the stick, the stone and the puddle

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#7 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens

not even in bettman’s worst nightmare would he ever have imagined this conference final for this year. the way season ended it seemed that miss crosby will battle ovechkin for the eastern conference title. too bad nobody told montreal this. they played a team game and made history (although i doubt it’s the kind of history the nhl was hoping for when they released the commercials with the catch phrase). regardless, montreal fully deserves to be here. after the president’s trophy winner and the defending champs, the canadiens have a meeting with the big bullying flyers. should be a dandy of a series, bound to go to seven. both teams got here after they made their own patch of history (philadelphia came back from a 3-0 deficit both in the series and in game 7).

montreal in 7 games

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#1 San Jose Sharks vs. #2 Chicago Blackhawks
the west couldn’t have asked for a better final. it’s no.1 vs. no.2 for all the marbles, the complete opposite of the eastern conference final. san jose are finally getting close to shedding their underachievers description (something the vancouver canucks seem very quick to want to take from them with their lack of performance in the playoffs). but first, they need to pass by chicago; a team that is quick, young and dynamic. they can be down 5 or up 5 just as fast in a game. chicago is a jeckyll and hyde team. we’ll have to wait to see who shows up. their biggest problem is in goal. niemi is simply horrible. very inconsistent, but they have the offense to ensure that the goalie is a no factor most of the time. san jose has the edge in goal, but their top line needs to be better than in the first two rounds.

chicago in 7 games