There is nothing like playoff hockey...nothing. It is without a doubt the most intense and riveting time in the NHL year and unlike other sports it's demanding for weeks on end as the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup is on the line. Soon 4 teams will be left and looking at the current series it's hard not to think that it will look like this:
Dallas Vs. Detroit
Pittsburgh Vs. Philadelpha
Right now Pittsburgh is up 3-0 over The New York Rangers as is Dallas over the San Jose Sharks and same with Detroit and Colorado. I am not shocked with Detroit beating the Avalanche, but I am superbly surprised with Dallas just dominating San Jose and I am equally impressed with the way that my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins are anihilating the Rangers. So here's the skinny...
Pittsburgh Vs. New York
Pittsburgh is just dominating every aspect of the game, but most importantly their penalty killing is TOP NOTCH right now and they are doing everything they can to keep the puck away from Fleury. However, if the Pens are ready for the Cup they need to do a few more things right, including maintaining a strong 2nd period presence and they also need to keep moving forward when they have a 2 goal lead. They also need their entire team to step it up, which some of them are, but guys like Ryan Whitney are just playing terrible! He needs to be benched for a game or two as he is not producing defensively or offensively right now. The fact that the Pens have scored 5 goals in 2 different games against Henrik Lundqvist is just astonishing and shows the type of firepower the team has!
Philadelpha Vs. Montreal
I really expected Montreal to bowl over Philly, but the Flyers figured out something that the Bruins started to figure out late in their series, which is the weakness of the Canadian defense and also the glove hand of rookie Carey Price. But that doesn't mean that this series is over as it's only a 2-1 lead right now for Philly. The goaltending of Martin Biron has been stellar for the Flyers, but Montreal has explosive power and they have been ringing the goal pipe alot lately, it's really a series that will depend heavily on each teams goaltending and how many goals they can get by without running out of steam. I look for Montreal to make this series a bit longer than the others, so look for this series to go all 7!
Dallas Vs. San Jose
San Jose is getting it's goose cooked for sure in this series, mainly because of Dallas' ability to move the puck and constantly go towards the net. This is a team that is not afraid to crash the net and turn every opportunity into a scoring one. They also have the entire team constributing, but guys like Morrow, Ribeiro, and Richards are all staying hot too! San Jose has the firepower, but they just seem unorganized right now and like the series against Calgary they are giving the other team too much room to work with!
Colorado Vs. Detroit
Colorado is just not match for Detroits offensive prowess and tight defense, plus Osgood is truly playing well and with Colorado not 100% in this series it's unlikely that they'll win the next 4 straight, if not impossible. Detroit is the likely candidate to get to the final Cup series, but they need to stay healthy and Osgood needs to stay confident.
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