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Playoff pucks still have the power
By Tom Zulewski April 6, 2004 |
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The National Hockey League is likely heading for a work stoppage. It’s time for puckheads everywhere to hang their heads in a moment of silence. Only cynical puckheads and non-hockey fans may stop reading now. For the rest of us, the reason we look forward to April is here – a time of multiple-overtime games and magic moments, goaltenders who stand on their heads, and special teams who steal a series win or two – and we wait two months to get serious over the baseball box scores. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Stanley Cup playoff time. For the record, the crazy stretch run produced several tidbits to chew on. Five of the eight first-round series are divisional rivalries. Five of the six Canadian teams are in. The team that’s waited the longest to hoist the greatest un-reproduced trophy in all of professional sports is among the favorites and the prohibitive favorite may be feeling a bit of déjà vu. With that, it’s time for a few good first-round picks for the chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Please remember – no wagering. Western Conference No. 2 San Jose (43-21-12-6, 104 points) vs. No. 7 St. Louis (39-30-11-2, 91 points) – The Sharks are back in the playoffs after a year away. The Blues nearly missed getting in for the first time in a quarter-century. The two teams split the four regular-season meetings, including a Blues 4-3 overtime win on Nov. 13 at HP Pavilion, when the Sharks were struggling mightily and St. Louis started like they wanted to run away and hide with the NHL’s best record. A coaching change for the Blues (Mike Kitchen) gave them the impetus to get their act together. The Sharks rose from the ashes of a 1-5-3 start to produce the best season in team history. Considering the playoff history between the Sharks and Blues – a seven-game San Jose upset when the Blues were the top Western seed in 2000 and revenge for St. Louis the following year – the matchup is a tossup this time around. Both sides have a mix of veterans with playoff experience. Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk, and Chris Pronger lead the Blues and Mike Ricci and Vincent Damphousse help put the bite in the Sharks. Although Chris Osgood has more playoff experience in the Blues’ goal than Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks have a system they believe in and a level of confidence the Blues won’t be able to beat. San Jose moves on in six tough games. No. 1 Detroit (48-21-11-2, 109 points) vs. No. 8 Nashville (38-29-11-4, 91 points) – Remember that feeling of déjà vu? Ten years ago, the Red Wings faced a first-time playoff team in the San Jose Sharks. Now, it’s the Predators who are playing the role. Ten years ago, the Sharks upset the Red Wings. In 2004, don’t be so sure, especially since Detroit won the President’s Trophy. One telling game from the season series between Detroit and Nashville came on Nov. 8. In that one, the Predators erased a 3-0 third-period deficit at Joe Louis Arena and got out of town with a stunning 4-3 win. One game doesn’t make a season, but it was simply a case of a Predators team that began its growing process. Add in the 2-1 overtime win over Colorado Sunday, and you have a team that’s ready for the big time. By contrast, Nashville’s next trip to Detroit resulted in a 6-0 pasting. With too many painful memories of last year’s first-round sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on their minds, the Red Wings are ready and smelling blood, even if their goaltending situation isn’t the most stable around between Manny Legace, the likely starter, and oft-injured Curtis Joseph. Detroit marches on in six. No. 3 Vancouver (43-24-10-5, 101 points) vs. No. 6 Calgary (42-30-7-3, 94 points) – With ex-Sharks coach Darryl Sutter leading the way, the Flames return to the postseason after eight years away. The Canucks ended Colorado’s nine-year reign over the Northwest Division by beating Edmonton in the season finale Saturday. Former Shark Miikka Kiprusoff more than came into his own since being traded early in the season and the Flames still have the fire in Jarome Iginla’s scoring touch. Without Todd Bertuzzi and the distractions his sucker punch on Colorado’s Steve Moore created, the Canucks still found a way to rally behind leaders Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison. But with Dan Cloutier in goal – who can forget the blue-line dump-in from Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom that turned into a goal that completely turned the Red Wings’ fortunes around in the 2002 playoffs? – there’s every reason to wonder about the Canucks’ resolve to embrace the big stage. Sutter knows how to focus teams for the postseason, but eight years away is too long to see the forest for the trees when the Stanley Cup is at stake. Somehow, the Canucks will advance in seven grueling games. No. 4 Colorado (40-22-13-7, 100 points) vs. No. 5 Dallas (41-26-13-2, 97 points) – The riot act read by Stars owner Tom Hicks – basic theme: start winning or else major changes will be made - seemed to do wonders for a Stars team that looked listless, lifeless, and completely unworthy of the playoffs before the All-Star break. Colorado had to play with the Steve Moore distraction mentioned earlier, but there are more pressing issues for this team. First, goalie David Aebischer needs to be his own man in the net. Patrick Roy, for all his greatness, should not exist. Second, the Avalanche needs to find its offense. Goals came at more of a trickle late in the season. As for the Stars, Marty Turco is back after a four-game suspension. Despite the layoff, Turco has to shake off the doldrums of three losses in four regular-season meetings against the Avs, where his goals-against average was 3.02. He will. Should Colorado’s power play click as it did in the regular season (20.4 percent), Dallas’ penalty kill (among the NHL leaders at 85.9 percent) will be stretched to the limit. Behind the play of Turco, Dallas knocks off Colorado in six games. Eastern Conference No. 1 Tampa Bay (46-22-8-6, 106 points) vs. No. 8 N.Y. Islanders (38-29-11-4, 91 points) – Simple math equations exist here. The Lightning lost just seven times in regulation over the final 43 games to claim the East’s top spot while the Islanders didn’t even qualify for the playoffs until they beat Carolina in Game 81. Add in that Tampa Bay is younger, faster, and simply better, and the Islanders don’t have much of a chance. Unless goalie Rick DiPietro, who has all of 15 minutes of playoff experience, turns into a reincarnation of Jean-Sebastien Giguiere, the Islanders will go home early. Lightning will move on in five. No. 2 Boston (41-19-15-7, 104 points) vs. No. 7 Montreal (41-30-7-4, 93 points) – Sure, it’s a first-rounder. Sure, it’s a 2-vs.-7 matchup. Who cares? It’s the Bruins vs. the Canadiens, for crying out loud. Even Don Cherry will love this. All hutzpah aside, these teams are so evenly matched, it’s too hard a series to call, but we’ll break it down scientifically. The Bruins, who have won five of the last seven playoff meetings between the teams, will advance if rookie goalie Andrew Raycroft doesn’t play like one. The Canadiens will advance if Jose Theodore stands on his head like he did two years ago when Montreal won in six games. Then again, by far, goaltending is the least predictable element in the postseason, so we’ll flip a coin and say Canadiens pull the stunner in six. No. 3 Philadelphia (40-21-15-6, 101 points) vs. No. 6 New Jersey (43-25-12-2, 100 points) – Repeat after me: Martin Brodeur is not God. The Devils may be the defending champs, but the Flyers not only won the season series (3-2-1) and got every last point they needed to win a tight race for the Atlantic Division. We all know home ice doesn’t mean a thing in the postseason, but things are a little different this time around. In each of their prior playoff meetings (1995 and 2000), the Devils advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals by beating the Flyers. With the meeting coming in the first round this time, Philadelphia will use the division battle as motivation to send New Jersey home and get some fresh names on the Cup. If Devils defenseman Scott Stevens can return from post-concussion syndrome, the Devils will be a complete reversal of who they are now, an inconsistent team searching for some form of leadership. With a better power play and a determined Robert Esche – he of the single game of playoff goaltending experience – the Flyers advance in seven. No. 4 Toronto (45-24-10-3, 103 points) vs. No. 5 Ottawa (43-23-10-6, 102 points) – Before we move forward, where’s the love? Why did we have to have another all-Canadian first-round matchup? Okay, breathe! Now talk about another fold-up act the Senators will pull. With all of Canada watching on CBC and a Corel Centre crowd looking on in person in the season finale last Saturday, Ottawa was absolutely routed by the Leafs in a 6-0 waxing. Toronto dominated the season series, winning four of the six games while allowing just six goals in the victories capped by the season-ending shutout by Ed Belfour. Senators fans will counter with goaltender Patrick Lalime being hurt, so that can be forgiven, if only temporarily. After making the Eastern Finals last year before bowing out to New Jersey in Game 7, Ottawa needs to shake off that showing in a hurry. With new acquisitions Brian Leetch and Gary Roberts, the Maple Leafs look better on paper, but they need to know that erasing their 37-year Stanley Cup drought comes by winning one series at a time. They’ll start here and move on in six games. As for that lockout thing, it’s time to kick it deep and put it on the back burner for now. May this chase for the Cup be the best it’s ever been, because it may be a long time before real fans of the greatest game on earth get to see another one. |
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