Second Round

Congrats to the Canucks, the last team to join the second round of the playoffs. A great game last night. It was entertaining and hard fought. The Canucks looked good in those original uniforms, too. They've had a lot of outfits over the years.

Anyway, it's on the Round 2. Here's my picks (I got 7 of 8 correct in the first round)

Rangers-Sabres: I'll start with the series most important to me, the diehard Rangers guy. I'm going to go with my head over my heart in this. I've said all year I think the Sabres are the best team in hockey, and so I'm going to pick them in 5. Yes, the Rangers have played very well since late February. But the Sabres haven't exactly sat back on their laurels. They seem, to me, to be the team of destiny, having come close last year and worked hard throughout the year this time around. Strong goalie, great skaters. I think the Rangers have come on like gangbusters, and appear to have struck a good balance between defense and offense, and they, too, have a great goalie. In a way, they remind me of Buffalo last year. If they lose, I'll look forward to next year and admire them for having grown as a team. But I hope they prove me wrong.

Devils-Senators: I'm going to take the Senators in 6 in this series. Maybe it's an anti-Devils thing, but I just don't think this team is that good. They are very consistent and very defensive oriented. But at this point of the playoffs, I believe, you start to need consistent attack alongside the defense and the Devils haven't shown that all year. They are still a solid team. I just don't think they have all the elements. And I believe Brodeur showed signs in the first series of tiring. The man played an outrageous number of games this year, and sure, he's in shape, but he's also 34, 35 years old, by far the oldest of the goalies in the east and second to Hasek. What helps both Brodeur and Hasek are the defensive systems favored by their teams, which limit shots by the opponent. Devils and Detroit also excel at blocking shots. But I think the Devils are about to find out they need more balance. The one caveat is the inexperience of Sens goalie Ray Emery. But he was pretty good in the first round and I think he's got another round in him.

Red Wings-Sharks: This should be a great series. Offensive-minded teams with great goalies and for Detroit, experienced defense. I think the latter helps the Red Wings reach the conference finals. I'm picking the Red Wings in 7. Sharks have firepower to penetrate and get shots at Hasek, and I think they'll win some games here. But Detroit has a great balance to their team in skating ability and defensive system. They can really frustrate an opponent. I look for some overtime games in this series and a closely fought contest.

Ducks-Canucks: I think the Canucks did all they could to beat the Stars. Luongo is good for at least a couple of games. But I'm picking the well-rested Ducks in 5. The one thing the Stars-Canucks series showed is that Vancouver is a poor offensive team, with essentially one line (the Sedins). The Ducks should clamp down on the twins better than the Stars, and they have much better firepower than the Stars did. If you watched the entire Canucks-Stars series (as I did; almost every game was on Vs), you had to come away with the impression that the Canucks were fortunate to have won. Overall, in my mind, anyway, they were outplayed and outshot by the Stars. They just happened to win with two huge overtime victories and an extremely fine goalie in Roberto Luongo.

So for me, it's Sabres, Senators, Red Wings and Ducks in Round Two. What are your picks?