The first round of the NHL play0ffs has been thoroughly entertaining and has exhibited the parity that exists in the NHL. To this point, the first round of the playoffs has been the most evenly contested first round that I have ever witnessed. Each of the 8 series was tied at 1 game apiece after 2 games, and no team has had a 2 game lead yet in the playoffs. These 4 opening round series are currently tied at 1 game each (through April 18th games): Buffalo vs. Boston, Chicago vs. Nashville, Washington vs. Montreal, and Vancouver vs. Los Angeles. The other 4 series are 2-1, and in 2 of the series the lower seed is leading (Philadelphia (7th East) and Colorado (8th West)). In the other 2 series, the 4th seeds in each conference are leading the 5th seeds 2 games to 1, neither of which were highly favored to win the series. Therefore, there is no team that appears to be running easily through the first round into the conference semifinals, and this round will continue to be very close and competitive.
Some early storylines in the first round:
Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson has played incredibly well in the first round, as he has consistently faced more shots than San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov. Anderson has the Avalanche leading the series 2 games to 1. His series performance was highlighted last night, when he made 51 saves in a Game 3 shutout.
Dan Boyle of the San Jose Sharks made one of the most embarrassing plays in recent memory last night. Boyle inadvertently shot the puck into his own net in overtime to give the Avalanche a 1-0 overtime win in Game 3. The play was very emblematic of San Jose’s recent playoff struggles, which have been well documented in the city of San Jose and by its fans. The Sharks were booed off their home ice after losing Game 1 to the 8th seeded Avalanche because the fans grew too weary of and accustomed to their team losing to teams that were inferior opponents in the regular season.
The President’s Cup winning Washington Capitals need a 3 goal comeback in Game 2 in order to even the series with 8th seeded Montreal. Goaltending has been the main problem for the Caps, as Jose Theodore has been extremely inconsistent early in the postseason and was pulled at one point in the series.
The New Jersey Devils were never an offensively gifted team, and the trade deadline move to get Ilya Kovalchuk was an attempt to put an offensive threat into the power lacking offense. However, thus far in the postseason the Devils have had trouble creating scoring opportunities, and have needed power plays to get decent scoring chances. Martin Brodeur has played very well in net for the Devils, but the Devils have not scored enough to reward Brodeur’s performance.
The first round of the playoffs continues tonight, with three Game 3’s scheduled. At 7:00PM, top seeded Washington will travel to (8) Montreal, and (3) Buffalo will play at (6) Boston to attempt to take a 2-1 series lead. At 10:00PM, (6) Los Angeles will host (3) Vancouver in Game 3 of that series. Stay tuned for more playoff coverage in the coming days.