Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens. Boston wins 4-0.

And man was it easy for Boston. GM and Coach Bob Price, erm, Bob Gainey didn’t help his team by insanely relying on Carey Price. One has to wonder if he put his obsession with Price ahead of what was best for a mentally fragile team already ravaged by injuries.

As for Boston, what is there to say? It was a series where they could save their best for the next round. Boston’s depth (particularly at center with Marc, Savard, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron) was clear from start to finish. Indeed, defenseman Zdeno Chara was nominated for the Norris trophy and goalie Tim Thomas is up for a Vezina himself. There was also some karma for two former Montreal cast-aways: Michael Ryder who led all scorers with four goals and three assists and coach Claude Julien, fired by Gainey.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers. Pittsburgh wins 4-2.

The surging Pens continued their surge against a familiar Pennsylvania rival.The Flyers probably will wonder “what could have been” but in the end, Marc-Andre Fleury outdid Martin Biron, while Pittsburgh’s powerful offensive duo of
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin outgunned Philly’s wicked tandem of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Yeah, it’s a rather simplistic summary but accurate nonetheless.

Did you know that between them, the Flyers and Penguins have won the Stanley Cup four times (two each and reached the finals 10 times?

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers. Washington wins 4-3.

This was a strange series for the New York Rangers. It began with Henry Lunqvist stealing the first two games for the Rangers. In the next couple, his performance dipped a little but they still maintained a 3-1 lead. Then, the circus came into town.

It started when Sean “Narcissto” Avery, decided to play dumb-dumb taking all sorts of frivolous penalties in Game 4. It was enough to raise the ire of coach John Tortorella who subsequently benched him for Game 5. End of story, you think? Nope.

Tortarella decided to impetuously attack a fan in the stands and gets himself suspended for Game 6! End of chapter, you say? Na-ah.

Jim Schonfeld ends up taking over behind the bench for one game. The guy who once told referee Ron Koharski to go have “another dough nut” calling him a “fat pig” in the process. That was back in 1988.

Ooo-ba-boy.

While the Rangers did their off-Broadway thing, the Caps kept their composure and capped their comeback with a 2-1 win in a hard fought Game 7.

The turning point in the series? When Bruce Boudreau wasted no time in replacing former Vezina winner and MVP Jose Theodore for a little known 20 year old goalie named Simeon Varlamov. All Varlamov did was post a .952 save percentage good for second spot among all playoff goalies. Sometimes all you need is a chance - and Varlamov is seizing the opportunity.

I’ve always felt experience was slightly over rated. If you’re good, you’re good.

How about that? All this and no mention of Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Nik Backstrom and Mike Green!

New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina wins 4-3.

What a comeback by the Hurricanes. With just over a minute to go, Carolina tied the game up at 3-3 after outstanding pressure (did anyone notice the tireless work by Sergei Samsanov that kept the play alive?) and with about 30 seconds left they took the lead - and the series.

On paper, the Hurricanes don’t look like much, but somehow they are too much. On the ice, the Devils had a hard time containing the relentless and diligent ‘Canes.

Calm and under rated, Cam Ward got the better of the legendary Martin Brodeur (98 all-time playoff wins. Second all-time to Patrick Roy’s 151) this time around. The game winning goal in game 7 game off the stick of Eric Stall. Staal’s career playoff stats? 14 goals, 21 assists for 35 points in 32 games including Round 1 of this season.

Western Conference

Vancouver Canucks vs. St.Louis Blues. Vancouver wins 4-0.

Led by the Sedin twins and goalie Roberto Luongo (playoff leading.962 save percentage), Vancouver was ready to contend for the cup NOW while the rebuilding Blues probably didn’t even think to make the playoffs. Chalk this up in the “pleasantly surprised” category. St.Louis never really threatened Vancouver. Still, it was great to see playoff hockey back in St. Louis. TJ Oshie fever has no cure!

Is it me or are Canucks d-men Kevin Bieksa and Alexander Edler under rated?

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Calgary Flames. Chicago wins 4-2.

Conventional wisdom dictated it was going to be Calgary’s experience prevailing over Chicago’s youth. It was faulty logic because, it failed to factor in the power of “enthusiasm” and the Blackhawks were infected with it. It was also pegged to be a physical series - and it was. The bottom line is Chicago’s best players from Nikolai Khabibulin to Cam Barker to Martin Havlat simply outdid Calgary’s finest represented by Mikka Kiprusoff, Dion Phaneuf and Jerome Iginla. Furthermore, Chicago’s young and punishing defensive unit led by Duncan Keith, Cam Barker and Brent Seabrook may now be among the best in the NHL. In fairness to Calgary, Phaneuf, Sarich and Regher were all injured.

What’s up with Mikka Kiprusoff? Is he being overworked?

Detroit Red Wings vs. Columbus Blue Jackets. Detroit wins 4-0.

See St.Louis/Vancouver. The smooth wheels and skillful machine known as the Red Wings were too much for the first timers from Columbus, Ohio. Can we stop the negative talk about Chris Osgood once and for all? It’s tiresome. He’s a proven Grade A goalie. Move on.

The BJ’s…wait. That didn’t sound right. Let’s start over. Columbus was one of the hotter teams in the NHL down the stretch but when it came down to playoff hockey they lacked the depth to mount any kind of a real challenge against the defending Stanley Cup champs.

With Vancouver, Detroit and Boston all sweeping their opponents, I wondered how many times a sweep took place. It turns out 99 out of 531 series ended in sweeps.

Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks. Anaheim wins 4-2.

Oh dear, San Jose. What more did GM Doug Wilson have to do? He brought in two great defensemen in Dan Boyle and Rob Blake to shore up an already solid line up. His moves proved correct as the Sharks went on to win the President’s Trophy with 117 points.

Yet.

Yet. Since they reached the conference finals in 2003-04, the Sharks have not managed to get past the semis.

Although the Sharks outplayed the Ducks in large segments in the series, they lacked that extra bite - excuse the pun - in the playoffs. Of course, criticism will not only be directed at Joe Thornton (who was in on 6 of the 9 goals. Thornton has 12 goals in 76 playoff games) and Patrick Marleau but goalie Evgeni Nabakov as well.

The Ducks for their part, maintained their poise. It helps, of course, to get great goaltending from Jonas Hiller. Even though the Ducks were seeded 8th and the Sharks 1st, I wouldn’t be so quick to call this a “big” upset. Anaheim are only a couple of years removed from their first Stanley Cup and continue to have awesome quality on their roster.

Is Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer unreal or what? That Ryan Getzlaf is not too shabby either.