NHL Playoffs - Eastern Conference Semi-Finals

The Eastern Conference Quarter Finals came to an end last night with the Rangers and the Devils advancing. The Caps managed to oust the defending champion Bruins in dramatic fashion with an overtime victory in Game 7 on Wednesday night. The East didn't provide us with stellar goaltending as the West did but there were some standout performances.

The match-up of 2 time Vezina Trophy winner Thomas Thomas of the Bruins and 22 y/o Caps rookie Braden Holtby was particularly exciting.These two went back and forth all series long with Holtby getting the edge by letting in 1 less goal than Thomas. That's highly significant (M*A*S*H reference from the 1973 episode entitled "Love Story" but I couldn't find a clip) because Holtby was thrust into the starter's role after Vokoun and Neuvirth went down with injuries late in the year. The Rangers looked like they were on the brink after Craig Anderson, a journeyman, had stifled them in the first 5 games. Anderson has only 3 years as a starter and had a 2-4 playoff record coming into this series and you can argue that he outdueled Lundqvist in a few games.

I was little disappointed when the Devils sent the Panthers home last night. The Panthers are coached by Kevin Dineen, a former Whaler who's probably behind only Ron Francis, Mike Liut and Gordie Howe in terms of most popular players in team history. So I was pulling for them. The Panthers showed a lot of moxie but in the end the grizzled veterans of the Devils and the solid goaltending from the aging Martin Brodeur won out. Hope to see you back next year Coach.

The Pens/Flyers series was especially entertaining has the Flyers lit the Pens up for a 3-0 lead before the Pens opted to start playing hockey rather than "duking" it out and therefore making the series look respectable in a 4-2 loss. The Pens were more talented (a healthy Crosby and 50 goal scorer Malkin are a lethal tandem) but  Marc-Andre Fleury (won 42 games in regular season) had a rough start and that got them in a hole they couldn't get out of (though he did play better in games 4 & 5). The Pens got what they deserved, there weren't too many people out there who were crying over their early exit.

So here are the Semi-Final match-ups:

• Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers: The Caps doled out 1st round playoff defeats to the Rangers in 2011 (4-1) and 2009 (4-3). That when the Caps were an exciting team to watch and the Rangers were still coming together. The Caps are not the offensive powerhouse they once were since their early playoff exit in 2010 and the Rangers are a low scoring, grind it out team. The series will come down to goaltending. Not that Lundqvist had a bad opening round (12 gaa & a .945 save percentage) but in 5 previous playoff appearances his record is 15-20. The Rangers don't have the scoring punch that the Caps possess so look for this series to go seven games. Holtby is hot right now and the last time I recall a rookie goalie playing this good was Patrick Roy in 1986 when he lead the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup over the Flames. I'm going to go with the Rangers and Lundqvist edging out the Caps but quite frankly I can see the Caps winning as well. Both teams are solid goaltending, capable of scoring droughts and can't seem to score on the power play. To tough to call for me but I will go Rangers in seven.

• New Jersey Devils vs. Philadelphia Flyers: Here are 2 more teams with a history, though maybe not as much bad blood as the Flyers and Pens have. This could be another interesting series that is tough to call. Martin Brodeur of the Devils will go down as one of the greatest netminders of all time and he is not the dominant force he once was (who is after 20 years? This is the first time since 2007 he's taken the Devils out of the 1st round) but he is still capable of amazing feats. The Devils have never been an explosive team but they did have 3 players score 30 goals or more so they're an opportunistic team. The Flyers hammered the Pens in the opening round to the tune of 30 goals including 20 in the first 3 games. That's not necessarily they're style but they can play an up and down game or grind it out.  Of course I don't see the Devils taking stupid penalties like the Pens did that enabled the Flyers to run up the score. I like the Flyers in this series though I'm still iffy on Bryzgalov in net. At 31 he's a bit of a journeyman who enjoyed his best year as pro this season. His playoff experience is limited though he did notch a 3-1 record in 5 games for the Ducks when they won the Cup in 2007. However you can't rule out Brodeur as this could be his last hoo-rah. Flyers in 6. I like their offensive capabilities. 

I would to express my disappointment in the Boston Bruins fans who were Tweeting racial slurs at Joel Ward after he scored the series winning goal for the Caps against the Bruins. Ward is a black man born in Toronto and has 4 full seasons in the NHL under his belt and is a heck of a player (from what I've seen he's a bit of a "mucker," doing the little things that a teams needs to be done that usually go unnoticed on the stat sheets). It's bad enough that that kind of thing was done at all but it Boston it makes it worse. Boston is supposed to be the "Athens" of the United States but the city has a sketchy history with diversity. The Red Sox were the last team to integrate with Pumpsie Green in 1959 (12 years after Jackie Robinson) and it took them nearly another 10 years to fully embrace black players (the HBO Documentary about the Red Sox touches upon it in interviews with sports writers & long time Sox fans). Even when Bill Russell was winning championship after championship, he was never really liked by the Boston populace (there is an incident where Russell's house was broken into and the culprits defecated on his bed).  Then of course there is the Boston busing crisis that started in 1974 which is an ugly blotch on the city's history. I expect this sort of behavior from NASCAR fans (hey it's the truth, you see more confederate flags at NASCAR races) but from the alleged Boston "sophisticates" I expect better (being a northeast pseudo-elitist myself that is).

As always thanks for your time.