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The race for the Stanley Cup begins in earnest on Wednesday with four games, including the series openers for two of the three Canadian teams.
In a rematch of a first-round series from a year ago, the Ottawa Senators, who slid to seventh in the Eastern Conference with an ugly final month of the regular season, hope for a similar result as 2007, when they beat Pittsburgh in five games. But this is a very different Penguins team, featuring a more mature duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Pittsburgh narrowly missed finishing atop the East.
In Tuesday's Globe and Mail, Roy MacGregor writes: "That the Penguins themselves will be up is beyond debate. Last year they were a very young and inexperienced team that lucked its way into the playoffs. They fell in five games to the then mighty Senators and it was deemed a success in light of the playoff experience gained by the youngsters. Now they are less young, less inexperienced. More significantly, Malkin, who looked lost a year ago in the playoffs, has emerged as one of the NHL's most lethal forces, coming second in the scoring race to the Washington Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin."
Calgary, the seventh seed in the West, opens on the road against the No. 2 San Jose Sharks in a reprise of a thrilling 2004 conference championship. The Sharks enter the playoffs on a roll after being the hottest team in the National Hockey League.
Eric Duhatschek.
On Thursday, the Canadiens begin the post-season as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, hosting a Boston Bruins squad which they went 8-0 against this season. After enjoying a breakthrough regular season, Globesports.com hockey columnist Eric Duhatschek thinks the Canadiens are Canada's best hope to end a 15-year Stanley Cup drought.
Other storylines to watch include the post-season debut of Alexander Ovechkin, who hoisted the Capitals on his shoulders down the stretch, against Philadelphia and another installment in the always contentious battle echkin between the Rangers and Devils.
Is their a clear Cup favourite? Who will surprise? Who will disappoint?
Duhatschek was currently online Tuesday to discuss the playoffs.
Dave Leeder, Sports Editor, Globesports.com: Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. A quick question to start us off: During the regular season, the spotlight has been focused on the maturation and subsequent success of the National Hockey League's crop of young superstars, like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. Their offensve exploits have been the talk of the league. Will that continue in the playoffs? Or, as in past seasons, will slow, defensive hockey prevail again with netminders dominating the action?
Eric Duhatschek writes: Scoring is a good place to start because it also factors into a question on a lot of people's minds these days — making choices in their annual playoff pools. Looking back, it's hard to imagine some of the gaudy scoring numbers that you saw in the playoffs once upon a time. Wayne Gretzky had 43 points in 19 games in 1988. Mario Lemieux had 44 points in 23 games in the 1991 playoffs. Even as recently as 1996, Joe Sakic had a highly respectable 34 points in 22 games for Colorado.
Since then however — and this covers 10 consecutive playoff series — no player has managed to crack the 30-point barrier for post-season scoring. The closest was Eric Staal of Carolina who managed 28 two years ago. But it has been as few as 18 points, which is what Jamie Langenbrunner and Scott Niedermayer managed for the Devils in '03.
Despite all the initiatives designed to increase NHL scoring in the three years since the lockout, there hasn't been a demonstrable gain in actual goals scored (although overall the hockey is better and scoring chances have increased). Still, there were only three 50-goal scorers in the league this year — Ovechkin and Malkin in the East, Jarome Iginla in the West. Just about everyone I've talked to in the past few days — Calgary players, San Jose players, Anaheim players — every second word out of their mouths is defence. So I suspect we'll see, as your question implies, that defensive hockey will indeed prevail again.
Brent Galbraith from Calgary writes: Eric, I'd like to start off by saying I love your articles and always look forward to reading your insights. To simply put my question, what do you think of Calgary's odds in the playoffs and, more particularly, the first round San Jose match up? The Flames won the season series. However, they completed their games well before the Sharks have become the best team in the NHL. Is Iginla and Kiprusoff good enough to win a series for their team? In my opinion, I think Nolan will be the one to watch here as he has done very well against his former team and answers the call in must-win games (ie Calgary's recent 3-2 win over Edmonton). Thanks for answering my question, I look forward to reading your response.
