The NHL Playoffs Thread

[hardweek]

[Bernard]

the hawks-canucks series was, imo, the standout series so far, but it's been a great playoffs overall.  i'm looking forward to both the western quarters; i have a feeling the preds will surprise some people and take the canucks in 6.  the wings-sharks series doesn't excite me as much (although i'm a detroit fan since i grew up there); i'm thinking the sharks will take it in 5.  i just don't have much faith in the aging wings team, even with their sweep over the coyotes. 

oh, and i'd love to see tampa bay win tonight.

[bmills]

oh, and i'd love to see tampa bay win tonight.

Best of luck to either of these teams against Washington or Philly next round.

[hardweek]

the hawks-canucks series was, imo, the standout series so far,

Last night's game was one for the ages. It had the same energy around it as last year's Olympic gold medal game...honestly, that was the feeling out here.

Hats off to Corey Crawford for one of the best displays of goaltending I've ever seen.

Bring on the Preds. With how hot they've been running, I've gotta feeling its going to be another great series.

[Louis Lame]

Hahaha, playoff hockey is incredible. It's crazy I get antsy watching teams I have minimal investment in. I don't know what I'll do when the leafs return to the postseason. But holy smokes that habs/bruins game. Wow!

[bmills]

Congrats to 75% of the Eastern Conference for being choke artists and, more importantly, ruing my picks.

Finally an end to the torturous TB-PIT series. Yuck. Junk players up front and junk coaching finally caught up with Pittsburgh. Next round will be fun if Tampa can skate with Washington.

Sucks that Montreal lost because PK Subban rules.

Round Two
Flyers
Capitals (Really hope Tampa can pull this one out.)
Canucks (Go Preds.)
Sharks

[bmills]

[Bernard]

i only saw the last 30-45 (real time) minutes of the game today, but from what i saw, detroit looked awful.  at least they had a chance in OT in game 1 (which actually wasn't a terrible display by the wings like today's trainwreck). 

i still have hope for the preds and am still predicting a 6 game victory for them over the canucks.  they needed last night's win to be in it, for sure, but the preds looked surprisingly good in OT for being in vancouver.  i hope loungo is, much like in the quarters, somewhat mentally shaken up for the next two games in nashville. 

i didn't follow the lighting at all in the regular season but they looked great in game one and seem to be holding their own 2 periods in tonight (1 all at intermission).  it seems like a few people are saying they're the sleeper hit of the east; if they can take down washington i'd be giddy.  GIDDY I TELL YA.

[bmills]

Best of luck to either of these teams against Washington or Philly next round.

Great post, dummy.

This round is a bummer. A sweep, two 3-0's and a mostly uneventful VAN-NSH series. Next.

[Bernard]

Best of luck to either of these teams against Washington or Philly next round.

Great post, dummy.

This round is a bummer. A sweep, two 3-0's and a mostly uneventful VAN-NSH series. Next.

My prediction of the Sharks in 5 is, gladly, not coming true.  I've been impressed with the Wings the last two games, especially Game 6.  Really looking forward to Game 7 tonight.  My gut still says Sharks win, but I'd love to see the Wings pull it off.

You've probably seen this, but here's the Finals schedule with both scenarios.  Is it weird there's no 7.30 ET starts?  Or have they always started as late as 8p ET in the Finals?

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=562145

[hardweek]

 

[bmills]

Two way tie for last but I can't route for a Boston sports team.

Canucks in five.

[nec13]

Two way tie for last but I can't route for a Boston sports team.

Canucks in five.

My sentiments exactly. This is the worst possible match-up for me, as I can't stand either team. However, the Canooks are the lesser of two evils, IMO.

Nucks in 6.

[Racan]

I can definitely sympathize with all the criticisms of the Canucks, but as a lifelong resident of Vancouver, who watched the team lose a classic and heartbreaker in 1994 during my formative years, I'm definitely pulling for them this time around.

[bmills]

It's nothing personal and honestly I don't think I see enough of the Canucks during the season to really have any emotion about them.  It's just hard to get behind a President's Trophy winning juggernaut. Best of luck to Vancouverites, though. We can always bond over our mutual hatred for Mark Messier.