NHL playoffs start now. It's the most wonderful time of year

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Thats the thing about the NHL Playoffs...the seeding can be really off sometimes. Boston, Philly, NJ, NY, and Pitt were all better than the Panthers and yet Florida got the 3 seed because of where they play. That said, I think the NJ/Florida series was the most exciting of the first round. Everyone seems to think the Cup is going to come out of the East but there are 4 other teams that think they can win. If you listen to what some of the Rangers said, it's like they already won. They're not taking them seriously. I still think the Rags are going to win because Holtby looked really shaky at times especially in Game 7 against Boston and Ovechkin doesn't seem to be the player he was a few years ago. I'm rooting for the Caps but I think the Rangers will win. Philly's had some time off and the Devils have won some big time games late so I'm hoping that'll be an advantage for the Devils. NJ is a huge underdogs going into this series but I think that's a mistake since they play Philly well and there's such a huge rivalry there (and both teams seem to genuinely hate each other.) I can totally see both series going 7 games again.

In the West, I really like the way LA played against Vancouver and Quick looks good. The Blues are dangerous and that series can go 7. As for Nash/Phoenix, that has got to be the least intriguing matchup. Predators/Coyotes doesn't exactly scream NHL rivalry and I really don't pay attention to either team but going by what I saw in the first round I think the Predators are a better team overall so I'll give them the advantage.

Soooo.....My Round 2 Picks
Ranger over the Caps in 6 (although I can totally see the Caps surprising NY)
Devils over Philly in 7
LA over St Louis in 6
Nashville over Phoenix in 5

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..the Heat should destroy the crappy Knicks

I want the Knicks to loose in 4 and just be done. I'm so sick of hearing about them. I read up top how Washington has their sports mixed up with all the focus on the Skins while the Caps are the team making some noise but it's like that here too. Rangers win Game 7, Devils win Game 7 in Double Overtime, Yankees play Detroit for the first time since they were ousted in Game 5 in last years Playoffs but BOTH radio stations open drive time with the Knicks again. Really? I can't find anyone that gives a rats rump about the Knicks. There's no buzz here about them and while you see tons of Yankees, Rangers, Devils, even Mets jerseys the stations here insist on talking about what seems to be a really average team that underachieved and is lucky to be in the playoffs. I turned the radio on today to get some local breakdown of what were two thrilling NHL games last night and all I here about is Stoudemire's bulge (in his back) for an hour and a half followed up by what happened in the NHL draft.

[MegoMark71]

Ok i'm back. I was pretty sick for a while. Round 1 was an amazing round. Excited for the east to get round 2 started today. Rangers better fear the Capitals as they are hot right now. And Jersey should match the Flyers well. True test will be the Flyers power play vs the Devils PK. And you have to love divisional rivalry series.

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The Nashville/Phoenix game last night was a great start to Round 2. All that pressure in OT from the Predators you thought for sure they would get one in but Mike Smith stood on his head and blocked shot after shot and the Coyotes score with a one timer off the face off. OT playoff hockey is awesome. Every time a stick touches the puck you hold your breath.

Rangers got their first win today over the Caps. The Refs missed two blatant penalties that would have gone against the Rangers but the 5 on 3 that Washington couldn't convert on really shifted the momentum of the game. If Semin is going to take stupid penalties the way he did today, it's going to be a really short series.

LA took the Blues by surprise too. Quick is really good and is opening some eyes in the playoffs.

What'll be interesting about the Devils/Flyers series is if NJ's PK is going to return the way it was in the regular season or if it'll be as anemic the way it was against Florida. Philly's got so many scorers, Brodeur better be vintage but the key for the Devils is to keep it 5 on 5. For Philly, I think it'll be interesting to see if Giroux can continue to play at such a heightened level or if he comes back down to Earth a bit, Ultimately for them it comes down to which Bryzgalov shows up...he's like the little girl with the curl...when he's good he's really good, but when he's bad, he's really bad. Being they're such rivals and the teams are so equal, I think that's the series that becomes the most compelling in Round 2.

[MegoMark71]

Decent opening game today. I am still jacked up from beating the crybabies in the last round. I didn't feel the flat out hatred from the coach down to the waterboy of the penguins. Even though they are a rival, i just didn't feel that today against your devils. We shall see what happens on Tuesday. Someone needs to bone crunch someone into the boards. The dislike is there, it's just dormant right now.
So i can't pick the Coyotes/preds series with the Yotes up 2-0 already. But i think the Blues will win in 7, Flyers win in 5, and as much as it kills me Rangers in 6 maybe 7.

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I couldn't read this thread or comment last night cause I didn't watch the Nash/Phoenix game till this morning. Thats the nice thing abut hockey sometimes, you can tape a game and watch it wthe next day without ever hearing the score.

Wow do the Predators look bad. I picked them in 5 but the Coyotes look hungry (no pun intended) and right now, it could go completely in the other direction. I wouldn't even be surprised if they sweep at this point they're getting outplayed so bad. If the Yotes do win it would make for an awesome goalie match-up with Smith Vs. Quick if LA gets by St Louis.

The Devils handed that game to Philly. Zidlicky took the exact same penalty in Game 1 as he did in Game 7 in Florida by launching the puck into the stands. Stupid. Deboer split the lines up and put Flyer Killer Elias with Parise which worked out fine but I thought they should have had more than 1 goal at the end of the first. Kovy was off on a daydream the entire game. His lack of effort was the direct result of 2 Philly goals (including the OT winner). He's my favorite player in the NHL but the dude looked lost out there yesterday. I hope he goes back on the Zach line since they compliment each other well. Parise is the Captain but offensivly, Kovalchuck is their star. As he goes, so go the Devils. In any best of 7 series the goal for the road team is to split on the road and get it back to your building so tomorrows game becomes huge for NJ (especially since the Devils do not play well in the Rock in the Playoffs.) When the OT goal was disallowed I thought for sure NJ was going to come away with the win. They had a similar game against the Ducks during the Season where it went to OT, the Ducks kicked it in for the win, the goal was reviewed and disallowed and NJ came right back down the ice to score the winner but it's no secret Marty can't handle the puck when it's shot right at him. He just doesn't see it anymore when it's hit high in his line of sight but Kovy totally gave up on that play. I don't even know if I'd watch a Philly/NY series so one of those other teams better step up in game 2 to make it interesting but the Caps looked so slow in Game 1 tonight is huge for them as well.

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Kovy is out tonight for the Devils. He's been playing hurt for a while now but not good news for NJ at all. I wouldn't be surprised to see the series take a more physical turn now. Last night the Kings owned the Blues and the Caps made it a series.

[batmanrocks]

I believe the flyers will win in 5 games if not 4, I just dont thinkt he devils can handle all the offensive power the flyers can throw at them and without kovy it will be harder, but you can never discount marty he can always steal a game

[bizzaro megomauler]

As an Islander fan, I hate to say it, but LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!

[batmanrocks]

Sorry i just don't see how the rangers were the best in the conference this year, if you look at there offense and defense it is just ok, but King Henrik is UNREAL!! He's the only reason they were as good as they were

[MegoMark71]

Kings were amazing last night. I hate the Rangers but they earned what they got by incredible goaltending. They took first in one of the best divisions i have ever seen. 4 teams with over 100 points is just mind blowing. I can't stand the Rangers but i hate their coach even more. Time for the third period. I'm watching on a ten minute delay cause i'm tired or watching the same darn commercials over and over. That one with the two women crying is worse then nails on a chalkboard.

[MegoMark71]

Wow did the Flyers ever suck tonight. It's almost like after they went up 1-0 they thought they could coast to an easy win. I give Jersey credit, down their main dude and they came out and punched the Flyers right in the mouth. Maybe it was something in the water cause even the fans sucked tonight. Flyers were 18-0 in series where they took a 2-0 lead. 17-15 in series where it was 1-1 after 2 games. We have a series now for sure. Still a little sick from their performance tonight.

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That one with the two women crying is worse then nails on a chalkboard.

Thank you..that crap comes on and the TV goes on mute. I can't believe someone gave that the green light. The other one that really gets me is that one where the guy talk/raps all the different types of food and they show what is supposed to be clever pictures that go with what he's saying. "Cuban, Chicken, French, Seafood....." I can't even tell you what they're advertising its so annoying...that gots to go.

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That was a statement game for the Devils and they did it without their best player on the ice. They schooled the Flyers on defense tonight and a lot of players stepped up their game. The PK was where it was before the playoffs and I've said it before, I don't think the Flyers are taking the Devils seriously. Any game where the opposing team wants to score a goal early and then go to sleep for the rest of the game is fine with me. It was like Philly went up 1-0 in the 1st and tried to run out the clock. If you look at the standings, NJ and Philly were separated by 1 point and if you watched the games during the season, they played each other tight for the most part. Philly is lucky they won in OT in Game 1 cause it could have easily gone the other way and now it's a series. I knew Larrson would play tonight and I even said to someone today, "Watch him score a goal." I wasn't really thrilled with Harrold taking Kovy's place and early it looked like it was going to be a disaster but he played admirably. The one guy I thought had to step it up for tonight was Clarkson. He's been very quite in the playoffs and he came through big time with the go-ahead goal. Marty played well too but he didn't have much to block.

I kind of chuckled when the fans started booing the Flyers during the 5th Power Play. That's kind of the reputation of Philadelphia fans as a whole. This is the city that booed Santa Clause once.

Also Simmonds at the end of the game is exactly why I don't like him and David Clarkson is not the guy to do that to cause he doesn't let that kind of crap go. Game 3 is setting up to have a few brawls.

[MegoMark71]

****es me off i can't even argue anything you just said..
Your boys played a great game tonight. And I like Simmonds but it did tick me off they he should more fight in those final seconds then he did the whole game. And the league doesn't take lightly when players cause trouble in the final 2 minutes.
I do hope we finally get some bad blood for game 3. For the rivalry it is, both games have been very mild. It usually takes 3 games for the heat to get turned up so we shall see. I am sure coach lavs will have one hell of a practice tomorrow.
I know the commercial your talking about. I usually have the fastest mute finger on earth but tonight just decided to watch it on a 15 minute delay. As soon as a break started, i hit fast forward. I think it comes from watching so many games and the same damn commercials playing every game. I also currently hate charles barkley.