NHL Playoffs - 2nd Round Previews
Posted by Obiora, April 24, 2008 - 8:18 am
In the American sports landscape, football is the national obsession, baseball is the national past-time, basketball is where amazing happens, soccer is growing in popularity and hockey? Sadly it’s overlooked. Despite my love of football and futbol, I’m a firm believer that when it’s played properly, ice hockey is the best team sport in the world. No other sport combines speed, finesse, toughness, fast reflexes, hand-eye coordination, stamina (and any other sports adjective) so thoroughly.
Football has toughness but it’s like wading through a swamp compared to hockey. Baseball has hand-eye coordination but not the toughness of hockey. Basketball has speed and finesse but only Shaq could take hits like a hockey player. And soccer players are gratuitous wimps.
In addition to negotiating fiscal sanity, the NHL lockout also gave the game’s masters the opportunity to revamp the game and bring it closer back to the free-wheeling style of Gretzky’s 1980’s Oilers teams. No more neutral zone trapping to bring the game to a stand-still. Today’s NHL is young, fast and furious but don’t worry, the fights haven’t gone away.
I had been hoping to write a second round preview set that would pit the game’s greatest young playmaker (Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh) against its greatest young sniper (Alex Ovechkin of Washington). But Ovechkin just doesn’t have enough pieces around him and the Capitals fell to the Flyers in 7 games. Still, here are a couple reasons to tune in to the 2nd round.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Rangers
Once upon a time, Penguins fans rearranged “Jaromir” to spell “Mario Jr”, the greatest compliment possible for a young Penguin. Now he may be more reviled in the Steel City than Barry Bonds. It’s a bit annoying and they just need to get over it. This series pits the old guard, veteran presence of Jagr’s Rangers against the high flying Penguins of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But as is always the case in playoff hockey, goaltending will determine the winner. Pittsburgh’s Marc Andre-Fleury may finally be living up to the promise of being a #1 overall selection but he has more than a worthy adversary in the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist. Now what would Gary Roberts do?
Prediction: Penguins in six
Detroit Red Wings vs Colorado Avalanche
Who knew that Joe Sakic was still alive to say nothing of playing hockey. The Avs, still anchored by Sakic and Peter Forsberg, are like a geriatric version of their excellent 1990’s selves, which is both good and bad. The good - loads of playoff experience. The bad - they may break. The Red Wings scored the 3rd most goals in the league this season while allowing the least. Such a balanced approach can mean only one thing - more octopi.
Prediction: Detroit in six
Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers
Who says money can’t buy happiness? After finishing in dead last place last year, the Flyers went out and practically bought themselves a playoff berth. One of those electric additions, Daniel Briere, came from Montreal and will no doubt receive a warm welcome from the Habs crowd. Montreal has not hoisted Lord Stanley’s cup since 1993, an eternity in the true Hockeytown of the NHL. But with a young, fast and deep lineup, the Canadiens claimed the East’s #1 seed and gained invaluable experience in a 7-game opening round series against the Boston Bruins.
Prediction: Canadiens in five.
San Jose Sharks vs Dallas Stars
I didn’t pay much attention to the Stars this season because of their recent history as playoff chokers but they certainly deserve notice after dispatching defending champion Anaheim in six games. San Jose, meanwhile, stumbled out of the gate, taking seven games to dispatch Calgary. The X-Factor in this series is Joe Thornton. Much like Kevin Garnett years ago in Minnesota, the former 1st rounder will have a cloud hanging over his head until his team advances deep into the second season. Here’s betting he flops again.
Prediction: Stars in seven
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