Biting their tongue, on to round two

By Scott Antoszewski

The Canadiens improbable comeback against the Capitals capped off a first round for the ages in the NHL playoffs last night. The final toll looks like this:

In the east, Montreal, an eight seed, took out Washington, the number one overall seed. The Flyers are a seven seed and they took out the Devils, who were a two. The sixth seeded Bruins eliminated the third seeded Sabres, and the Penguins were the only higher seed that moved on in the East, taking down Ottawa in the four vs. five matchup.

Out west things were a little less unpredictable. The Sharks beat the Avalanche in the one vs. eight matchup. The Blackhawks beat the Predators in the two versus seven, and the Canucks beat the Kings in the three versus six. The only upset was the Red Wings beating the Coyotes in the four against five series. A lot of people don’t really consider that an upset considering the hot streak the Red Wings were on going into the playoffs.

The first round was incredibly competitive and exciting. There were no series sweeps, in fact each series went a minimum of six games. I see that as good for the league, good for the fans and especially good for the sport. Sports leagues generally seem to be aiming for the type of parity you see in the most recent seasons of NFL football, and it looks like NHL hockey is certainly moving in that direction. I find that exciting as a highly involved fan of the sport.

The second round starts tonight in San Jose, the matchups are as follows:

San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings: Can the Sharks shake off the ghosts of playoffs past and get to the conference finals? This year is probably their best chance in the last three.

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Vancouver Canucks: The Hawks knocked out Luongo and the Canucks in the second round last year. Vancouver has stated that they are looking for revenge. This has the potential to be a very nasty series.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: If the Canadiens can get through the Caps in round one and the Pens in round two, there may not be any couches left unburned in Montreal. It’s another tall task though as Crosby and the Pens are stacked for another cup run this year.

Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers: What a great rivalry series this is. The Bruins have a chance to redeem themselves from a short playoff run last year, and the Flyers are playing with house money. It will be interesting to see if Brian Boucher can carry the banged up Flyers through another round.

There are still enough teams in play that there should be a game on television each night of the week. Most of the weeknight games can be found on Versus, which is also back to being available to DirecTV subscribers. So make some time to watch a game or two, you never know, you might see something historic!