Well the West is set. Vancouver and Chicago will be fun. Things got a bit testy in the season end between these two. The other will be Detroit and Anaheim.

The East is tied at 1-1 in both games.

Playoff hockey is best of any sport.

In the context of the series, the hit was fine. Way tamer than several that went in the other direction. But it definitely was legal, because he still had possession of the puck (no one else had touched it), and 2 seconds really isn't a late hit anyway.

In the context of the series, the hit was fine. Way tamer than several that went in the other direction. But it definitely was legal, because he still had possession of the puck (no one else had touched it), and 2 seconds really isn't a late hit anyway.

Agreed, it wasn't a late check even though he could have changed direction, but my main problem is the fact that he finished the check with his arms in a nasty way instead of just a solid body check. Again, it's not worth five games compared to some really cheap shots in the past (Bertuzzi, McSorley, etc.), but I think Brashear went over the top on that one.

The last few mins of the Canes/Devils was wild. Canes came from behind with under 5, then win it with less than a min left.

Caps swung back after a lousy, non-playoff looking 2nd period to take it. That was serious fun since I hate the Rangers.

Going to have a great second round of playoffs, west and east.

Holy crap. I leave with 5m left with NJ in control, come back from the dog thing and see the Canes win. Wow.

Yup. NBC is happy.

I'm happy too. Except for one thing. Now the Canes have to play the Bruins. Ouch!

My first round predictions were pretty off, here's a new try:

Bruins in 6

Caps in 7

Wings in 5

Canucks in 7

Detroit vs Anaheim - Wings in 5

Chicago vs Vancouver - Hawks in 7

Boston vs Carolina - Boston in 5

Pittsburgh vs Washington - Caps in 5

Bruins in 4

Caps in 7

Canes in 5

Flyers in 7

Ducks in 7

Wings in 7

Blues in 7

Flames in 6

So how did I do:

Bruins won in 4

Caps won in 7

Cans won in 7 (off by 2)

Flyers lost in 6 Bzzt

Ducks won in 6 (off by 1)

Wings won in 4 (off by 3)

Cannucks won in 4 Bzzt

Blackhawks won in 6 Bzzt

Edited April 30, 200917 yr by grawk

My main fear right now is that Ovechkin will hit someone (probably crosby) and get suspended just like Brashear.

My main fear right now is that Ovechkin will hit someone (probably crosby) and get suspended just like Brashear.

No, they punished brash like that because he's a fighter, and they're sending more than one message there.

My main fear right now is that Ovechkin will hit someone (probably crosby) and get suspended just like Brashear.

I think the Pengs/Caps series is going to be great. Should at least be on in HD for every game unlike the Canes/Devils series.

Bruins in 6 well, they won

Caps in 6 it took 7, but they won

Devils in 7 glad the canes took it, but I knew it would be close

Flyers in 7 wow, did I misjudge that one

Sharks in 5 seriously misjudged this one as did most folks (except grawk)

Wings in 5 close

Canucks in 6 not bad

Flames in 7 sad sad sad

Round 2 starts tonight!

Detroit vs Anaheim - Wings in 5

Chicago vs Vancouver - Canucks in 7

Boston vs Carolina - Boston in 5

Pittsburgh vs Washington - Caps in 6

Bruins in 5 Win

Caps in 4 Win

Canes in 6 Win

Pens in 6 Win

Sharks in 5 Loose

Wings in 7 Win

Blues in 6 Loose

Hawks in 5 Win

2nd Round

Boston

Pens

Chicago

Detroit

Ovechkin just knocked the crap out of Cooke. Going to be a great series!

1 down 11 to go

And that's the way it is.

I only caught the 3rd period of the Caps/Penguins game, so my comments are a bit unfair, and though I'm pulling for the Caps, I gotta say that the Penguins looked good, looked like the better team out there. Caps defense looked raggedy. This is going to be an interesting series.

You missed a lot

Caps were sluggish in the 1st, but improved a good bit after that, from what I saw.

They started a little slow, but I'd say it was more 5-10 minutes. After they got on the board they kept playing pretty hard. And all those PKs. I did miss the last 10 minutes, had to listen on the radio.

Those 10 minutes are what I saw. They weren't horrible, just a bit....raggedy. Varlamov definitely held it together.

Penguins dominated most of the first period with sloppy play by the Caps, but came out down on the score. End of first period Penguins started playing sloppy, continued through 3/4 of the second period but tied it up. Both goalies played pretty good. Neither team looked very good to me. Lots of turn overs.