NHL Playoffs: Round Two

As round one came to a dramatic conclusion with Dallas losing to Vancouver in a hard-fought battle, the focus now turns to round two.

The most interesting matchup in the second round, to me, is the Buffalo Sabres versus the New York Rangers.  I have said that the Rangers are one of the most “streaky” teams in the league and if that streak continues it could be mean trouble for the Sabres.

However, you can’t deny the fact that the Sabres have more 30 Goal scorers than any other team and that they play a great team game.  While some people think that the Rangers have an advantage in goal with Lundqvist, I have always been a huge Ryan Miller fan, so I am going to lean toward the Sabres in that aspect.  Here is a nice breakdown of the key players in this series.

With that said, I think that this series will be a doozy and will likely go at least 6 games.  Be sure to set your TiVo’s to catch the highlights!

In the Ducks versus Canucks series, I am heavily favoring the Ducks.  I have to agree with Zanstorm that dropping Lupul and picking up Pronger is a vast improvement on a team that made it to the semi-finals last season.  In addition, the Ducks youngsters have another year of experience and are hungry for the Cup that escaped them last season.

Unless Daddy Luongo can stand on his head and steal a couple of games for the Canucks, I think this series will be over in five…six at the most.

Ottawa Versus New Jersey.
Ray Emery takes on Martin Brodeur…enough said.
This quote makes me think Spezza is on crack:

”Two goalies are always going to be looked at head-to-head,” Senators centre Jason Spezza said Tuesday following Ottawa’s practice in preparation for Game 1 on Thursday night.

And Spezza has no doubt Emery can match Brodeur, a future Hall of Famer, save for save.

”Definitely,” said Spezza, who’s also one of Emery’s close friends off the ice. ”Ray’s got a lot of confidence and I think that’s it’s probably good for him to put him against Marty Brodeur because this is his time to shine.

New Jersey pulls it off in six games with Elias, Parise and Gionta leading the series in points.

Detroit versus San Jose.
I am going to have to agree with Mirtle, that Detroit’s defense is just too strong when compared to San Jose.  As I mentioned earlier, Craig Rivet is leading the charge on the blueline for the Sharks!  I’ll take Lidstrom and the crafty vetern Chris Chelios any day.  Wings take this one in six.