N.H.L Playoffs
 

Eastern Conference

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The Ottawa Senators !!
Too good of a team.
I don't care if Hasek is out, this is the team that should win the stanley cup.
Their first line of Alfredson, Heatley and Spezza is unstopable!
Generally a quick team which is exactly what this new NHL requires.

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Now if for one reason or another the Senators do not win the stanley cup, it won't be because they lost in it, it'll be because they didn't make it there.
The Philadelphia Flyers would probably be the team to do it. Superstars Forsberg and Gagne along with the great hard hitting defenders Hatcher & Desjardins will hold a good opposition to the Senators.

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Staal will win a stanley cup, I just don't think it'll be this year with Carolina.

the NY Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, NJ Devils & the Canadiens are all good teams, but certainly less than the teams mentioned above..
Although the Rangers should advance since they face the Sabres, but that'll be it.


Western Conference


This is totally open, it lacks the super team in it, so you could easily see a suprise here.

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If i was to chose one team from out west, it would be the Flames.

Superstar Iginla is a leader, and it would be nice to see him shine in the Stanley cup. Worth mentioning is the youngster Phaneuf which will become legendary in the NHL!

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I know the red wings are the favorite and all, but I don't think that their style of play will survive in the new NHL, the'yre just not good enough, and don't look at their amazing winning record, cause just look at their division:Columbus, Chicago & St.Louis are some of the absolute worst teams in the NHL, so along with Nashville IMO, cross out Detroit.

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Now here are two teams that can make it to the stanley cup if the Flames fail to.

Colorado Avalanche ..too many good players on this team...Sakic, Hejduk, Blake & Tanguay make up a team able in this weak western conference.
Dallas Stars. Modano can lead them all the way, as long as they can get past the Avalanche if they have to end up facing them.

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How suprised would you be if the Flames ended up playing against the Edmonton Oilers for a seat in the stanley cup?
The second Chris pronger set foot in Edmonton alongside Smyth, it's been looking pretty good, I would not be suprised if the Oilers took out the Red wings in this first playoff round.
The Oilers are my darkhorse!

Anaheim's a pretty good team, they may do well.
The two worst teams IMO face eachother in the first round San Jose and Nashville are lucky, one of them will be in the next round.

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Overall the Ottawa Senators should lift the cup!~

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Spezza is an amazing talent. We got to cheer him at AHL Binghamton. As long as the Senators are in Binghamton, I may as well root for the parent club, even if I won't see any hockey until they drop the puck here next year.

Think you're right about Ottawa. The Flyers have one of the best coaches in the league but Forsberg is still banged up and they STILL can't beat Jersey.

Forsberg is alright, he should be 100% by the 2nd-3rd game of the first playoff round.... and they're deffinetly not gonna face the Devils.
It's between the Rangers and the Sabres...IMO, either way, they will surpass.
The devils will face the other. (My only mistake above).

OK, these are how the playoffs will be officially:
Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay lightning(8) vs Ottawa Senators(1)
Montreal Canadiens(7) vs Carolina Hurricanes(2)
NY Rangers(6) vs NJ Devils(3)
Philadelphia Flyers(5) vs Buffalo Sabres(4)
Western Conference
Edmonton Oilers(8) vs Detroit Red Wings(1)
Colorado Avalance(7) vs Dallas Stars(2)
Anaheim Mighty Ducks(6) vs Calgary Flames(3)
San Jose Sharks(5) vs Nashville Predators(4)

First matchups are Friday and Saturday.

Get ready for some major upsets in the West!

my predictions

ottawa in 4
carolina in 5
rangers in 7
flyers in 7
oilers in 7 ...lol
avalanche in 7
flames in 5
sharks or predators in 7

what do you guys think

give me your predictions

Ottawa in 7 and it might be good for them get it rolling
Canadiens in 7- but they will be beat the hell up
Devils in 5- on the rise
Flyers in 5
Wings in 4- the machine will get rolling, chuckles.
Avalanche in 7- this is gonna be a battle.
Flames in 4
Sharks in 6

I think Ottawa's goal tending will hurt them in the long run.
Its who ever stays healthy.

I'll muse ahead to a Flames / Devils final....!

Yow. Sabres and Ducks look good. I should adjust my series numbers up. and may have to go with Buffalo over Philly! But I;ll stick with Jerome and the lads.

i hope you're right about the habs, lets see if they can do it again.
i say stick to philly, and of course jerome and the lads

Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay lightning (1-2) Ottawa Senators
Montreal Canadiens (2-0) Carolina Hurricanes
NY Rangers (0-2) NJ Devils
Philadelphia Flyers (0-2) Buffalo Sabres
Western Conference
Edmonton Oilers (2-1) Detroit Red Wings
Colorado Avalance (2-0) Dallas Stars
Anaheim Mighty Ducks (1-2) Calgary Flames
San Jose Sharks (2-1) Nashville Predators

i'm so happy that the oilers won ...you know it could have been 3-0 and we'd be going for the sweep thursday if we hadn't lost in that first match in double overtime.
i'm also happy about the habs..i didn't expect that one.

Flyers were handed their asses. I wonder if they will fold!

The Edmonton-Detriot series is hard for me! I like them both. I was cheering for (former fond Wild player) Roli to hang in there. He's a solid guy. I would be happy with either team advancing. One more good thing about Oiler wins, it equals more possible CBC coverage.

I'm still in shock over the Blues being out of the playoffs this year. Been catching the Oilers-Wings series...the Oilers are a heck of a team! And I miss Chris Pronger...he just doesn't look right in that Oilers uniform.

the flyers obviously will not fold, but i'm afraid that the senators may prove to be too good for them, i don't think any other team could stop philadelphia though.

...and, regarding the devils, they may look good against the rangers, but it's just not gonna happen, no stanley cup match for them

that's very funny

i became an oilers fan just this year because of pronger
i think he looks just fine, also, i think he fits in just perfectly.
he's getting more time than any nhl player, he obviously loves that, and has the stanima for it. he also seems to love the team. key players along side pronger and some excellent team work are the keys that will elliminate the wings ....you'll see.

the senators are loking to be the first team to advance from this round of the playoffs, devils also in this seat.

Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay lightning (1-3) Ottawa Senators
Montreal Canadiens (2-2) Carolina Hurricanes
NY Rangers (0-3) NJ Devils
Philadelphia Flyers (2-2) Buffalo Sabres
Western Conference
Edmonton Oilers (2-2) Detroit Red Wings
Colorado Avalance (3-1) Dallas Stars
Anaheim Mighty Ducks (2-2) Calgary Flames
San Jose Sharks (3-1) Nashville Predators

I must say you were right about Forsberg, because he's looking good out there right now, he's a ton of fun to watch. He can change the entire game when he has the puck. It's like he takes over when he wants to.

yeah, forsberg is deffinetly the main key for the flyers.
he has a great mind.

btw, the oilers are teaching the red wings how to play hockey here in game 5 in detroit.... we'll now be going home with a 3-2 series... it'll be the upset of the year, that's for sure ....poor jagr's injured and out for the rest of the season, not that the rangers will see another day

yey ...the oilers did it ....we took out the number one seeds red wings.

this is the next round

ottawa senators vs [buffalo or philadelphia
new jersey devils vs [carolina or montreal]

..................

edmonton oilers vs san jose sharks
colorado avalanche vs [calgary or anaheim]

OK. The Wings bite it. I'm glad for Alberta.

Looking ahead....
Sens will beat Buffalo in 6
Devils will continue to roll...I'm going out on a limb, even with a missing Koivu, Montreal in 6

...............
Oilers are firing on all Pistons and can stop even Thorton and crew, but it will go 7 (I do love my ex Wild Roli)

I think maybe the Avalanche (I do love my ex Wild- Brunette, Laaksonen, and where-you-goin' Jimmy Doud?!?!) will be able to wear down Calgary....? But its a toss

Dang it Predators! They seemed to have some promise early in the season.. oh well, Nashville isn't exactly known as a hockey town anyway.

predictions

ottawa senators 4-1 buffalo sabres

carolina hurricane 4-2 new jersey devils

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edmonton oilers 4-2 san jose sharks

colorado avalanche 4-2 anaheim mighty ducks

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conference finals

ottawa senators 4-2 carolina hurricane

colorado avalanche 4-3 edmonton oilers

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stanley cup

ottawa senators easily over colorado avalanche

ottawa senators 0-1 buffalo sabres
carolina hurricane 1-0 new jersey devils

edmonton oilers 0-1 san jose sharks
colorado avalanche 0-2 anaheim mighty ducks

Yow! this is a strange playoffs.
Glad to see Oilers win in triple OT to stop the 3-0 patterns...

yeah, me too ...i still think ottawa will fight back and take this series 4-3.
i'd like to think the same about the avalanche, but maybe anaheim is too strong to lose 4 in a row ...carolina is superior to the devils, no question there.
...you know, it's looking more possible everyday that the oilers can actually lift the cup... it actually paid 200/1 at the turn of the year

well how about them oilers, they're really looking good now aren't they.

not only is it now possible to lift the cup, but we're looking kinda like the favorites right now, especially if we win tonight.

now that's not all that bad thinking we were 200/1 just a few months back.

i did call this one, way b4 the playoffs

I am rooting for the Oilers! They are a scruffy bunch. Roli is getting his chance of a lifetime and rising to the occasion. Yea! I hope they can shake the flu bugs...

And even though hes a duck (!), I do like to see young Dustin Penner doing well. Big hardworking prairie boy.

Even after one game, I bet it will be Buffalo out of the east.

we did it

the edmonton oilers are in the stanley cup final

we took out the duck easily 4-1

the oilers ow get to sit back and study carolina closely and get ready to lift the cup.....

Great! they can get healthy....as healthy as possible... but stay sharp and hungry. Go Oilers! Go Roli!

Ha! I saw a news piece about the bars in Edmonton running out of kegs.

dangerous bunch aren't they

Beer soaked Western Canadians blowing into long plastic horns? :)

so, carolina take out the sabres and will meet my oilers in the stanley cup final. this should be as excting as it gets ...gooooo pronger

Go Oilers! Go Roli!

nothing against you warch, but i've just been hearing about roloson everywhere i go, and lets just have a little reality check here.
i became an oilers fan the secong i heard that the oilers signed chris pronger.
i was so happy that pronger finally joined a team that already has a good deffence, where he can work and turn into a great deffence, and as the leader that he is, he did. now any goalie would look good playing behind this deffence, and to be honest with you, roloson almost costed us our entry into the playoffs.
facts...the oilers have the most blocked shots by defenders in the nhl.
chris pronger as an individual is first in the nhl with blocked shots.
chris pronger has more mintues played/and average than any other player in the nhl....and 2nd plce in the oilers simply cannot be seen.

another fact, the oilers are a deffencive team,thus any oilers goalie faces less breakaways or two on ones than any other goalie ...roloson's numbers has mostly to do with the deffence....the only reason i mention this is everyone's giving roloson the credit , where the real credit should be given to the deffence, and the coach for calling the systems the oilers play with.
and of course, the reason why the oilers are here, chris pronger.

btw...goooooooooooooooooooo oilers [winning 1-0 midway through the 2nd in carolina]

no offense taken!

My Roli fandom is more connected to seeing him play for the last 4years with Fernandez, whom he platooned with during the 2003 playoff miracle...

I think the Oilers are gritty, Pronger has blossomed there, and they are certainly still in this thing with any goalie, OK, with any goalie that elevates his game.

the block shots have been impressive, Pronger's big reach, and I'll also call out the offensive spunk of the 4th liners.

Carolina seems to ride the waves, though. And Cam Ward displayed some major mojo in the first game. Whitney is intense. and Brind'amour is focused.

We'll see what tonight brings...