2nd Round Playoff Matchups
Eastern Conference
Boston Bruins (1) versus Carolina Hurricanes (6)
- The Bruins aren’t lacking effort, but they are lacking the necessary execution so far in Round 2. Boston needs to get its forecheck going. “We know it’s do or die for us, and we know what it’s going to come down to: our will to win,” said Milan Lucic.
- The Hurricanes are making sure they don’t get too high before Game 5. It is safe to say that a lot has changed in 10 years.
Washington Capitals (2) versus Pittsburgh Penguins (4)
- The Capitals may very well be eliminated in a playoff series by the Penguins once again. “Just an unfortunate bounce,” said David Steckel about last night’s overtime goal by Evgeni Malkin. (Writer’s note: Ummm, am I missing something? The Capitals are blaming this goal on a bad bounce? If that pass gets through Crosby is scoring anyways.) “I just say [to the players], ‘We’ll regroup tomorrow, and we’ve been in this position before,” said coach Bruce Boudreau.
- Penguins coach Dan Bylsma dressed seven defensemen last night and it worked well. The Penguins are not revealing much in regards to Sergei Gonchar’s injury. Evgeni Malkin has answered his critics with his tremendous play the last three games.
Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings (2) versus Anaheim Ducks (8)
- Chris Osgood continues to prove doubters wrong. The new Hossa line hopes to keep momentum. Justin Abdelkader will play today in place of the injured Tomas Kopecky.
- The Ducks have to be able to counter Detroit’s depth if they want to win the remaining best-of-three series. It sure doesn’t help that Ryan Getzlaf has the flu. Anaheim wants this to be redux of 2007, explains Dan Wood. He is injured right now, but Bob Murray did well in adding James Wisniewski.
Vancouver Canucks (3) versus Chicago Blackhawks (4)
- Vancouver needs Daniel Sedin to get going if they want to win this series. “We’re going to re-group and re-focus and we’re going to come out Monday and play the hardest game we’ve played all year,” said Roberto Luongo. Vancouver has had trouble containing Dustin Byfuglien and it continued last night.
- The Blackhawks know how important last night’s win was. If you don’t know much about Dave Bolland, you should. These Hawks are sure tough enough for the playoff play.
Non-playoff team papers:
- Terry Frei talks about the situation in Colorado and what is next for the organization. With all the talk about Patrick Roy, Tony Granato does not yet know his job status. The Avalanche should hire Patrick Roy, writes Dave Krieger.
- How much is Manny Malhortra worth?
- The Coyotes are going to challenge antitrust laws, writes Craig Harris.
Sunday special articles:
- Kevin Paul Dupont chimes in on the Coyotes situation and much more.
- What should the Rangers do with Scott Gomez and Nikolai Zherdev?
- To say Bobby Ryan has had a complicated upbringing would be an understatement.
- Bucky Gleason thinks the NHL needs to fix the team and keep it in Phoenix.
- Damien Cox wonders when Hamilton became the place to be?
- Enough of the Phoenix experiment, writes Ed Willes.
- More Hockey World from Jim Matheson. Instead of Gretzky as head coach of a prospective Hamilton team, what about Ron Francis?
