NHL Playoff Thread (Boneless Wings 25 cents)

[Fraserburn]

the first round is almost over
a tonne of good hockey to be played everywhere outside the GDA

[Anthony]

I'm gonna go ahead and call it now: A canadian team will win the cup.

[Fraserburn]

I'm gonna go ahead and call it
No canadian team will win the cup

Edmonton possibly plays Calgary if Anaheim doesnt take them out (which i hope they do) in round 2 so that eliminates 1 of them

Montreal went out last night to Carolina

and Ottawa has goaltending issues

Buffalo or New Jersey will come out of the East

and San Jose will come out of the West

[Shugadaddi]

Sadly so, Jersey looks the most dominant so far. Sure, The Rangers were sans Jagr, but the rest of The Blueshirts should have at least mustered one win.

Elias is a force right now. This is actually a bummer, because The Wings will be looking to make a lot of moves in the offseason and his pricetag is rising by the minute.

I actually hope that Colorado comes out of The West....although it is unlikely.

[Fraserburn]

ROUND 2 Match ups


Conference Semifinal Playoff Schedule

NEW YORK - The Conference Semifinal round of the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs opens Friday, May 5, when the Ottawa Senators host the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks host the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference.
The Eastern Conference series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils and the Western Conference match-up between the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers start on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7, respectively.

National network television coverage of the Conference Semifinals is provided in the United States by NBC and OLN and in Canada on CBC, TSN and RDS.

Eastern Conference

(1) Ottawa (52-21-9, 113 pts) vs.
(4) Buffalo (52-24-6, 110 pts)

Game 1: Friday, May 5, 7:00 p.m. ET at Ottawa CBC, OLN
Game 2: Monday, May 8, 7:00 p.m. ET at Ottawa CBC, OLN
Game 3: Wednesday, May 10, 7:00 p.m. ET at Buffalo CBC, OLN
Game 4: Thursday, May 11, 7:00 p.m. ET at Buffalo CBC, OLN
Game 5: Saturday, May 13, 7:00 p.m. ET at Ottawa CBC, OLN (if necessary)
Game 6: Monday, May 15, 7:00 p.m. ET at Buffalo CBC, OLN (if necessary)
Game 7: Wednesday, May 17, 7:00 p.m. ET at Ottawa CBC, OLN (if necessary)

Senators won season series, 5-3
Oct. 8: at Senators 5, Sabres 0
Nov. 2: Senators 10, at Sabres 4
Nov. 12: at Senators 6, Sabres 1
Feb. 4: at Sabres 2, Senators 1 (SO)
Mar. 18: at Senators 4, Sabres 2
Mar. 24: Senators 3, at Sabres 1
Apr. 5: at Sabres 5, Senators 4 (OT)
Apr. 8: Sabres 6, at Senators 2

(2) Carolina (52-22-8, 112 pts) vs.
(3) New Jersey (46-27-9, 101 pts)

Game 1: Saturday, May 6, 2:00 p.m. ET at Carolina NBC, TSN
Game 2: Monday, May 8, 7:30 p.m. ET at Carolina OLN, TSN
Game 3: Wednesday, May 10, 7:00 p.m. ET at New Jersey OLN, TSN
Game 4: Saturday, May 13, 3:00 p.m. ET at New Jersey NBC, TSN
Game 5: Sunday, May 14, 7:00 p.m. ET at Carolina OLN, TSN (if necessary)
Game 6: Tuesday, May 16, 7:30 p.m. ET at New Jersey OLN, TSN (if necessary)
Game 7: Thursday, May 18, 7:30 p.m. ET at Carolina OLN, TSN (if necessary)
Season series tied, 2-2
Oct. 15: Hurricanes 6, at Devils 1
Dec. 17: at Hurricanes 4, Devils 1
Feb. 3: at Devils 3, Hurricanes 0
Apr. 11: Devils 4 at Hurricanes 3 (OT)



Western Conference

(5) San Jose (44-27-11, 99 pts) vs.
(8) Edmonton (41-28-13, 95 pts)

Game 1: Sunday, May 7, 8:00 p.m. ET at San Jose CBC, OLN
Game 2: Monday, May 8, 10:30 p.m. ET at San Jose CBC, OLN
Game 3: Wednesday, May 10, 10:00 p.m. ET at Edmonton CBC, OLN
Game 4: Friday, May 12, 8:00 p.m. ET at Edmonton CBC, OLN
Game 5: Sunday, May 14, 10:00 p.m. ET at San Jose CBC, OLN (if necessary)
Game 6: Wednesday, May 17, TBA at Edmonton CBC (if necessary)
Game 7: Friday, May 19, TBA at San Jose CBC, OLN (if necessary)

Oilers won season series, 3-1
Nov. 21: at Oilers 2, at Sharks 1 (SO)
Jan. 19: Oilers 3, at Sharks 2 (SO)
Mar. 3: at Oilers 3, Sharks 2
Mar. 9: at Sharks 5, Oilers 2

(6) Anaheim (43-27-12, 98 pts) vs.
(7) Colorado (43-30-9, 95 pts)

Game 1: Friday, May 5, 10:00 p.m. ET at Anaheim OLN, TSN
Game 2: Sunday, May 7, 3:00 p.m. ET at Anaheim NBC, TSN
Game 3: Tuesday, May 9, 8:00 p.m.ET at Colorado OLN, TSN
Game 4: Thursday, May 11, 10:00 p.m.ET at Colorado OLN, TSN
Game 5: Sunday, May 14, 3:00 p.m. ET at Anaheim NBC, TSN (if necessary)
Game 6: Wednesday, May 17, TBA at Colorado OLN, TSN (if necessary)
Game 7: Friday, May 19, TBA at Anaheim OLN, TSN (if necessary)

Avalanche won season series, 3-1
Nov. 3: at Avalanche 4, Mighty Ducks 3
Nov. 18: Avalanche 3, at Mighty Ducks 2
Mar. 22: at Mighty Ducks 5, Avalanche 4 (OT)
Mar. 28: at Avalanche 4, Mighty Ducks 3



* All start times listed as Eastern Time.

[Fool]

All the lower seeds won in the West? WTF?

[Shugadaddi]

Hockey is strange like that. It's actually more confusing that the East had 1-4 seeds advance.

[Fraserburn]

Bryzgalov makes history as Ducks shut out Avs again
May 7, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports


ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Ilya Bryzgalov wasn't terribly impressed that he tied an NHL rookie record set in 1945.
"It's not a big deal for me. It's fun because we won the game," the Anaheim goalie said Sunday after he blanked Colorado in a 3-0 Mighty Ducks' victory for his third consecutive shutout of the playoffs.
The victory gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal that resumes in Colorado on Tuesday night.
Bryzgalov, who made 22 saves in the win, matched the record by Toronto's Frank McCool, who had three postseason shutouts in a row as a rookie against Detroit in 1945.
Bryzgalov supplanted 2003 playoffs MVP Jean-Sebastien Giguere as the Ducks' No. 1 goalie during the opening round against Calgary. The 25-year-old Russian shut out the Flames in Game 7, then blanked the Avalanche in Anaheim's series-opening 5-0 win.
"I don't even think he realizes," Anaheim's Teemu Selanne said of Bryzgalov's impressive string. "He's just a guy who goes out there and has fun and doesn't take any pressure or anything."
Selanne grinned and added, "So don't tell him."
Bryzgalov hasn't allowed a goal in 229 minutes, 42 seconds, longest ever by an NHL rookie in the postseason, and fourth longest for any goalie. George Hainsworth tops the list with a stretch of 270:08 in 1930. Giguere is sixth on the list with 217:54 scoreless minutes in 2003.
Bryzgalov has said reading philosophers such as Socrates and Plato has helped him put things in perspective, and that he feels no pressure in goal because hockey is, after all, a game.
"I concentrate for a game and help my team win the game," he said. "I always feel confident. Right now I feel confident because our team is playing well and they're giving me confidence."
Ryan Getzlaf opened the scoring in the first period, and Ruslan Salei and Joffrey Lupul added goals in the second.
The 6-foot-3, 208-pound Bryzgalov's play impressed Colorado's Ian Laperriere.
"He's a big kid. He made unbelievable saves when he had to, but if you put more quality shots on the net and more traffic, you'll have more chances to score," Laperriere said.
Dominating the second game almost as handily as they did the first, the Ducks outshot the Avalanche 35-22, and Colorado had only 10 shots until the final period.
"We had our best chances in the third period," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "We didn't generate a whole lot in the first two. We still need the puck more and more people getting in there, and we're having a hard time finding it right now."
He hopes returning home will change the momentum.
"It's exciting to get back and play in front of our fans on home ice. We've played well there all year," Quenneville said. "We've just got to get back there and grab the next game."
Bryzgalov took over for the Ducks when Giguere missed the first game of the opening playoffs with a lower body injury, then Giguere returned and was inconsistent, so the Russian got the job.
Although the Ducks' defense kept the pressure off the goalie most of the game, he made several fines saves, including reaching behind him to snare the puck on a close-range shot by Alex Tanguay.
Among his other saves was blocking Joe Sakic's shot from the slot on an Avalanche power play -- Colorado's first shot -- 12:55 into the game. Sakic got off another shot near the crease at 18:40 of the second period, but Bryzgalov turned that aside as well.
Colorado goalie Jose Theodore was considerably busier, making 32 saves.
Lupul made it 3-0 at 12:24 of the period after Salei had scored at 4:41. Salei got his second goal of the postseason on a slap shot from just inside the left point.
The Ducks expected the Avalanche to come out strongly early in the second game being outshot 14-4 in the first period of the lopsided loss in the opener. It didn't happen.
Colorado didn't get off a shot for the first 7:05, had only three in the first 15 minutes and was outshot 11-6 in the first period.
Finally, on a power play that began at 14:08 of the first period, the Avalanche managed two shots -- but so did the short-handed Ducks.

Notes

• The Ducks have scored 13 straight goals dating to Game 6 against Calgary.
• For the second game in a row, the Ducks skated and hit with much more energy than the Avalanche. Anaheim had just one day off between Game 7 against Calgary and Friday's second-round opener against Colorado. The Avalanche had been off since wrapping up their series against Dallas in Game 5 on Sunday.
• Anaheim RW Corey Perry missed his second game in a row because of a knee injury.
• Giguere had three consecutive shutouts and a total of six in the 2003 playoffs, when the Ducks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to New Jersey.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

[Shugadaddi]

Did anyone happen to catch the 5 on 1 that San Jose happened to kill against The Oilers last night? Sure, it was actually a 5 on 3, but two San Jose players broke their sticks. Holy shit!

[Fraserburn]

yeah SJ is lookin strong

did anybody catch schaeffers hit on Connolly last night?

that guy missed an entire year with PCS i hope he can come back he's got hands!!