The West Is The Best! More First Round Predictions

By Adam W Parks

Once again the point totals in the Western Conference destroy those in the East. Check this out:

The Capitols won the Presidents Trophy with a disgusting 121 points, but only three other teams from the East broke the century mark. Seven squads hit triple digits in the West.

Ottawa, the fifth seed in the East with 94 points, would not even make the playoffs if they were located in Manitoba instead of Ontario. The third-seeded Sabres (100) would land behind Nashville for the eighth and final spot if they played in Bmidji, Minnesota (that one's for you, Al and Darnold). Pittsburgh (101, fourth seed) would have to rely on a tiebreaker just to get ahead of Los Angeles in the standings.

It's not just the playoff teams in the West that are superior. Dallas finished the season 12th in the conference, but tied Philadelphia with 88 points. Hell, Anaheim (89) would have been the seventh seed if they were located in Maine instead of California. It's simply pathetic that neither team from New York City, especially the Rangers, could claw their way into the playoffs. And how about that proud franchise in Toronto, finishing last in the conference with 74 points. So sad. Poor Canada.

The Western Conference playoff teams are frightenly good from top to bottom, and they are all led by outstanding goaltenders. Here are the starting goalies in order of their team's playoff position:

1. Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose)
2. Antti Niemi (Chicago)
3. Roberto Luongo (Vancouver)
4. Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix)
5. Jimmy "The Deal" Howard (Hockeytown)
6. Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles)
7. Pekka Rinne (Nashville)
8. Craig Anderson (Colorado)

These guys are all amazing puck stoppers and in many cases (Brygalov, Howard, Quick, Rinne, Anderson) they are MVPs of their teams. With goaltending like that, any team could upset any team, but I only see one actually happening: Anderson and the Avalanche against the Sharks.

With six teams fighting for playoff spots on Sunday, San Jose sat at home and watched the top seed fall to them, thanks to the Wings! With 113 points, the shaky Sharks are the team with home advantage that is most likely to be bounced in the first round. Yes the Avalanche tanked towards the end of the season (three wins in last 13 games), but the Sharks are notorious for blundering away great regular season numbers once they get into the playoffs.

The key to this matchup will be goaltending. Nabokov was nabawful for Russia in the Olympics and owns a not-so-sweet 32-31 record in the NHL playoffs. If Anderson can play like he did in the first 75% of the season, the Avalanche will win this series. I'm betting he does and they do.

Colorado could have made things a great deal easier on the Red Wings if they would have just held onto their one goal lead against the Kings on Sunday. The various scenarios between the Wings and Kings and the seeds in the West made my head hurt (more). As I watched the Wings lose their one goal lead to Chicago, Los Angeles tied things up, and then won in overtime.

Colorado probably lost on purpose! Damn Avalanche! The Wings rule! Get over it!

Quick finished the season sixth in the league with 39 wins and will match up against Canada's golden turd, Luongo, who sits at fifth in the NHL with 40 wins. LUUU led his Canucks to a Northwest Division title and the third seed in the West. Quickie has carried his team on his pads all season, getting 72 starts out of LA's 82 games, but I cannot fathom him out-dueling Luongo. Nor can I imagine the Kings out-scoring the Canucks,

Vancouver has too much fire power with 272 goals scored this season, good for second in the NHL. AND girls look really good in their jerseys. Los Angeles will have to be perfect on offense, perfect on defense, and Quick will have to look as good in goal as this chick does in order to win this series. If their 4-3-3 record over the last ten contests is any indicator, they will not find perfection in four out of seven games. LUUU will get Dank-couver to round two.

Like Vancouver, Nashville watched the action on Sunday, but unlike the Canucks, the Predators were in danger of losing ground in the standings. Nashville was tied with Detroit and one point ahead of LA before the games on Sunday, and if the Wings and Kings would have lost, the Preds held the tiebreaker over both for the fifth seed. Instead they sat idly by, slipped to seventh, and must now face Chicago who assumed the second seed position (demonstrated here by Jonathan Toews).

The Hawks needed the win against Detroit in order to have locked up the top seed in the West. Sucks for them!



It was a hostile, pressure packed environment for the Wings and an emotional game for Chicago. Former Blackhawk Eddie Olczyk was honored before the puck drop. All of the Hawks players gave the jerseys off their backs to a group of lucky fans after the game. The Hyatt Regency of Chicago even bestowed upon the team a chocolate statue for the team's tremendous season...I'm for super cereal on this one. Congratulations on winning second place in the conference! Have some dessert! I guess a life-size sculpted chocolate hockey player is an appropriate gift for the Blackhawks. I mean, girls do love chocolate, right?

The Hawks should not have much trouble against Nashville as long as Antti Niemi keeps playing well and the girls can get the puck past Pekka Rinne. Niemi has only faced the Predators one time out of the teams' six meetings this season, and he allowed four goals in a win.

If the goaltending is a stalemate, this series could be won from the blue-liners. Can Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis shut down Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Toews? Will Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook be able to handle Patric Hornqvist, Steve Sullivan, and Martin Erat? Okay, so the bulk of the pressure will be on Nashville's defense, but their roster is full of capable and opportunistic scorers like Jason Arnott, David Legwand, and J.P. Dumont. The Hawks, still a young team, will have to limit their mistakes because the Preds will make them pay.

That said, Chi-Town will move on to the second round and keep those dreams of unicorns and princesses floating around in their fairy tale season. Enjoy your chocolate now, ladies. Your Stanely Cup drought will continue.

There always seems to be a surprise team to get an upset and make a run in the NHL playoffs. You know, that team that nobody wants to pick but everybody says, "Don't be surprised...but I just can't see it happening." I guess Colorado is that team for me, even though I'll be rooting against them every step of the way.

That wraps up my Western Conference predictions and previews. Have I forgotten a series? More to come...

Peace