Second Round

The Senators quickly vetoed the Lightning’s quest for keep Lord Stanley and now look to a motion of their own to bring the Cup North. The Sabres should put up a better fight against the Senators, as their goaltending is considerably better then Tampa who at times resembled Swiss cheese in the 1st Round. However, in the end the Senators have too many weapons for the Sabres to handle as they advance to the Conference Finals for the 2nd time in their history in 6 games.

After the lower seed won all 4 series in the Western Conference the Sharks suddenly find themselves with home ice until the Cup Finals. Look for them to take advantage of it by jumping out fast against the Oilers. The Sharks were the hottest team at the end of the year in the West led by the goal scoring of Jonathan Cheecho and the play making of Joe Thornton, even though the Oilers beat the President’s Trophy Champs the Red Wings it is now the play the best in the west and fall in 5.

Nobody is hotter the Devils who extended their 11-game winning streak to 15 by sweeping the Rangers in 4 straight. On the way to their sweep the Devils outscored their rivals 17-4. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes got off to a shaky start losing the first 2 at home before rallying to beat the Canadiens in 4 straight winning 3 games in Montreal along the way. However, the moment the series turned in favor of the Canes came when Habs Captain Saku Koivu suffered an eye injury. This time they run into a brick wall and don’t recover as the Devils stay hot and win easily in 5 games.

After being down throughout their series against the Flames, and needing to win the final 2 games the Mighty Ducks now are dangerous in that teams pushed to the brink that survive often come out flying in the next round with renewed energy. Look for the Ducks to face the brink again in this series as it goes the distance, with the crowd in Anaheim helping to push them over the top and into the Conference Finals.