NHL Playoffs Preview... Conf. Quarters...

EASTERN CONFERENCE
(#1) Buffalo v. (#8) New York Islanders
The big question mark for the Islanders is how far can they go without Goaltender Rick DiPietro. They have won their last 4 games for their dramatic playoff push (beating Toronto by 1 point for the final spot). The Sabres didn't end their season that great, but they had the first seed in the East locked up. I think Buffalo is the pick to win the Stanley Cup, and I think that they're depth and speed is eventually going to overwhelm the Isles. But I've got a feeling the boys from Uniondale aren't going to go down too easily.

Buffalo in 6

(#2) New Jersey v. (#7) Tampa Bay
The Bolts are not even a shadow of the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2004. New Jersey boasts the best defense in the Eastern Conference and until further notice, the best goaltender in the league in Martin Brodeur. Now a lot of people believe that the Devils are due for some bad Karma after firing Julien in the last week of the season for his Atlantic division championship effort this season. Regardless of who's behind the bench, the Devs are destined to beat the Bolts. Tampa Bay simply can't generate the offense it'll take to down the Devils, and mistakes in their own end will probably tip them out. There will be some close games, but Jersey will win 4 of them pretty quick.

New Jersey in 5

(#3) Atlanta v. (#6) New York Rangers
Congratulations to Atlanta on their first playoff appearance in their 9 seasons of existence. However, I have to believe the experience of the New York Rangers is going to win out here. The Thrash did add Keith Thachuck after the St. Louis fire sale, but for veterans, they just can't compare to the Broadway Blueshirts Jager, Avery, and others. King Henrik is still young between the posts, but we know what he's capable holding teams to very few goals, I think the Rangers are still motivated by their late seasons collapse last year and they realize a minor upset of the Thrash is within reach.

New York Rangers in 6

(#4) Ottawa v. (#5) Pittsburgh
This is going to be the most competitive of the 8 series. The Senators have not had any playoff sucess since losing that tough eastern conference final to the Devils in 2003. But Sens are a deep team and they've been every bit as hot as the Penguins. The Penguins have a ton of firepower and boast scoring champion Sidney Crosby in just his sophomore season. However there are indeed questions on the back end for the Penguins and I think the youth of this team is going to show more than the desiders of the media that want the Pens to go deep. The Pens will be a condentder for many years to come, but they drew an unfortunate first round matchup with the Sens.

Ottawa in 7

WESTERN CONFERENCE

(#1) Detroit v. (#8) Calgary
To say the Red Wings have been succesful in the post season in recent years is quite an overstatement. They have not one a playoff series since lifting the cup in 2002, and they've been favorites in each instance. However, the Red Wings have drawn the one team that has no shot of winning the Western Conference. The two chances the Flames have are if age catches up with the Red Wings yet again, and if they have troubles between the net (Hasek's injury and Osgood's inconsistency) but aside from that, the Red Wings play very well as a team in both ends. This is the year they do away with the first round choke-monster.

Detroit in 5

(#2) Anaheim v. (#7) Minnesota
HOMER ALERT! We know who I'm gonna take here, so I'm just going focus on making the rather unlikley case. This series will also be close, almost as close as the Ottawa-Pittsburgh tilt. The teams split 2-2 in the regular season. It was in Anaheim where Marian Gaborik got hurt, and that has somewhat been attributed to their poor ice conditions. So that's a little scary. However the Wild are the only team in the playoffs that boast 3 legitamate scoring lines, which will play off toward the end of this series. The biggest caveat is if the Wild will face the Jean-Sebastian Giguere (expected to return from his family medical issues) that just the team out for 3 straight games in 2003. However the Ducks have more waddled into the playoffs, and have had trouble winning games that were important to their Pacific Division title (however, they did finally beat Columbus to get there). On the Other hand the Wild have won their last three straight (albiet against Edmonton and St. Louis who aren't going to the playoffs) I think the Wild have the depth to beat Ducks, though this is Goaltenter Niklas Backstrom's first Stanley Cup playoffs, he doesn't seem to have the fragile mindset that dooms other young goaltenders in their first series'.

Minnesota in 6

(#3) Vancouver v. (#6) Dallas

The Vancouver Canucks should thank the Florida Panthers for Goaltender Roberto Luango. Bertuzzi for Luango is the most lopsided trade since Boston sent Joe Thorton to San Jose for....who?...I forgot. Luango has carried this team to the Northwest crown with stellar play. On the other side, Dallas Goaltender Marty Turco has been marrred by playoff woes. In the end I think the Canucks play better defensivly, and whether it's Turco's fault or not, the Stars are probably going down.

Vancouver in 6

(#4) Nashville v. (#5) San Jose
This is also going to be a very tight series. The I did dub the Sharks the most improved team at the trade deadline. Their acquisition of Bill Guerin (also from the aformentioned Blues Firesale), and made them extremly deep in terms of forwards (almost as much as the Wild). If they get good goaltending from Evgeni Nabokov or Vesa Toskala, they will be tough to beat. Nashville made headlines at the deadline by acquiring Petr Forsberg from the Flyers. It remains to be seen how much impact he's really going to have. The Preds gave up a lot for him (in fact they did most of the Flyers rebuilding work for them in this deal). I just have to like the Sharks here.

San Jose in 6.

REST OF BRACKET (subject to change for the purposes of my pool)...

WESTERN CONFERENCE
*Minnesota over Detroit (in 6)
*San Jose over Vancouver (in 4)
San Jose over Minnesota (in 6)

EASTERN CONFERENCE
*Buffalo over New York Rangers (in 5)
*Ottawa over New Jersey (in 7)
Buffalo over ottawa (in 7)

STANLEY CUP FINALS
Buffalo over San Jose (in 5)

*Note: The top seed remaining after the conference quarterfinal is always paired with the bottom seed remaining in the conference semifinals. And the other two teams are paired in the other Semifinal

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Editor's note: This blog was posted at about 8pm ct, 2 hours after the start of the Buffalo and Ottawa game, however I assure this was completed earlier in the afternoon about 3pm. -J