2008 NHL Playoffs - Round 2... Game On

There were some predicted and some not quite as suspected things that took place in the first round.

Western Conference:

1. Detroit over Nashville. True, it probably took longer than some would have thought, but the Wings ran into excellent goaltending from the Preds Dan Ellis.

2. San Jose over Calgary. Also took longer to decide than might have been expected, but the oft-mentioned inconsistency from the Sharks was a major factor extending this series to 7 games. Either way, Sharks advance.

3. Colorado over Minnesota. Not necessarily a surprise. The Avs series win was keyed by their stars (see: Forsberg, Peter) being better than the Wild stars (see: Gaborik, Marian).

4. Dallas over Anaheim. Yep, a definite surprise. Series result seemed to come from a combination of the Ducks simply not being as good as they were last year (Corey Perry injured, J.S. Guigere not as solid) and Dallas capitalizing (four game one PP goals were very "helpful" to the Dallas cause).

Eastern Conference:

1. Montreal over Boston: Final result was not a surprise given the seedings and fact that Montreal had taken out the Bruins each time in the regular season. The B's showed a lot of heart, though, and stretched it out to 7. Takeaway from this series for the Habs may be similar to that of the Sharks after their 7 game series... we can play better, but for now, we survive and advance.

2. Pittsburgh over Ottawa: Easy to call... the Pens looked good and the Sens were in disaray going into the playoffs. Game over.

3. Philadelphia over Washington: Not necessarily surprising, but disapointing. Would have been nice to see Alexander Ovechkin continue his playoff run. The Caps may be on a similar path to the Pens from last season... just needed a first taste of the playoffs and they'll be back and better next year.

4. New York Rangers over New Jersey: Not a real surprise, course it also wouldn't have been a real surprise had Brodeur excelled and the Devils won. Either way, Rangers appear to have a lot of pieces working well right now.

So... all that being said, here's where we're now at for round 2:

Western Conference:
Colorado at Detroit.
Dallas at San Jose.

Eastern Conference:
Philadelphia at Montreal.
New York Rangers at Pittsburgh.

Sakes alive... it'd be fun to see a Stanley Cup final with the Sharks against Les Canadiens (or even the Penguins, but that would sacrifice the whole "Canada hearts hockey" thing).