Not to mention the Pronger deal looks awesome now too. And as soon as Matt Greene stops taking bad penalties & develops he'll make people forget about Brewer. This upset to me is the new NHL at it's best. Tiny Edmonton bumping formerly big money Detroit out in the first round partly due to the big money players Edmonton could finally afford to go after.

You guys realize if ANA wins game 7 the top 4 seeds are out in the West & both defending Conf champs. And my friends wonder why I can't get into the NBA playoffs.

I didn't even realize until now that the Hurricanes have taken a 3-2 lead in the series after trailing 2-0. I almost feel sorry for the Habs.

Sorry Flyer's fan, but the Sabres are smoking them 3-0 after one period of play.

The Habs and Hurricanes are still tied 1-1, Buffalo is laying a beatdown 6-1. The Flyers might want to look for a new Goaltender, Robert Esche has gotten smoked twice now this series.

I'm watching this game, and most of the goals really weren't Esche's fault - he's had absolutely no support. I can think of one soft goal off the top of my head. The Flyers played competitively for about the first 8 minutes, then pretty much rolled over and died.

Looking at the series as a whole, other than game 2 (couple of softies, there), Esche has played pretty well. He alone kept them in games 1 and 5, and played pretty strong in 3 and 4. The Flyers have a lot of bigger problems than Esche, imo. Peter "I was good in 1994, really!" Nedved is their 2nd line center, for one...

And oh yeah, go Sabres!

Keep talkin that trash and you'll never see that Gossip cd I owe you...Nah, but on tha real..The Flyers sucked ass tonight and it hurt. I didn't think they would win the series, but give a f-n effort. 7-1 at home in a must win game..They went out like a bunch of bitches.Clarke must go, but won't..He's the golden boy.

How did 'Zus & Richards not get more ice time than Nedved? Ken Hitchcock had a 4th line in Dallas one year that was a scoring line because he had a 2nd & 3rd line that were both checking lines. I thought Nedved was just a PP point fill in they picked up when Joni Pitkanen was out. You gotta wonder about Clarke's job security. It's tough to say Rathje & Hatcher are shining sucess' with all the goals the Flyers gave up. And they spent a lot to get rid of Amonte & Leclair & a 2nd rounder to get rid of Roenick.

So the top 4 stay alive in the East & if the Ducks win tonite the top 4 are out in the West.

Canes v Devils & Sabres v Sens. I think that's the 2 best matchups we coulda got.

How far can the Devils go with an okay blueline & a fill in coach 20 years removed from Providence College which his last head coaching job? Did the Canes get the scare they needed to catapult them further or did they just beat a bad team & the lack of solid goaltending & a blueline as unimpressive as the Devils gonna cost them? I gotta go with the Canes but this is going 7 & any stumbles in goal & Brouder takes over & wins it for Jersey.

When is Hasek suppossed to be back? I love the Sabres & they have a ton of key guys up for new contracts but it's so hard to pick against the Sens

I'll think about the West tomorrow

Canes/Devils: Devils in 5...The Canes, without Cole, were exposed as a mediocre offensive team by the Habs. If the Canadiens had any finish, or had any players that were willing to pay the price to score goals by going to the high-traffic areas, they would have won the series. The Devils will not have any such problems and will win this quite handily.

Sabres/Senators: Sens in 6... The Sens are just like the Sabres, only better. Better defence, better forwards. The goaltending is a wash, and the Sabres have an advantage in special teams, but the Senators won't take dumb penalties to make that advantage an issue.

Zues has been hurt all year with a torn labrum in his sholder..Richards just doesn't have the legs he had in the begining of the season thanks to the long grind of 82gms...The thing with Hitch is that he likes these "experience" guys too much. He thinks if they have experience, then they are a better fit..Which is complete BS since the inexperienced Sabres ripped them a new one...

If the canes can get that top line of NJ in check, then I can see them winning..But with unproven Wardo in net, I'm a little iffy on them.

Sabres-Ottawa will be fun to watch..Both can skate real well, but I'd like to see Emery with some pressure on him. And if he can't hack it..Hasek back in net vs. Buffalo would be good to see.

Fucking awesome.

Calgary blew it. Amonte does not have Gelinas postseason magical touch, Langkow is not Conroy & McCarty is not McAmmond. They were already thin offensively & took a step back in 3 key spots & it cost them. Phanuef also wore down, him & Hamrlik looked beat. Beauchemin (2g 3a & a beatdown of Iginla) was the awesome rookie defenceman in that series. I hate the Ducks but I'm happy Calgary's boring style is out.

So now on to the west picks:

Joe Thornton's career playoff point per game average (PPG) is (.55) almost half of his regular season point per game average (.93). And 4 assists, no goals & a -2 rating in 5 games isnt that scary so far this postseason. So do the Oilers really have to shut him down? And with Peca upfront & Pronger on the blueline they can shut down any one line as well as anyone left, except Ottawa with Fisher & Chara. The question is who do you concentrate on Thornton or Patrick Marleau? Patricks career post season PPG is actually a bit better than his regular season career PPG & hes a goal scorer. Keep in mind Zetterberg lit up the Oilers for 6 goals in 6 games only to be playing golf in Sweden right now along with half the Wings. Both teams need depth to step up, Dvorak & Peca (offensively at least) for the Oilers, and McCauley, Ekman & Scott Thornton for the Sharks. The Oilers are actually older & more experienced. Their leadership is playoff proven as opposed to the Sharks (excluding Marleau) who still have a question mark as a first line center & star wing (Cheechoo) in his second post season ever (6 goals in 22 career playoff games) who leans on that center a lot. I think upfront the Oilers might be deeper because of that & the fact the Sharks 3rd line isnt scoring. Pronger is the best defenceman in the series but overall blueline depth I think you have to go with the Sharks. Goaltending I think is close enough to call a wash. This is gonna be a good series. If its only gonna be Marleau & some defenceman going above & beyond like it was vs Nashville the Sharks are dead. If Joe Thornton, McCauley & Ekman wake up the Oilers are dead. I think San Jose's depth is gonna win or lose this series. Oilers in 6

Anaheim is in for a real treat. First they get a real defensive team in Calgary & now they get the exact opposite in Colorado. Those 7 kids (8 if Moen plays) in the playoffs for the first time are getting a lesson in different styles of play. The good news for the Ducks is the kids scored enough that Caryle was able to put together a veteran checking line of Pahlsson, Freisen & Rob Niedermayer that just embarrassed Jarome Iginla's line in game 7. The bad news is now they have to do it vs Sakic, Hejduk & Brunette. And Blake along with John Michael-Liles wont disappear the way Hamrlik & Phanuef did and Tanguay on the second line outscored everyone on Calgary during the regular season. The good news is Jose Theordore is not Kipper & the Av's blueline isn't as tight in it's own end as Calgary's. That might be the key. The Ducks superior blueline & goaltending might be just enough to overcome Colorados superior top end talent upfront. The kids have to keep scoring & they have to hope Konawalchuk doesnt step right in & pick up his game & one of those wingers (Tanguay or Hejduk) slows down his pace. Ducks in 7

Is anyone watching that Sabres-Sens game? It is tied 4-4 after two, that is some serious offense and little defense.

The Senators scored the game winner in the final minute to win 6-5. Buffalo had tied it up with a little over a minute on the clock. I wish they were broadcasting it here, that must have been a great game. I know the Sabres fan on here probably think it sucked.

Here in the Buffalo area we have the luxury of watching the games on CBC, which is OK as long as you can tolerate Don Cherry's verbal diarrhea.

Drury in OT!!!!!!!

Fucking Yahoo had said the game was over, so I stopped following it. I'm kind of glad Buffalo came back and won it. It would be cool for Hasek to get a ring, plus I kind of think the Stanley Cup drought for the Canadian Franchises is kind of funny.

Holy Shit...That backhander by Selanne.3-0 Ducks end of 2.

Make that 4-0..Jose..Jose...Jose..

I hate the Ducks for being named after a Disney film, but I hated the due to moving from Quebec City and changing their name from the Nordiques or Nords to the fucking Avalanche or Avs.
I'm glad Anaheim is up 4-0, but I don't want either of these teams to win the cup.
I think my favorite hockey memory of the last few years was watching the Minnesota Wild eliminate the Avs while I got drunk off of cheap American beer, the kinds American men swilled in the 70's.

this game was insane.

Seeing the Avs get whupped by the Ducks makes me feel a little better about the Flames doing so lousy against them. They're a strong, fast team that does a great job of taking advantage of mistakes.

That was the most ridiculous game ever. The Sabres had no business winning it. I hope they realize that.

I didn't like the two guys OLN had. I don't know their names, but the play-by-play guy has kind of an annoying, high voice, and tries too hard to make things sound extreme.

How about those Buffalo Sabres? I don't think anybody really thought they could take out the Sens, much less in 5 games. Ottawa really did control most of the play during the series, but they seemed to just come apart in OT. Crazy.

Gotta think that was Alfredsson's last game as a Sen, and, as a complete bystander on Pominville's OT goal, not a real pretty way to go out.

Canes are up next! Their roster doesn't look very impressive except for Brind'Amour (he always seemed to score clutch goals for Philly).