2008 Stanley Cup playoffs - first round

[CanadianChris 0]

The quest for the Holy Grail begins again...

 

The playoff matchups are now completely set. On paper, this looks to be a very competitive and entertaining postseason.

 

EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Montréal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - Montréal swept season series 8-0

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - Ottawa won season series 3-1

(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - Season series tied 2-2

(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - New York won season series 7-1

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - Detroit won season series 5-3

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - Calgary won season series 3-1

(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - Minnesota won season series 5-3

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - Dallas won season series 5-3

[treble 0]

I wanted Ottawa/Washington, but whatever.

 

East:

Montreal, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York

 

West:

Detroit, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas

 

I think I'll pick a Penguins/Sharks final.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I feel really good about this series. It feels like today the Rangers just sort of got a loss to the Devils out of their system. Sort of. I don't know. Regardless, Lundqvist dominates the Devils.

 

 

Montreal, Pittsburgh, Washington, New York

 

Detroit, Calgary, Minnesota, Anaheim.

[the max 0]

I really don't care whether the Bruins win or lose, I just hope they put up a fight and not let the Scabs cakewalk. They're really in a great spot for the series, all of the pressure is on Montreal and all the Bruins have to do is play their game and get some playoff experience for the kids.

 

Interesting sidenote: this will be Marc Savard's first postseason.

[Zetterberg is God 0]

Nashville could be a tough series but I do believe the Wings can win if Hasek is solid and they have the secondary scoring working for them. Health is also a major issue but hopefully they get no trouble in that department.

[Nightwing 0]

EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Montréal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - Montréal in 5 games. Sorry max, but I can only give one game to the Bruins. The Habs are just rolling right now, and Boston isn't the team to stop them.

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - Pittsburgh in 5 games. Ottawa is just way too much of a mess, and the Penguins are playing well right now.

(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - Washington in 6 games. Washington is playing great, and Ovechkin is going to get out of the first round.

(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - New York in 7 games. This matchup has all the markings of a drag-out series.

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - Detroit in 5 games. Preds are decent, but Detroit is a much better team than they were last year. They'll get through to the next round.

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - Calgary in 6 games. My big upset. San Jose seems like a team that is destined to look great, but never be great. Calgary could pull an upset here.

(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - Colorado in 7. Dunno why, but Colorado feels like it could go somewhere. The Wild are like the St. Louis Blues of old: They'll get to the playoffs, but they don't feel like are going anywhere after that.

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - Anaheim in 6 games. Dallas is tanking right now, but with the Ducks anemic offense they'll take two games at the very least.

 

I'll dream and take a Detroit/Montréal final.

[Broward83 0]

Stars VS Penguins.

 

Want: Stars in 5

Will concede to: Penguins in 5

[migoli 0]

The way I see it the NHL playoffs always seem to be such a crap shoot I dont ever even try to predict

[cd213 0]

EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Montréal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - Montréal swept season series 8-0

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - Ottawa won season series 3-1

(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - Season series tied 2-2

(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - New York won season series 7-1

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - Detroit won season series 5-3

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - Calgary won season series 3-1

(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - Minnesota won season series 5-3

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - Dallas won season series 5-3

 

EASTERN:

Monteal in 6

Penguins in 6

Flyers in 5

Rangers in 7

 

WESTERN:

Red Wings in 5

Sharks in 6

Avalanche in 6

Stars in 5

 

I would love a Rangers/Red Wings final. I think that could help hockey so much right now.

[CanadianChris 0]

I have:

 

Canadiens in 5

Penguins in 7

Capitals in 6

Rangers in 5

 

Red Wings in 5

Sharks in 5

Avalanche in 6

Stars in 6

 

If the Senators can't make it to the final, then I want to see the Canadiens and the Red Wings. You best believe I'll be at the Bell Centre for a Cup final game if at all possible.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I really don't care whether the Bruins win or lose, I just hope they put up a fight and not let the Scabs cakewalk. They're really in a great spot for the series, all of the pressure is on Montreal and all the Bruins have to do is play their game and get some playoff experience for the kids.

 

Interesting sidenote: this will be Marc Savard's first postseason.

 

Really about Savard? Yeah, I guess that makes sense - none with the B's last year, then the Thrash and Flames when they both sucked.

 

That's also a really interesting point about the pressure on the Habs.

 

Habs in five..

Penguins in six. Ottawa can't possibly be as disorganized as they have been the last month, but it's easy to overlook how much playoff experience there is on the Pens.

Caps in five. Washington this hot? This series is all theirs.

Rangers in six. It's weird to not pick New Jersey in the first round - they've really been the Detroit of the East for as long as I can remember. Still, 1-7? They'll play better than that, but they're not beating the Rangers.

 

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

Wings in five.

Flames in seven. This one should be good. The Flames underachieved in the playoffs last year, the Sharks have for about five or six years. The Flames are probably the worst draw the Sharks could have got.

Wild in five. This might be the best series of the opening eight.

Ducks in four. The season series doesn't matter. Dallas has been a mess for a few weeks now.

[Red Baron 0]

Habs in five

Pens in four

Caps in six

Rangers in seven as five of the games will go into OT.

 

Wings in four

Sharks in seven

Avs in six

Stars in seven.

[garfieldsnose 0]

Can't wait for this to start. Flyers will up their game and I am confident they will take out the Caps. If not, I will eat crow.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

My goal for these playoffs is to watch more than 4 minutes of a Ducks and Sharks game. Now, if there's some streaming video on an official website, that's good, but I'll probably get that bullcrap "this is not available in your region" message. I'd hate to have to watch the road to the best playoff matchup ever a day late in clips on youtube.

 

Maybe I'll just read the game recaps as if they were erotic fiction novelletes. A simple play by play isn't enough, I have to imagine it all unfold before me. I'll close my eyes, and see before me the strong, yet tender wrists of Teemu sneaking a steal from a Star, and then witness Cheechoo go all the way up to Dynasty Station, before falling to LA. And after every recap I'll feel guilty, but will just get that feeling back when a game has finished.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I'd like to see Ottawa-Anaheim again, just so I can hear Bryan Murray say "Selanne" again.

 

I can't get over the contrast of my opinion on Washington now, compared to a month ago. What a remarkable stretch of hockey.

[Red Baron 0]

Ovechkin officially wins the Art Ross and Maurice Richard Trophy. Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood wins the William M. Jennings trophy.

 

 

Can we say that Alex-O is the guaranteed winner of the Hart? Lindstrom the Norris?

 

The only ones that are close are the Jack Adams award (Babcock, Carbonneau and Bourdreau are most likely the nominees.) and the Calder Trophy (Toews, Kane and Backstrom)

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

The Vezina could go a few different ways either - Nabokov, Broduer, Kipper, Lundqvist, and even Luongo, Giguere and Ward could all be candidates. It's probably gonna be really close between Nabokov and Lundqvist after looking at the stats - I didn't realise he had that many shutouts.

[Nightwing 0]

Lidstrom is a no-contest for the Norris. Just look at his stats, his play, and you know that he already has it. The way he is playing, I wouldn't doubt that he'll surpass Orr's record for the Norris (Causing Don Cherry to have an aneurysm on-camera). It's still amazing that he's the first European player to win the Norris, and that he started getting them in 2001. I also have heard talk of him being up for the Hart, which would not be a bad choice, either.

 

But Ovechkin will probably win it for his incredible performance to get the Caps in the Playoffs. And let's face it: that's a lot flashier and more noticeable than what Lidstrom has done.

 

I think it's a two-horse race between Carbonneau and Bourdreau for the Adams. I love Babcock, and he's arguably the best coach in the game today, but both those teams missed the playoffs last year and were completely turned around (And with Bourdreau, somewhere around mid-season). I'd probably give it to Carbonneau, because Bourdreau plays in the weakest division in hockey and Montreal actually has tough competition.

 

And what about the Vezina? Are we locking Nabokov into that one?

[cd213 0]

Am I the only one that thinks that the Rangers/Devils series could go on to become one of the best series ever?

[Red Baron 0]

We could, but Brodeur and Lunqvist are most likely the finalists as well. Shame really because I was hoping Pascal Leclaire to win it.

 

I'm not going to deny how important Nicklas Lindstrom is to the Wings. Just look at it when he was injured. They were the Dead Wings out there masked with talent. He could have won the Hart as well, but you can't deny what Alexander the Great did this past season.

[CanadianChris 0]

I really doubt Babcock will be one of the nominees for the Adams. There are too many other candidates who'll be seen as more deserving. I could see Michel Therrien as a finalist, and maybe Joel Quenneville or Ron Wilson.

[Red Baron 0]

First coach to have three straight 50 win seasons and with an injury depleted team at times. I know there are other candidates (Wlson, Therrien not Quennville) but I believe that those three that I listed earlier will get nominated.

[CanadianChris 0]

Don't sell Quenneville short. The Avs were picked by many to miss the playoffs, and they had even more trouble with injuries this season. He did a nice job getting Colorado in contention for the division title down the stretch.

 

The trouble with Babcock is that the Red Wings are supposed to finish first every single year. Not many coaches win the Adams just for meeting expectations.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Colorado's has MORE than enough talent that coaching them to barely making the playoffs is not a coach of the year accomplishment.

 

Boudreau is hurt by Ovechkin taking the Hart. Same argument is going on in the NBA right with Chris Paul/Byron Scott: how do you give the same team MVP and coach of the year? It's a contradiction in some way. I think Carbonneau should and will win it.

[Guest]

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Montréal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - Montréal swept season series 8-0

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - Ottawa won season series 3-1

(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - Season series tied 2-2

(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - New York won season series 7-1

 

WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - Detroit won season series 5-3

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - Calgary won season series 3-1

(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - Minnesota won season series 5-3

(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - Dallas won season series 5-3

 

My beginning of the season predictions didn't even make the playoffs. Carolina and Vancouver, by the way.

 

Detroit over Pittsburgh in the Finals.

[CanadianChris 0]

Colorado's has MORE than enough talent that coaching them to barely making the playoffs is not a coach of the year accomplishment.

With all the games they missed to injury, they should've missed the playoffs with room to spare. Looking at their stats, I still don't know how they made it. They only had one guy in the top 60 and three guys in the top 100 in league scoring, and their goaltending was perfectly average.

 

Besides, there really isn't a HUGE abundance of talent on this team. Stastny is probably their best player, Hejduk and Brunette are still pretty good, Svatos is decent, and Wolski is up and coming. Sakic can still play well, but he's almost 40 now. Forsberg...who knows if he'll survive a playoff run. And that's about it.

[the max 0]

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins...ersey_is_o.html

 

Patrice Bergeron has been cleared for contact and could be back for the Montreal series.

 

 

...

 

Holy shit. I think they have a puncher's chance.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Colorado's has MORE than enough talent that coaching them to barely making the playoffs is not a coach of the year accomplishment.

 

Boudreau is hurt by Ovechkin taking the Hart. Same argument is going on in the NBA right with Chris Paul/Byron Scott: how do you give the same team MVP and coach of the year? It's a contradiction in some way. I think Carbonneau should and will win it.

 

I don't know for sure if this happened but I'd assume Phil Jackson has won COTY when Michael Jordan won the MVP?

[Nightwing 0]

Ron Wilson deserves squat. His team basically underperformed the entire season until the last twenty games, and he had Nabakov carry him most of the way. He couldn't motivate Marleau or Cheecho like a good coach could have, and that team has been stacked with talent for a while now. I don't see him as deserving any sort of real award for his team suddenly managing to turn it on after being mediocre for no other reason than being mediocre.

 

Thierren performed to expectations, if we are using that as an excuse. I'm not sure if he did anything better than Babcock, and Babcock was easily the most consistent coach of the year outside the spot where his top four defensemen were out.

 

Did Quenneville really do anything impressive? I mean, this team was certainly a playoff team at the beginning of the year, and they didn't finish that far ahead of expectations. They should have finished in the playoffs, or just outside of it.

 

Boudreau and Carbonneau are the real candidates, as neither of them should have, arguably, finished in the playoffs, let alone the seeds they are at. Sure, Washington's is inflated, but Boudreau inherited a 6-14-1 team, too. Babcock deserve a nomination due to the ridiculous consistency he got from his team, even if he is certainly not going to win.

[Nightwing 0]

You know what? If you want to take away Babcock, put in Julien or Trotz. I don't think either were expected to make it to the playoffs before the season, and they scrapped hard to get in, despite either being injury-prone or simply lacking the talent we normally expect from a team. Also, both of them played in hard conferences (Despite the falloff, the Central was a tough division for a while and the Preds weathered that storm, and I think the Bruins plight goes without mentioning). At the very least, I find them more deserving than Wilson (Too much talent NOT to win), Thierren (Did great, but I just don't see it), and Quenneville (Who did get through injuries, but was playing in a division that is ridiculously inconsistent).