The Eastern Conference Match-Ups

In the one versus eight match-up in the East, the Capitals and Rangers will go head to head in a battle of teams that probably should be considered as "more than meets the eye." The Capitals were not the offensive juggernaut that we were all used to seeing in previous incarnations, but still finished tops in the conference, while the Rangers, as inconsistent as they appeared on paper, there were a couple of players on that team that kept a fairly consistent style of play and they'll be the important ones going forward.

The Capitals are definitely a finalist contender again this year and they have been preparing a new look to their system, playing a bit more defense and being a bit more responsible in their own end.  The goaltending tandem of Michal Neuvirth (pictured) and Semyon Varlamov is one of the youngest in the playoffs and they will be tested mightily right off the hop.  Neuvirth looks to be the starter going into the playoffs, so he was the one selected for the playoff pool selection sheet.

Pool Injuries The Capitals are going to be a little short on the blueline by the sound of things, as Mike Green continues to be on his way back from a concussion, his status is still somewhat up in the air, while Dennis Wideman will likely miss the first round of the playoffs, due to a haematoma in his leg.  The Capitals power play struggled during the regular season and having their best defenseman still groggy and his replacement on the shelf completely, they will be looking to some different faces to quarterback the man advantage.  This may hurt them and hurt their number of selections in the pool.

The Rangers may have taken the hard route into the playoffs, but a convincing win over the Devils to make it difficult on the Hurricanes should help their confidence going into the first round series against the Capitals.  With Henrik Lundqvist in net, the Rangers have a shot at winning every single night.  Lundqvist did play a lot of hockey down the stretch for the Rangers, but that is just the way he operates most years.  If he can get some quality scoring in front of him and some rebound clearance early on, the Rangers can be a threat.

Pool Injuries The only injury of note for the Rangers is the absence of Ryan Callahan, who suffered a broken leg/ankle after blocking a Zdeno Chara shot in the final week of the regular season.  Callahan is a huge character loss for the Rangers, since he was the guy that was throwing all the hits and doing a lot of shot blocking by attacking the points.  His goal totals weren't bad either.  The Rangers did get their captain, Chris Drury, back for the final game of the season and back into the playoffs, so some character was infused back into the line-up, too bad he wasn't back for the sheet pool.

Is an upset possible?  Sure.  The Rangers are a wild card team in the Eastern Conference and they have a goaltender with something to prove this year.  If the Rangers power play can out score the Capitals power play, I think there is a real shot for this series to go through all seven games and the Rangers beating Washington at home.

The Flyers and Sabres series doesn't come with a lot of razzamatazz or glamour, but it should be a pretty good series, watching two teams slug it out in a David versus Goliath kind of manner. The ever-smaller Sabres team will have a go to take down the reigning Eastern Conference champions in a battle of will and braun.  This will be a really good test for either side, likely giving a lot of confidence to the team coming out of the series victorious.

The Flyers are a big, strong team with a lot of weapons up front, some very good defense on the back end and some question marks in the crease. In net, I had given Brian Boucher the nod a few weeks ago, when I had put together the sheet, because the confidence level in Sergei Bobrovsky even a few weeks ago was on shaky ground and that proved to stick down the stretch, with the kid being pulled a number of times to make way for Boucher.  With Michael Leighton in the mix again, not even Boucher is a strong pick here.

Pool Injuries  There is still one key injury to the Flyers that is somewhat lingering and that is to their top defenseman, Chris Pronger, who is still dealing with a broken hand.  He was initially scheduled to be out until about now, so it will be interesting to see if he will dress for the series opener in a few nights time.  If Pronger does dress, I think a few more of the question marks disappear again for Philadelphia, much like they did last season, relying heavily on the blueline to carry the team forward.

The Sabres come into the playoffs as the hard-working, still somewhat small team with an internationally acclaimed goaltender.  Buffalo will come at Philadelphia with all kinds of speed and some fairly slick hands up front, a blueline that may not be the most confident, but a goalie in Ryan Miller that can save games all by himself.  Miller even had a few games off down the stretch, preserving some of that energy he will need to backstop the Sabres, so the intrigue levels on his end are still riding awfully high.

Pool Injuries  The only pool injury that needs to be noted is also on defense for the Sabres, as Jordan Leopold also suffered a broken hand in the final couple weeks of the season, which has at the very least, taken him out of consideration for the first round of the playoffs.  This isn't as big of a hit as Pronger might be, but a little bit of offense has been taken away.  The bigger injuries to Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht may play bigger roles in these playoffs, but they have no bearing on the scoring in the pools.

Is an upset possible?  The chances are slim.  The Sabres may have a world class goaltender, but that offense is going to be hard to match up against.  The Flyers are big and mean, they can put the puck in the net and the likelihood of Pronger coming back is pretty decent, so it may be really hard to bet against them so early.  If Miller can dazzle and amaze, keep the games to 2-1 or 3-2 scores, there is a chance.

If there was a first round match-up that everyone was looking forward to or hoping for, I would have to believe it was the Bruins and the Canadiens.  This old time rivalry has all kinds of great storylines attached to it, from the Canadiens taking the regular season series to the bad blood of the Chara/Pacioretty situation to the Bruins having to go through an Original Six rival as a real Cup contender.  Yes, this should be one hell of a series.

The Bruins are one hell of a scrappy team again this year, led by the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas, there are a lot of experts and amateurs alike, who are saying that the Bruins could be the team to beat from the Eastern Conference.  Thomas will go into the playoffs as the team's number one guy, setting a new NHL record for save percentage in a single season.  He will be a tough guy to beat this time around.

Pool Injuries  At the end of the season, the Bruins did end up resting both Bergeron and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, but that was to give them some extra time to rest up some weary bodies and tired legs.  Neither player should be considered injured.  The real injury to Marc Savard, who likely won't come back this year, due to a concussion, may have left an offensive hole that may hinder the team, but not your pool team.

The Canadiens of 2011 are not all that different from the Canadiens of 2010, a smaller, scrappy team with plenty of goaltending.  There are some definite scoring concerns from the Canadiens side of the ledger, but they did find a way to score enough to knock off both the Capitals and Penguins last time around, thanks to some clutch goaltending.  Carey Price will be the new face of the Canadiens' crease this year and he has earned it with an incredible season from start to finish.  If the Canadiens are going to make a similar run to 2010, look to Price to put up some quality numbers.

Pool Injuries  The injury situation for the Canadiens is not reflected on the selection sheet of the pool this year, but the blueline still doesn't have Andrei Markov, which could hurt the team down the line.  The pool, as of right now, is free and clear for Montreal selections.

Is an upset possible?  Indeed.  The regular season series favours the Canadiens and the goaltending match-up is close enough to make it all close.  The Bruins have flexed some real muscle of late, so they will be hard to beat, but if anyone can do it in the first round, it's Montreal.

The Penguins and Lightning will engage in a sexy looking series, where both teams have a good storyline going in and some real game breakers to make the pool a little bit more interesting.  This four versus five series could be a real doozy, that could go anywhere between the four or seven game series, without any real surprises.

What a great story the Penguins have been in the 2011 season, as they have been working without their top two scorers for the bulk of the regular season, not to mention a whole whack of other injury concerns, and yet they still manage to lock down home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, nearly getting a division title as well.  With Sidney Crosby being a huge question mark going into the first round, Marc-Andre Fleury will be the key player of this equation, having to back stop a very blue collar, hard working team, having to shut down a very offensively gifted team from Tampa.

Pool Injuries  Of course, the big injury on the pool sheet is Crosby, who is still dealing with his concussion symptoms.  The last word that I have heard was that he hasn't practised with the team yet, but has been on the ice for the last few weeks, working on getting back to 100%.  There were a number of regular players rested on Sunday afternoon, but that was all that was done, some resting.  Also, let's not forget our playoff X-factor player in Box 19, Matt Cooke, who received that massive suspension at the end of the year, which also includes the first round of the playoffs, so if you were to take him on your sheet, you must be aware that he will miss this series against the Lightning, but will return, if the Penguins can make it out of this series.

New ownership, new management, new coach, new hope... that should be the motto of the Tampa Bay Lightning going into the first round of the playoffs. The Lightning have had most of their pieces in place for a couple of seasons now, but everything new associated with the Lightning have now made them into a great conversation piece in the Eastern Conference favourite talk.  With Dwayne Roloson likely taking the reins in the Lightning net, the team has an added level of confidence that they could hang with the big boys.  The added knowledge that they might be getting an under-equipped Penguins team in the first round, may also work to their advantage.

Pool Injuries  In the injury conversation, the only one of note on the selection sheet is to Victor Hedman, who was held out of the Lightning's last few games of the season, but with the knowledge that if the games were meaningful, he could have played.  Hedman is dealing with a lower-body injury, but should be good to go for the opening game of the series.

Is an upset possible?  By virtue of the Lightning being in fifth in the East, then yes.  Are the Lightning really the underdogs in this series?  Well, they have all of their players healthy and they really were not far away in terms of the standings, so I would say no.  This series does seem a tad slanted towards the Lightning, but the Penguins have lasted this long without Crosby and Malkin, so anything should be considered to be possible out of this series.