Hockey!

What a fantastic weekend of sports we have this weekend. The NFL Draft on Saturday, NBA and NHL Playoffs all weekend, & Red Sox/Yankees. The playoffs are heating up and this weekend will feature several teams on the brink of elimination fighting for their playoff lives.

NHL

• DET-CBJ: So much for all the hoopla about the Red Wings falling off at the end of the season. It now appears that they just kind of coasted through that last few weeks of the season because they knew they could turn it on come crunch time. Well, they did, and swept the Columbus Blue Jackets in convincing fashion. The Wings outscored Columbus 18-7 for the series and went 7-22 (31.8%) on power plays. So much for Ty Conklin outplaying Chris Osgood all season, Coach Mike Babcock goes with the veteran who has been there before and he looks great.
  

• BOS-MTL: Speaking of domination, the Bruins made a mockery of what is supposed to be one of the greatest rivalries in hockey history. The B's swept the Canadiens out of the playoffs in their centennial season. They outscored the bleu, rouge, et blanc 17-6. Montreal goalie Carey Price was constantly getting peppered by Boston, and he never got comfortable. The Bruins led for all but 23:31 in the series. Basically the B's made the Canadiens their bitch all season and postseason, going 5-0-1 in regular season play and then sweeping them. If Tim Thomas continues his stellar play, then only the Red Wings would stand between them and Lord Stanley's Cup.
  

• VAN-STL: The 3rd sweep of the first round was the Canucks over the Blues. The Blues had been streaking coming into the postseason and some thought they could make some noise, but goalie Robert Luongo was having none of that. He didn't allow a goal in the 3rd period the whole series and also helped keep the Blues to 1-24 with the man advantage. The Canucks came up big on defense at the most important times and rightfully won this series.

• SJ-ANA: Oh boy, look at the Sharks choking yet again. They just won the President's Cup and had their best season in franchise history. Many have considered a trip to the Cup Finals a forgone conclusion. Not so fast, after Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller's second shutout of the series, they have their foot on the Sharks throat with a 3-1 series lead. The Ducks need some credit here too, they are winning this series way more than the Sharks are losing it. Ducks GM Bob Murray has assembled a savvy veteran team that has loads of playoff experience. They know what it takes to win and will not get frazzled. Their blue line, anchored by Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, is one of the best in the league. It also appears that the franchise has struck gold again with goalie Jonas Hiller. The kid is playing great and is just not making mistakes while the defenseman take care of business. Defense wins championships, right? The Sharks are done and no one wants to face the Ducks next round.

• NYR-WAS: Henrik Lundqvist has been playing out of his mind, but the Rangers' defense should get a lot of credit too. They have bottled up MVP Alexander Ovechkin as he has only scored one goal in the series. Young phenom D Mike Green has also been a non-factor in this series. This is not to say that the series hasn't been competitive, as 3 of the 4 games have been decided by one goal. However, one-goal games are not the kind of games the Caps want to be in with their goaltending disadvantage. Veteran Jose Theodore has had good games, but his inconsistency continues to get the best of him. Its an all too familiar hole that the Capitals find themselves in, as they went down 3-1 last year. They were able to force a game 7, but can they repeat that magic again?
  

• NJ-CAR: Martin Brodeur tied Patrick Roy for the all-time playoff shutout record last night and the Devils went up 3-2 for the series. The Devils look like the team that should come out on top. In the two games they lost, one came in OT and the other came on a tip-in with 0.2 seconds left in the 3rd period. The Hurricanes are only 1-19 so far on the power play and if that continues they will be finished. Carolina still has a chance to win two straight, as the Devils have been quite inconsistent. I don't see Brodeur allowing that to happen though.

• CHI-CAL: Its the young Chicago Blackhawks versus the veteran Calgary Flames. After falling into an 0-2 hole, the Flames have battled back to even the series up at 2-2. Miikka Kiprusoff has given up way more goals than he is probably used to but has still done well enough to win the last two games. The Blackhawks are young but are really coming into their own this year. They are dangerous enough on offense to win this series and they also dominated the Flames during the regular season, going 4-0 and outscoring them 19-7. But its a best of 3 series now and each team is going to really have to bring it. Keep an eye on Calgary D Daymond Langkow, who left game 4 with an injury, it would be a significant loss to the Flames if he were to miss any time.
  

• PHI-PIT: Facing elimination, Philly goaltender Martin Biron finally comes up big with only his 2nd career shutout to get the series to 3-2. With the Flyers going home, they have a chance to send this series to game 7. The difference for the Flyers is going to have to be for them to cut down on their penalties. They are tied for first with Montreal (who got swept) among playoff teams with 103 PIM. They have to cut that down because Crosby and Malkin will take advantage. For the Penguins, Marc-Andre Fleury has been solid in the net despite facing one of the more potent offenses in the league. He will be tested in a big way in game 6 in Philly.