blackhawks 4, Nashville Predators 1 Los Angeles Kings 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 Detroit Red Wings 4, Phoenix Coyotes 3
Washington over Montreal in 5 New Jersey over Philadelphia in 6 Boston over Buffalo in 7 Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 6 San Jose over Colorado in 6 Nashville over Chicago in 6 Vancouver over Los Angeles in 7 Detroit over Phoenix in 5
EASTERN CONFERENCE Washington Capitals 4, Montreal Canadiens 0. New Jersey Devils 4, Philadelphia Flyers 2- Im a devils fan and this is the 1 matchup I did not want. I'm praying it goes like this Buffalo Sabres 4, Boston Bruins 1 Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Ottawa Senators 2 WESTERN CONFERENCE San Jose Sharks 4, Colorado Avalanche 3 Chicago Blackhawks 4, Nashville Predators 2 Vancouver Canucks 4, LA Kings 2 Detroit Red Wings 4, Phoenix Coyotes 3 Nothing like playoff hockey.
Capitals in 5 Devils in 7 Sabres in 6 Penguins in 5 Sharks in 6 Blackhawks in 5 Canucks in 6 Coyotes in 7
Washington over Montreal in 6 New Jersey over Philadelphia in 6 Buffalo over Boston in 5 Pittsburgh over Ottawa 7 San Jose over Colorado in 4 Chicago over Nashville in 6 Los Angeles over Vancouver in 6 (Upset special?) Phoenix over Detroit in 7 (Double upset special)
Washington over Montreal in 5 Philadelphia over New Jersey in 6 Boston over Buffalo in 6 Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 7 San Jose over Colorado in 6 Chicago over Nashville in 6 Vancouver over Los Angeles in 7 Phoenix over Detroit in 7
Washington over Montreal in 6 New Jersey over Philadelphia in 7 Buffalo over Boston in 6 Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 7 San Jose over Colorado in 6 Chicago over Nashville in 6 Vancouver over Los Angeles in 6 Detroit over Phoenix in 7
Some surprises last night...SJ in a tough spot already. First Round (Best-of-7) WAS vs MTL NJ 0, PHI 1 BUF vs BOS PIT 0, OTT 1 SJ 0, COL 1 CHI vs NAS VAN vs LA PHX 1, DET 0
Aside from feeling like a kid again and having my Whalers back in action... not being able to follow your team in the NHL playoff's sucks. No Oilers, Isles or even Panthers.... dammit ! I'm going to simply put my feet up and soak as much of the action in as I can. Darkhorse selection.... Buffalo Better not be in finals .... Penguins Truly, I'm pulling for you ... Senators I feel for Doan but aside from him and maybe JoVo... I so hate the Coyotes. They are Bettman on ice and aren't even savy enough to get past stealing an old tradition (white out) and create something new.... the home team doesn't even play in white anymore for the love of God ! I've never rooted for the Wings before but this season I hope there's at least some 1st round joy in Hockeytown USA.
No-vechkin did absolutely nothing last night. They're saying he's injured, but dude has to suck it up. Caps lose to the Habs...as a Leafs fan, i wanted this series over in 4. Ovie better wake up.
Uh there's more to this team than him. Add to it the Caps are 5-5-3 against trapping teams and you have to adjust the tactics. I love when people nail a guy who has 4, 50 goal seasons out of his first 5 years and this year lost 10 games due to injuries and suspensions with the Olympics and then have the audacity to say he's not as good a player. Or he doesn't show up in big games. Team's win these things not individual players; if that was the case Sundin would have 5 by now. As to the injury that's bull; he needs to do better and use his linemates simply put.
He's not hurt, he just did not show up. The Caps will come back with a better effort and I bet you will see more straight foward hockey. Halak stole game 1, and he will need to be just as good. I was late on the predictions, but I have Caps 5 Devils 7 Sabres 6 Pens 6 Sharks 5 Hawks 6 Canucks 7 Wings 7
Nice to see Ovie show up last night. Thought MTL was going to walk over them, but they showed some grit and came back. Ovie with 4 points. L.A with a nice OT win as well. We might see all 7 game series...gotta love the parity in the league. First Round (Best-of-7) MTL 1, WAS 1 PHI 1, NJ 1 BUF 1, BOS 1 OTT 1, PIT 1 COL 1, SJ 1 NAS 1, CHI 0 VAN 1, LA 1 PHX 1, DET 1
How about the game by Backstrom? He seems to show up more than Ovie come playoff time. I know Ovie gets all the attention on that team (and rightfully so), but Backstrom is a playoff beast. However, now the goaltending is in question. Theodore looked shaky to begin with, now Varlamov doesn't look to be too good either. The longer this series goes, the more I favor Montreal. Washington is going to be under a ton of pressure to succeed. If they can't get to the Conference Finals, the Caps will start to be called "San Jose Sharks East". Also, it's great to see all of the games being played really close. There have been no blowouts so far, which makes for great hockey. If things continue to play out like this for the rest of the playoffs, these playoffs could go down as one of the best in NHL history.
Backstrom is a RFA next year too...he's going to make serious coin. He's really good. Wash really should of made a deal for a goalie at the trade deadline. That was the huge hurdle heading into the playoffs. Theo wasn't reliable and Bruce doesn't believe in him. If Wash fail this year, it's bc they didn't go after a goalie. I wouldn't categorize Wash as SJ just yet...i'd give then another year to make a run. As talented as Ovie is...i don't think he will ever lead a team to the Cup. Dosen't have the heart of a Crosby.
Doesn't have the heart of Crosby? That made me laugh. Backstrom and Ovechkin compliment each other. How many times have you heard, oh we need to find a winger for Crosby, oh we need to find a center for Jarome Iginla. Well Washington has an elite center and an elite winger, any surprise they combined for 200+ points? I think you'll see a deal for Backstrom in the Patrick Kane $6 million range. Backstrom was drafted 4th, behind Erik Johnson, Toews and Jordan Staal in 2006. What a draft eh? None of those goals were Theodore's fault. The Capitals came out completely flat, with no energy again, thinking that they would win the game just by getting dressed. The first goal took a deflection off a stick, the second was from the slot, wide open. You can't give an NHL player a shot from the slot and not expect bad things. These are the best playoffs I have seen in awhile, some absolutely engrossing end to end stuff in every series from Detroit-Phoenix to last nights Los Angeles-Vancouver game.
Triple header today on TSN! Really good games thus far - this is the best time (Olympics aside) to be a hockey fan. Ovechkin and Backstrom awaken after the Habs almost put their feet to the Caps neck leading 2-0 - Backstrom and Kostitsyn both with hattricks. Vancouver making dumb mistakes up 2-0 and squander their home ice advantage as a result. Doughty was excellent for the Kings.
And as a Caps fan the two guys that have cost us before were in those plays. Poti tends to get better with the playoffs but makes critical mental mistakes game 1 and the stick on the ice because he wasn't close to the man and Green has his problems too with following the puck not the man game 1 and last night again. As for the Backstrom deal; I'd say 6 million or go with a long term deal like for 8 years to keep both him and Semin in DC for a time. We all know Corvo, Walker, and Belanger are rentals for the end of the season.
I am less convinced about giving Semin a long term deal, Backstrom I would lock up for the next century. He is one of the top 10 players in the game.
