It was an upset bunch of poolies when the Washington Capitals fell to the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime on Tuesday night. There was a loss of 92 selections from this series including 25 Alexander Ovechkin (Box 13) selections. He was by far the most popular Capitals player, while Tom Poti (Box 21) was a far second at 13 picks. The seven game series did put some points on the board, Ovechkin did finish the series with 11 points, including 2 game winners. He was the best player in Box 13 during the first round, but sadly, he's gone. It was a shame that the Sheet contained Olaf Kolzig (Box 24) instead of Cristobel Huet (non-pool). Maybe the Caps would have had a better shot at the second round if playoff-tested Kolzig was in net... but that's a question for another year.
The Flames were not really a pool favourite, ousted in the selections 128-53, and were knocked out of the playoffs four games to three. Miikka Kiprusoff (Box 24) was taken 9 times in the pool and managed a respectable 8 points after 3 wins and a shutout. Then much like the best player in Box 13 being eliminated, the best player in Box 1 during the first round, Jarome Iginla (Box 1) was also eliminated. Iginla had a box-best 9 points in the seven games, but that's all he'll be getting in these playoffs. He was also taken 9 times in the pool. Both Kiprusoff and Iginla were the most popular Flames, while Dion Phaneuf (Box 8) was taken 8 times and registered a box-best 7 points.
So, that means the second round match-ups are all settled. In the East, Montreal and Philadelphia will meet up and by pool standards, Montreal is favoured by a country mile. Montreal has a pool-high 155 selections, including a box-high 24 selections for Carey Price (Box 24). It's going to be a tough road for the Flyers, but it should be a pretty fast-paced series and could very well be high-scoring.
In the other Eastern Conference match-up, the Pittsburgh Penguins will host the New York Rangers with home-ice advantage. This series, selection-wise, is a little bit closer, but the Penguins do have an edge, leading the Rangers, 148-100. Evgeni Malkin (Box 14) is the most popular player in this series, taken 39 times. A Ranger upset would hurt a lot of teams with the loss of Malkin.
In the Western Conference, there is a good match-up at the top of the bracket, as the Red Wings will take on the Avalanche. This is also a pretty decent match-up when it comes to the number of selections, but the Red Wings do have a healthy favour at 144 to 112. Peter Forsberg (Box 6) was put where he was, as he could have been a pretty big gamble because of his health, but 33 teams did manage to pick him up and continue to be rewarded with a reasonable 5 points. It doesn't look like goaltending will be much of a concern as Dominik Hasek (Box 12) has seemingly lost his job and no one has chosen Jose Theodore (Box 12).
It's a Pacific Division battle on the other side of the Western Confernce table as the Sharks and Stars will go to town and put on a good show. It's bound to be a hard-fought battle, but the Stars are not heavily favoured to make it out of the second round. Hell, they weren't favoured to make it out of the first round and look what happened. The Stars are outnumbered in selections 128-42, but if they can knock off the Champs, the Sharks may not be out of the question either. The most popular player in this series is Joe Thornton (Box 1) with 24 selections. Against Calgary, Thornton managed 7 points, which was just enough to get them through their seven-game series.
Two players finished the first round of the playoffs with 12 points, to lead the competition. Carey Price (Box 24) and Daniel Briere (Box 15) had great seven game series and both of them made it through to the next round as well. Price finished the series with 4 wins and 2 shutouts for his 12 points, while Briere scored 6 goals and 5 assists and also had a game-winning bonus point as well. Price was taken 24 times in the pool, while Briere was taken twice. Good news for those two teams, eh?
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