NHL Playoffs Round 1 Analysis

Its a great day for hockey ain't it?

This year’s first round of the playoffs was full of suspensions, upsets, great goaltending, and proof that there is a changing of the guard happening in the NHL. With the 2^nd round starting tonight in Phoenix, here’s a look at what happened in the first round and why it happened.

1 New York Rangers vs Ottawa Senators 8

This was a match up that everyone assumed would be over with quickly, myself included. Lundqvist who is a Vezina candidate and the overall strength of the Rangers should have been too much for the Sens, but here we are. 1 day after a WILD game 7. As was the case all year long, Lundqvist was stellar posting a 1.70 GAA and a .945 save percentage. However the Rangers once again struggled to score and the play of Craig Anderson in net for Ottawa helped them take a 3-2 series lead and what seemed to be an upset waiting to happen. But as was obvious with the Alfredsson explosion, and the benching of Spezza in game 6 and 7, the team with the cooler head prevailed and New York deserved a series that contained some of the best grinding from all lines I’ve ever seen. Need an example? Look at the play of Brian Boyle and Chris Neil; my 1^st and 2^nd stars of the series, with Hank not too far behind in 3^rd. But for New York to succeed in the 2^nd round, Gaborik and the rest of the offense need to do something they haven’t done all year. SHOW UP.

2 Boston Bruins vs Washington Capitals 7

I’m going to talk a lot about goaltending when I get to my break down of the Western Conference match ups, but like most people will tell you, the winner of the Stanley Cup usually goes to the team with the best goalie in the months of April, May and June. That being said, Capitals rookie Braden Holtby made a huge statement in this series by besting last year’s Conn Smythe winner, Tim Thomas. The Bruins were clearly missing the spark that drove them last year and erratic play from guys like Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic didn’t help. Washington though deserves credit for playing like the team they are on paper. Look at their roster and try to tell me that they should be a 7^th seed in the Eastern Conference. No way. Too much talent and maybe the hard-nosed, no bull**** policy of Dale Hunter is exactly what this team needed. Oh, and shout out to Joel Ward. Huge respect for this guy not only for scoring the series clinching goal but how he handled the ridiculousness of legions of racists afterwards.

3 Florida Panthers vs New Jersey Devils 6

I don’t even know where to start with this one. First of all, when your team is in game 7 of the playoffs and you can only manage to fill half of the arena, something is wrong. Aside from all the off-ice kerfuffle that followed this series around (rats on rats on rats), this was New Jersey’s to lose. Florida played like a team possessed and the tandem of Theodore and Clemmensen almost won the series, but I don’t really know anyone that picked the Kris Versteeg-led Panthers to beat Kovalchuk, Parise, and Brodeur in a 7 game series. From the perspective of a fan – this series was the most boring to watch for me. One team that probably won’t be in that city in the next 2 to 3 years, and another team that has been struggling to find its identity for a long time now. Congrats Pete Deboer, you get to face the Flyers in the next round.

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers 5

Goals, fights, more goals, more fights and maybe a save or two is probably the best way to describe this series. Neither Marc-Andre Fleury nor Ilya Bryzgalov looked like they deserved to win this series. But I will tell you who did. Claude Giroux. Peter Laviolette was completely on point when he called Giroux the best player in the world right now. He played like a man possessed. The whole cast and crew of the Flyers showed up to play, and you cannot discredit the effect guys like Max Talbot, Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier had on the series. It was a total team effort that resulted in a big series win and sent a statement to the rest of the NHL. The Flyers are here, and it’s their time to shine. I said it before the playoffs started, but I firmly believe that the winners of the 4/5 match ups in each conference will be the teams vying for the Cup when it’s all said and done. Hopefully Ilya Bryzgalov can improve his stats – he is the only goalie out of the 8 teams advancing that was not in the top 8 in GAA or SV% in the first round. Bryzgalov? An abysmal 18^th in both stats. Behind even – GASP – Roberto Luongo.

1 Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings 8

Just like Washington, Los Angeles should have in no way, shape or form have been seeded as low as they were. Once again, you just need to look at their line up and the play of Jonathon Quick to realize this team was going to be a serious contender come playoff time. Quick is my pick of the Vezina considering he got the SECOND LOWEST SCORING TEAM IN THE NHL into the playoffs, all while posting numbers that put him inside the top 5 in all goalie stats, including shut-outs leader. The offense picked up in the post season for these guys, as Jarret Stoll finally found his scoring touch again, and the Kings were able to just flat-out out work the Canucks who looked like they didn’t deserve to be the number 1 seed in the west. Bye-bye Roberto, and hello St Louis is what the Kings are saying right now.

2 St Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks 7

Goaltending again the story in this series, but beyond that we see the changing of the guard that is happening in the west take firm hold in this series. San Jose, a long time dominating force in the west succumbed to a young, fast, hard hitting team that is clearly becoming the new norm in the NHL. Just look at Nashville, Philly, Los Angeles and Phoenix. All of these teams are advancing, and all of them are doing it in ways that traditional powerhouses like Detroit, San Jose, Vancouver, Boston, etc etc can’t. The Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau era may very well be ending in San Jose as the Sharks need to do what the Canucks are doing and look long and hard in the mirror at themselves and decide what they need to buy, what they need to sell, and how they want to do it. This is not intended to overlook the play of two amazing goalies in Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliot who combined for 16 shut outs in the regular season. In fact it’s a testament to them, a team who is comfortable splitting time in net between two stars because of the consistent play the get out front of them. The St Louis blues are for real, and could make a big statement this year.

3 Phoenix Coyotes vs Chicago Blackhawks 6

Two words: Mike Smith. A few more words. Watch highlights of his game 6 performance and it just about sums up a series that saw the first 5 games go to overtime. 

4 Nashville Predators vs Detroit Red Wings 5

Say it ain’t so. No one in the world of hockey wants to see the career of Nick Lidstrom come to an end, but Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Pekka Rinne, Mike Fisher and the rest of the Preds were more than happy to send the Wings to the golf course early. Rinne and Howard were stellar and this series would probably compete with Pitt vs Philly for excitement factor. The Preds are not your prototypical powerhouse, especially being from a southern market but are doing amazingly well under the only coach in franchise history. Another team that struggles to score like the Rangers, these Preds will probably rely on a strong defensive presence (paging the USS Hal Gill) to win in these playoffs, but adding Alexander Radulov makes their offence potent and creates an interesting match up versus the Coyotes in which goaltending will probably be the story again. Detroit just seemed to be too old to compete, and Nashville wanted it more. With 3 teams from the south, and another from Missouri winning in the west, its hard to deny that there is a distinct changing of the guard happening.