First Round Predictions: Eastern Conference

By Adam W Parks

Sunday was not just a great day for Hockeytown, it was a great day for hockey. Heading into the afternoon games, six of the possible eight playoff seeds were unsettled in the Western Conference, and five were unsecured in the East. The final day of the regular season had the look, feel, and intensity of the first day of the playoffs.

Here's a little review of Sunday's action, and preview the playoff matchups in the East:

The Washington Capitols are the clear-cut favorite finishing with 121 points; that's 18 more than the next best (New Jersey 103) and eight more than the Presidents Trophy runner-up (San Jose 107).

The Caps had nothing to play for yesterday against the Boston Bruins but still unleashed Alex Ovechkin (who scored 50 goals this season despite a nail sticking out of his head) in an attempt to get their super star the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for most goals on the season. The Caps lost in a shootout, Ovie was shutout, and Cry-sby (51) gets to share the award with super sophomore Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Washington is an obvious pick over Montreal in the first round. The Canadians (idle) fell to eighth in the standings after Philly bounced the Rangers (if the Rangers would have beat Philly, Montreal would have been the seventh seed with the tiebreaker over New York). I like the Canadians as a team, but they're just shit-outta-luck with this one.

The game was as meaningless for the Bruins as it was for the Caps as Boston sat snug ahead of both Montreal and Philadelphia despite Sunday's outcomes. However, for a team that has faced nearly as much injury woes as Detroit (ie Marc Savard on a stretcher)--and a similar veteran/rookie goalie controversy--their win over Washington was major for momentum. I like the Bruins, a lot, but not to get past Buffalo in the first round.

It's hard to say that Buffalo has had a disappointing season with 45 wins and 100 points, but with Ryan Miller in net more must be expected. I'm a Sabres fan going back to Pat LaFontaine, Dominik Hasek, Brad May and Rob Ray, but Buffalo is seriously overrated this season. They are lucky to have drawn the banged-up Bruins, and if it weren't for Miller, I would take Boston and rookie goalie Tuukka Rask in a long, ugly series.

The Sabres had an opportunity to snag the coveted second seed from the Devils on Sunday but could not stay out of their own way as the Devils scored a power play goal with only three seconds left in the game to win 2-1. As great as Miller is, his team cannot give the opposition three power plays in the last ten minutes of the game. These penalties were lazy too: Tyler Ennis-tripping, Steve Montador-holding, Mike Grier-holding. Inexcusable!

With the win over the Sabres on Sunday the Devils will face the Orange Mush from Philadelphia. The Flyers are a bad joke; their only saving grace is how poorly the fan base treats Sidney Crosby.

They traded away their future for Chris Pronger, banking on the big, dumb defenseman to help make a run for the Atlantic Division title. Instead they got atrocious goaltending, spotty goal-scoring, finished third in the division behind New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and needed a shootout victory on Sunday just to drag their asses into the playoffs.



As pumped up as I was for the Wings/Hawks game, I really wanted to watch the Rangers/Flyers game as well. Both teams hate each other, both sat at 86 points going into Sunday's game, and both were playing for the final playoff berth. It was essentially a game seven matchup; the biggest loser goes home.

Shame on the Rangers for continuing to suck and allowing the suckier Flyers to get in. But don't blame Henrik Lundqvist, he stopped 46 of the 47 shots he faced. Blame management for not giving Marian Gaborik an elite center to work with.

Anyway, the Flyers will get destroyed by the Devils in the first round...and I hope it's a sweep.

If the Devils would have lost that game without earning an overtime point, then the Penguins would have jumped in and stolen the division and grabbed the third seed. Crosby and company needed six goals and overtime to put away the Islanders on Sunday and will have to face the Senators (idle) in the four/five matchup in the first round.

This is a dangerous opening series for the defending Stanley Cup douche bags. Pittsburgh is not as good as the media thinks they are (the Wings finished with more points!), and Ottawa is either really good or really bad depending on the streak. Yet another rookie goalie, Brian Elliot, started the final nine of the Senators' 11-game winning streak back in January/early February, and also earned every victory in a six-game stretch in March/early April.

Do I think Ottawa can beat Pittsburgh in a seven-game series? Sure. Do I believe that they will? No.

Did I really pick the top four seeds to win their respective opening round series? Yup, I guess I did, because the bottom four teams are so inferior that they alll have less points than the eighth seed (Colorado) in the Western Conference.

Peace.