(2) Pittsburgh vs. (6) Philadelphia
It's not the battle of Ontario, but it's still an intriguing cross-state (or cross province) battle nonetheless. Pittsburgh nearly swept the Rangers, but that series was much closer than the final series outcome showed. New York seemed to have game one wrapped up half way through the contest, but the Penguins erased a 3-0 deficit and came all the way back to beat New York 5-4. The Rangers were in all of the remaining 4 games of the series (obviously game 4 because they won it) but that game one
loss seemed to deflate them. It appeared at one point that the Penguins were going to take an 8 game playoff winning streak into the conference finals, but New York wasn't going to let that happen.Pittsburgh has looked nearly unbeatable throughout the playoffs. They have no problems scoring or creating offense and look deadly with a man advantage. Marc-Andre Fleury is playing the best hockey of his NHL career right now and yes, it's definitely because he's not wearing the yellow pads anymore. In game two of the series against New York, the Penguins showed they can play an effective shutdown defensive game when needed. They are a dangerous team right now.
So is Philly, but not in the same vein. Martin Biron stole probably two games from the Habs in the previous series. He will certainly have to do that again in this series. R.J. Umberger was a beast against Montreal. Daniel Briere has been very good as have the bulk of the Flyers' forwards. The Flyers have a pretty unique blend of skill and grit. They've knocked off two teams I figured would beat them, so they certainly have a chance in this series.
Interesting stat: In 20 career games against the Flyers, Sidney Crosby has 16 goals and 37 points - the most against any NHL team in both categories.
Pittsburgh is on a roll right now. Hossa and Crosby are clicking just at the right time. Everything seems to be coming into place and this should be a very interesting series.
Pittsburgh in 6.
(1) Detroit vs. (5) Dallas
I think we can officially start calling the Stars "giant killers". They knock off the defending champs (my pick to win the Cup) and the consensus Stanley Cup winner. They exposed both the Ducks and Sharks for their weaknesses. Will they do the same with the Red Wings? They have people thinking about it long and hard, that's for sure.
The 2008 playoffs have exposed Brenden Morrow for the great leader and excellent player that he is. He's a guy that seems to fly under the radar because of the presence of Mike Modano and the emerging play Mike Ribeiro, then acquisition of Brad Richards. But Morrow has been their best forward all season and showed why against San Jose. He's becoming an elite power forward with the exceptional combination of size, toughness and soft hands. Although Turco has been the Stars MVP thus far, Morrow deserves plenty of credit for guiding Dallas to a place few figured they would be, the conference finals.
Marty Turco sure proved me and the rest of the hockey world wrong with
a spectacular performance against San Jose, capped by incredible game 6 quadruple over win. There's no way Dallas wins that game without Turco and you can't like their chances going back to San Jose for a game 7 after the Sharks reel off three wins.Sergei Zubov has come back from injury and provided plenty of stability along the blueline in Dallas. He's not 100 percent healthy right now, but has given the team a significant boost.
The scare for the Red Wings against Nashville (if you can call it that) seems to have really motivated this team. After losing games 3 and 4 in Nashville, they won 6 straight games. Games 1 and 3 against Colorado were close, but 2 and 4 were never a contest. Zetterberg and Datsyuk are playing up to expectations. Chris Osgood has been nearly perfect in net. Nicklas Lidstrom is still the best defenceman in the league and that's not going to change over night. They are well coached and all of their forwards are strong two way players. Both Zetterberg and Datsyuk are two of the best two-way forwards in the NHL, a testament to their play and Detroit's emphasis on defence from every player.
And then there's Johan Franzen. The "Big Swede" (sorry Mats, but I'm renting out the nickname for the time being) set a franchise record for most goals in a playoff series with 9. The previous record was held by Gordie Howe who scored 8 in a seven game series - Johan did that in just four! There's no way Franzen can keep up this rate of 2+ goals per game, but he certainly has Dallas thinking of ways to contain him. It's that depth at forward that will take the pressure off Zetterberg and Datsyuk that can help make a difference in a series.
I've gone against the Stars in the first two rounds. Will I go against them again? Have I learned anything? The respective answers are yes and, well maybe, no.
Red Wings in 7.
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