Jason Bedard
Scores and Analysis as of 4/10
Eastern Conference
As the regular season comes to an end a whole new season begins- the playoffs. As 16 teams enter this new season all playing for the ultimate prize, a prize that has been battled for decades. The Stanley Cup, one team every year is the best in the league and earns there name etched in the Cup forever.
In the much more competitive Eastern Conference eight of the best teams are battling for their chance. The Boston Bruins vs. the Montreal Canadiens a rivalry that dates back to the beginning of the game. This season the B’s have not won a single game against the notorious Habs, which will make this series a total blowout or the B’s could cut it right down to the wire. The injured Marc Savard is eager to get another crack at the Canadians and might be able to play sometime during this series. In order to win this series the Bruins must play more offense, less penalties, avoid on man rushes and protect Tim Thomas. The Canadians have it easy because they have had Boston’s number all year and all they have to do is keep up what they have been doing.
The seventh seed Ottawa Senators and the second seed Pittsburgh Penguins have already began their series resulting in a 4-0 Pittsburgh win. The Senators have a very difficult job of slowing down the red hot Penguins and beating Marc-Andre Fleury. The Sens need to gain back the momentum that they had for a good 70% of the season, before getting into a big slump and almost lost there playoff spot. The Sens need to gain back that momentum with two back to back wins.
Another series in the Eastern Conference is the New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils. New York is ahead in the series 1-0 and has beaten the Devils for most of the season. The Devils must play better team defense, you can’t always rely on the All-Star goalie Martin Brodeur for everything. New Jersey has the tools to win with Zach Parise, Patrick Elias, and Brian Gionta they just need to find a way to put the puck behind Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers just need to keep up what they’ve done all year with the intensity of Sean Avery and the aggressive goal scoring of Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Martin Straka.
The last matchup of the Eastern Conference is the Philadelphia Flyers against the Washington Capitols who earned there playoff spot two days before they started. Of course the All Star, MVP of the league Alexander Oveckin will be very hard to stop and Philadelphia will have to play great defense against him. Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne and Mike Richards carry the Flyers and need to score early and often in order to keep up with the Caps.
I have made predictions for the quarterfinals for the 2008 NHL playoffs. Montreal tops Boston, I hate to say this because I love the Bruins but Montreal is to fast and too quick for the B’s. I pick Pittsburgh over Ottawa as well due to the fact that the Penguins have been on a hot streak; have so many weapons and an all star goaltender which makes them nearly impossible to stop. Next I predict the Rangers will prevail over the Devils in their series. As much as I hate the Rangers they seem to want it more, have more intensity and have beaten the Devils most of this year. And finally, the Caps will beat Philly. The Flyers in my opinion just don’t have what it takes to stop Alexander Oveckin and Olaf Kolzig between the pipes. Week 1 of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs are underway!
