The NHL Playoff Thread

[CFH]

PS: The Leafs suck.

Maybe they do, but its easy to like a winning team when you have 14 to choose from. I pick one team and hope every other one fails miserably.

WTF?? Calgary is getting raped. You watching this shit??

No, I'm trying to watch the Froch - Taylor fight (with little success). I do love to watch the Shames lose though.

As for cheering for a losing team, as a Canucks fan I know all about that.

[wesrman]

If im nothing else in life, im loyal..lol.

See the Philly/Pitts game earlier?? Philly was up 3-0 and lost. HAHA fuck them.

[CFH]

I didn't see the game, but that news makes me very happy, I HATE Philly. I picked the Pens to make it to the final this year (hopefully against the Canucks).

Loyalty is a very important trait.

[Youngblood]

[Cortez The Killer]

I have been following the penguins. Not sure if they've improved much since last year, when they were kind of lucky to get asfar in the playoffs as they did.

But Malkin is really performing in this years in the playoffs and that makes a world of difference. Plus I like the addition of Kunitz a lot, he was lighting flyers up left and right in the first few games of the series.

[CFH]

As of tonight, the second round match-ups in the West are set.

Detroit (2) - Anaheim (
Vancouver (3) - Chicago (6)

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm absolutely amazed that the Sharks choked again. They need to get rid of Thornton and/or Marleau while they can get something decent for them, because they have now repeatedly proved their inability to consistently elevate their games when it matters the most. To be fair though, Nabakov deserves much of the blame as well, he was out-played by Hiller by a large margin.

Flames go out again in the first round, this makes me a very happy man.

[CFH]

Here's my opinion on the series:

Detroit - Anaheim: This is a really intriguing match-up. I really think the Red Wings will win, probably in 6 or 7 games, but I think they'll emerge from this series so banged up that the winner of the Vancouver - Chicago will have an excellent chance of pulling the upset and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. I just think Anaheim's physicality combined with the fatigue that comes along with the short off-season which results from winning the cup make this one very close to call. However, Detroit's offense and defense are among the best in the league and I think their depth carries them to a victory if (and it's a big if) Osgood can stop the puck with any regularity.

Vancouver - Chicago: This is a hard one for my to analyze objectively, as I live and die with the Canucks. During the regular season, the Canucks demonstrated they were able to defeat Chicago handily in a playoff-like atmosphere, and I think their defense and Luongo (the best goalie in hockey - his playoff numbers are staggering) will prevail over the high-flying but inexperienced Blackhawks. It's going 6 or 7 though, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Chicago come out on top in the end.