Eastern Conference Playoffs

If you haven’t been watching the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, you should be.  I don’t know what
it is about the NHL Playoffs, but the game is faster, harder hitting, and the teams seem to
take the game to a level that is not scene in the regular season.  This year 3 series have come
down to a final game 7, its winner or go home!

Let’s take a look at where we are at.  Starting in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Red Wings
came out of the gates hot and steal game one from the Boston Bruins on the road.  But the Bruins
came back behind some great goaltending from Tukka Rask and great all around team play to
knock the Red Wings out.

Then there’s the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning series, this one was a bit of a
surprise to me.  Montreal dispatched the Lightning in 4 games. Even with the return of Tampa Bay
star Steven Stamkos, the Lightning seemed unable to figure out Montreal.  While most of the
games were competitive, and the Lightning made it interesting, in the end the Canadiens scored
with 43 seconds left in game 4 to send the Lightning off to an early summer.

What’s next for these two teams?  The Boston Bruins will face Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern
Conference Semi-Finals.  The last time these two teams met was back in 2011, in an exciting
7 game series.  The Bruins went on to win the series and eventually the Stanley Cup.  The
Canadiens will be looking to settle the score this year.  My pick – I’ll take the Boston Bruins in 6.

On the other side of the Eastern Conference Playoffs was the Pittsburgh Penguins and the
Columbus Blue Jackets.  This series was amazing, full of drama.  It seemed like if you went up
3-1 in a game, you were going to lose, up until the last game of the series.  I was impressed by
the Blue Jackets, nobody gave them a chance in this series, and they fought hard and pushed the
Penguins to the limit every game.  The Penguins can finally shake off last year’s disappointing
early round knockout and focus on getting to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Last but certainly not least is the final series match-up, the only one in the East go to a Game 7.
The Philadelphia Flyer and New York Rangers are locked into another epic battle.  Both teams
are trading games, shots, hits, it’s been a fantastic series to watch, and it doesn’t get any better
than Game 7 Wednesday Night at Madison Square Garden where these two will square off one
last time for the right to play the Penguins.  My pick – Rangers win tonight 4-3.

What’s Next – The winner of the New York Rangers/Philadelphia Flyers game will take on the
Pittsburgh Penguins.  This is a tall order for any team.  The Penguins have a lot of talent,
especially when Sidney “Sid the Kid” Crosby is on the ice, but their goaltending has been very
shaky the last couple of years.  On the other hand the Rangers have one of the best goalies in
the league in Henrik Lundqvist.  I think this series is going to fall on the goalies, and I’m going
with the Rangers in 7.

What a match-up that would make for the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston vs. New York
…only this time it’s not baseball folks!

Pat Gavin