Jason Bedard

Scores and Analysis as of 4/27

 

The quarterfinals of the 2008 NHL playoffs have ended with eight teams advancing to the semifinals.  In the Eastern Conference the four teams are the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens.  Over in the Western Conference the four teams advancing are the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings.

In the Eastern Conference there were some surprising results.  The big surprise was the Philadelphia Flyers beating the Washington Capitals.  The series not only went to a Game 7 but the game went into overtime where Joffrey Lupul scored the winning goal to advance the Flyers.  A Game 7 into overtime just goes to show this series could have gone either way, the Flyers had the better chance in the end.  It wasn’t only the offense of the Flyers that helped this team advance it was actually a lot defense that helped this team move on.  When you are on the ice against the likely winner of MVP of the league with over 65 goals in one season and an all and all force is a scary situation.  The poise and composer of veteran Kimmo Timmonen shutting down Alex Ovechkin for the majority of the playoffs was a big contribution to the success of the Flyers.  In the NHL there are seven games in a series so not one team can have a good game on that day, the team that wins the series is the best team overall and the better team in this series was the Philadelphia Flyers.  Next Philly plays the Canadiens in round 2 of the playoffs.  The Canadiens are ten times better than the Caps and in order for Philly to have a chance they need to play team defense and can’t let the Canadiens get to far ahead in the series. 

The New York Rangers . . . god bless them.  The Rangers are facing off against the red hot Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The two teams are already two games into the series and the Penguins have dominated and are up 2-0 in the series.  If the Rangers want any prayer of moving on they cannot let the Penguins win the next game.  The Montreal Canadiens knocked off the Bruins in a surprising Game 7.  No one expected Boston to beat the Canadiens but taking them to Game 7 is an accomplishment.  The Bruins made amazing progress this year making their first playoff appearance since ’03 with most of the credit going their new coach Claude Julian.  The Bruins have made a big improvement  this season and will continue to improve for years to come.

There are four teams left in the Eastern Conference but only two can move on.  In the Flyers vs. Montreal series, right now I think the Flyers will move on.  Philly will advance to the finals because they have the determination, teamwork and the defense to win against the Habs.  Montreal will be eliminated because they are snobbish almost cocky in a way and it shows in their play.  To me it looks like they already think they are going to win, which means they think they are so much better than any other team in the lwague they don’t even have to try..  The exact thing happened in the Boston series, they won three games backed down thought they had it wrapped up and then the B’s took them to a Game 7.  The other team advancing to the next round of the playoffs is without a doubt the Penguins.  They have won all seven of their playoff games and have outplayed and dominated their opponents.  Pittsburgh is an amzing team and is my pick to win the Cup.  Therefore in the Eastern Conference Championship it will be the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins.