NHL Playoff Recap/Preview

Last night, the Philadelphia Flyers became only the 4th team in all of professional sports to erase a 3-0 series deficit to win a best-of-7 series. And they did it in came 7 coming back from down 3-0. The Flyers took the game 4-3 after boston struck for the first 3 goals, one from Michael Ryder and a pair from Milan Lucic. Then in the 3rd the Flyers roared back with goals from James Van Remsdyke, Scott Hartnell, Danny Briere, and finally Simone Gagne to pull off the improbable comeback.

The other 3 sports teams to pull off this comeback were the 1949 Toronto Maple Leafs, who did it against Detroit, the 1975 New York Islanders, who did it against Pittsburgh, and the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who did it against the New York Yankees.

So this now sets up the Conference Finals in the NHL. First we start with the East, where it will be the #8 Montreal Canadians taking on the #7 Philadelphia Flyers. During the regular season, both teams split the season series, each winning 2 games. The playoff scoring leaders for the Canadians are Michael Cammalleri, who has 12 Goals 6 Assists for 18 points, and Brian Gionta who has 7 Goals 5 Assists for 12 Points. Carrying the load between the pipes for the Habs is Jaroslav Halak who is 8-5 in the playoffs with a 2.42 GAA and a .933 SV%. In my opinion he Halak is the favorite for the Conn Smyth Trophy as Playoff MVP. The Habs have shocked hockey as the #8 seed, knocking off arguably the 2 best teams in the conferance with the 3 best players in the world on them, in Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals in the first round , and now in the 2nd beating Crosby, Malkin and the Penguins, so this series will be another good test for the team who has not won a Stanley Cup Since 1993. Now moving on to the Flyers. The Broad Street Bullies are being lead offensively by Mike Richards, who has 5 Goals and 12 Assists for 17 Points, and Danny Briere, who has 7 Goals and 8 Assists for 15 Points. Leading the way in goal had been Brian Boucher, but he was injured in game 6 of the series and Mike Leighton had to come in and pick things up. The biggest lift for Philly had to come in game 4 with the return of both Jeff Carter and Simone Gagne, both of whom I think are keys to the Flyers Success the rest of the way. No doubt this will be a very hard fought series but I say Habs keep on the roll and will take it in 7 games.

Now on to the Western Conference Finals which features the #1 San Jose Sharks and #2 Chicago Blackhwaks. During the Regular season, the Hawks took 3 of the 4 meetings. San Jose coming into these playoffs have grown a reputation as of late of not being able to perform in the playoffs. In fact this is the best performance the Sharks have had since they made the Conference Finals in 2004 when they lost to the Flames. Well this year in the playoffs the Sharks are being led by Joe Pavelski, who has 9 Goals 6 Assists for 15 Points, and Joe Thorton, who has 3 Goals and 8 Assists for 11 Points. In net for the Sharks as always has been Evgeni Nabokov who has an 8-3 record, with a 2.43 GAA and a .907 SV%. San Jose took down the Avalanche and the Red Wings to get to this point. Meanwhile the Blackhawks had to get here by beating the Predators and Canucks. The team is lead offensively by (no surprise here) Jonathan Toews, who has 6 Goals and 14 Assists for 20 Points, and Patrick Kane, who has 7 Goals and 8 Assists for 15 Points. In net for the Hawks has been Antti Niemi who has a record of 8-4 with a 2.75 GAA and a .909 SV %. It was somewhat of a surprise to see Niemi over Cristobal Huet but Niemi has been the hot goalie and the coaching staff is gonna stay with him as long as the team keeps winning. The Sharks have had an incredable year but this is the round that it ends as the Hawks take it in 6.

This round may actually be the closest and most evenly matched round thus far in the playoffs. The Hawks were really the only team left that I think most critics had to start with. It is also safe to say that nobody expected the Canadians to do what they have done through the first 2 rounds of this here playoffs and after game 3 of the last round most I think had the Flyers written off and figured the Bruins would take it. But like last season against Carolina, Boston just could not seem to put it away when it really mattered. So there you have it. We are all set to go with the Conference finals in the NHL which start tomorrow night. Western Conference game 1 is at 3 while the East kicks off at 7. Enjoy the Conference finals folks!