NHL’s Eastern Conference Breakdown

It’s been a wild ride right down to the last game but now that all the ice shavings have settled,  here’s the eastern conferences playoff match ups and a brief break down of the 1st round series.

The Washington Capitals meet the New York Rangers in what should be a a good match up.  The Capitals are healthy getting back forwards Donald Brashear and Boyd Gordon from injuries.  The real match up will be between Sean Avery ( the league most controversial player ) goes up against the NHL’s leading goal scorer in Alex Ovechkin.  Ovechkin has showed before that when he’s on his game he can’t be stopped, not even by a player like Sean Avery.  It will take a complete team effort on the Rangers part if they are to have any chance at pulling an upset over the Capitals.

The Philadelphia Flyers will open up versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.  These two teams mirror each other in a lot of ways.  First off they both have scored 264 team goals this year while the Flyers have given up just one less goal than Pittsburgh at 238.  Pittsburgh does have high flying forwards Sidney Crosby and the NHL’s scoring leader in Evegni Malkin, although Philly has some of their own guys who can put the puck in the net.  Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Scott Hartnell were all 30 goal scorers, if Pittsburgh wants to come out on top they will need top flight performance by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Carolina Hurricanes will meet the New Jersey Devils in their 1st round match up.  Carolina is entering the playoffs on a 8-2 run to end the regular, the Devils are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games to end their season.  The big question is how will Martin Brodeurs’ health hold up, while the Devils have high scoring forward Zach Parise, it will be Brodeurs’ play that dictates how deep the Devils go in the playoffs.  Carolina’s chances rest on the shoulders of forward Eric Staal and goalie Cam Ward.  Along with Staal’s 40 goals which led the Hurricanes, left winger Ray Whitney is Carolina’s other playmaker.  Cam Ward had a solid season going 39-23 with a 2.44 GAA but he will need to continue that type of play if the Hurricanes are to have any chance for advancement.

Last but not least we have the Boston Bruins versus the Montreal Canadiens.  The eastern conferences top team will match wits with the conferences number 8 team.  Just because these teams are seeded the way they are this doesn’t really tell the tale.  The Bruins and the Canadiens have one of the most heated rivalries in all of professional sports let alone in the NHL.  This is a special year for the Habs seeing that this is their centennial anniversary. A lot of crazy things have happened Montreal this year from their mid season collapse, to hanging out with mobsters, benching their starting goalie for partying to much, sending their best player home to clear his head and last but not least a late season coaching change.  All of these factors will be in play if Montreal is not able to turn things around for a playoff run.  The Bruins however are playing great hockey and are on top of their game, but it will take a very focused effort to beat the Canadiens.