There's some more fun to be had. Predictions: Ottawa 4 Philly 2: Flyers worn down from the first round struggle, but will put up a fight before going down to the more mobile Senators. NJ 4 TB 2: Lightning speed may cause headaches, but the Devils prevail in the end with a better D behind Brodeur. Dallas 4 Anaheim 3: Jiggy keeps playing well but doesn't completely stand on his head. Stars sqeak by. No idea about Vancouver-Minnesota, but I'll go with Canucks in 7.
How would ABC like an Ottawa/Vancouver final? From the East I want either Ottawa or Tampa. From the West I want Minnesota or anyone but Dallas.
Not well..... Although I'm sure HNIC would be happy with it. My picks... Ottawa - Philly Sens in 5 - Sens D won't cough puck up like T.O and their speed will keep Philly on its heels. Philly should have put 5 or 6 past the Leafs every game. The fact that they didn't has me wondering about their ability to do so against a good team and Ottawa is a VERY good team. Jersey - Tampa Jersey in 7 I agree that Tampa will make this one interesting, but I think the Devils experience will win the day. Tampa’s best is yet to come...love that St. Louis! Dallas- Ducks POP! - what's that? The bubble bursting. Dallas in 5. They are just a better team that is in its playoff zone. Dallas has to be the Cup favorite now that Detroit and Colorado are out... Vancouver - Minnesota Canucks in 6 - Vancouver is the better team and they will be able to skate with the Wild a little better than the Avs did. Interesting series between two youngish teams. Don't count the winner of this one out in conference final. When was the last time the west final didn't have either Detroit or Colorado?????
If this season series is any indication, this matchup has all the potential to be like a Philly-Toronto matchup than anything else. The teams had some absolute wars during the regular season, with lots of bad blood, chippiness & general mayhem. Lemaire's press conference today was filled with Jacques constant references to Vancouver having in his opinion the best line in the NHL today....he then threw in a couple of "we can't stop 'em - we can only hope to contain 'em" cliches. I think he agrees with you, SweetOwnGoal The winner of this series a). will take 7 games to put away the opposition and b). will whup the Stars in the conference final.
Thank you!!! TB and jersey- Devils in 6- The devils are the better team, and have more experience, yet the lightning are gonna put up a fight, they still havnt played what their capable off Ottawa-Philly Sens in 6- it hink ottawa learned their lesson form a couple years ago..and philly's goaltendind is gonna drop....bye bye czehcmenik stars and ducks Stars in 6- Anaheims hot goaltending is gonna stop once turgeon and guerin get going. hot goaltendind can only do so much if your defense is getting its ass beaten. nucks and wild nucks in 6- both comin off big comebacks, but vancouver is better in every catogery, there way bigger, and theres really nobody to stop bertuzzi.
Ottawa - Philadelphia 4-2 The stats are speaking an entirely different language though: Ottawa reached round 2 for the third time and yet are 0/2 in there. Quite in contrast to Philly - since the introduction of the conference playoff mode, they are 6/7 in round 2 (just Florida 96 is the exception). Only direct playoff meeting was won by Ottawa last year though (4-1) New Jersey - Tampa Bay 4-1 No playoff meeting yet. Bolts just reached them for the second time and now survived their first series. Good luck to them, but the Devils are high favourites also given their round 2 stats of 5/6 since conference playoffs exist (exception NY Rangers 97) Dallas - Anaheim 4-2 Well, Anaheim is outsider, as well as against Detroit. Theird playoffs, second Round 2 participation (0/1); no playoff meeting with the Stars. Dallas is 3/5 in round 2 games. Vancouver - Minnesota 4-3 Naturally no playoff meeting yet as the Wild have their first playoff appearance. Vancouver is 2/4 in round 2; first second round for them since 1995.
My (totally) biased predictions: Flyers/Sens -- Flyers in 6, because they have much better uniforms, and because they're my favorite team Devils/Bolts -- Devils in 5, because, well, they're the Devils Canucks/Wild -- Canucks in 7, because I live near Vancouver and Bertuzzi is a man amongst children (that hit in the 1st period of game 7 was Scott Stevens-esque) Stars/Ducks -- They both have green in their uniforms, so this is a tough call. I'll go with the upset: Ducks in 6, because, lame as their mascot is, its still better than Dallas'.
This Tampa-NJ game may be zip-zip for a long ass while. Neither team's giving a thing, and both goalies look like they're in the groove.
3 quick goals by the Devils made the lightning look like amatures, however if the Lightning have proved anything this playoff year, is that they're quick learners. It will be interesting to see how they bounce back.
If they do what they did in the parts of periods 1-2 that I saw they'll be competitive. If period 3's a sign of things to come, they likely won't make it past game 5 if at all. Here we go again: another long ass OT game with the Ducks. They need this more than Dallas, especially after giving up that odd late goal.
I agree. The Devils and we NJ fans should not be lulled into a sense of complacency by the 3-0 scoreline... BTW, I'm pulling for Anaheim both as the underdog and the fact I was more a fan of Sykora in NJ that I was of Arnott (even though they were on the same line).
Man Fvck this. fvcking Dallas Stars make me stay up this late to watch them lose to a half-assed breakaway shot by the fvcking Ducks. I'd rather sleep thanks you stupid Stars. Thanks for letting me down *********************s. Oh, they called the goal back. Well what the fvck i wanted to go to bed dammit. this is so damn stupid. Okay, i guess i'm done with my hardnosed analysis for now.
If you are still watching the Stars-Ducks game and are in the Eastern or Central Time Zones (or further east??) , my hat's off to you. You're a hard-core hockey nut.
I am one of the nuts who watched this entire match. Though I did fall asleep briefly during the 4th overtime. Okay somebody just give Giguerre the MVP trophy right now- even if the Ducks get eliminated, this guy come up huge now in two multi-overtime games against the two elite teams of the NHL. He's now 5-0, another 50-jazillion save performance, and his GAA has got to be under 1.50. This guy does not give up when in the overtime.
4th longest playoff game in NHL history. Okay, new prediction: the Ducks win the cup in 16 games Btw. is the MVP of the regular season already determined?
I believe so. It's voted completely independent of the playoffs. I think it's announced at the awards dinner in T.O. in June.
Hmm.....Angels beat the Yankees last year and go on to win the World Series. Duck so far have eliminated the Red Wings and have won game 1 against the Stars. Have the Disney conspiracy theories come out yet or are we just gonna assume the Anaheim teams are actually good?
The latter. The Ducks are a lot deeper then they've ever been, wheras before they were Kariya, a couple of borderline dirty blueliners, and little else. Their patient then quick attack style's working to perfection thus far.