First round recap

[thayner]

Eastern Conf QF-

NYI 4 NJ 1
A beleaguered Rapheal Hamel could not hold back a potent Isles attack and the Isles dismissed the Devils in 5. The youthful, new look Devils gained valuable play-off experience.

TB 4 Mtl 1
Despite a heroic effort by Hugo Bilodeau, the Habs fell in 5 to the talented Bolts. Lack of secondary scoring and an inability to hold back Tampas juggernaut offense spelled the end for Montreal, who immediately made some large changes to their roster following the loss.

Buff 4 Wsh 1
Washington was in over their heads against the Sabres. Too much depth and too much star power; the Caps were unable to respond. Buffalo outscored their opponents 20-7 over the final three games.

Ott 4 Atl 1
By all accounts, Atlanta exceeded expectations this past season. Unfortunately, they were not able to carry that momentum into the play-offs, running into a well balanced Ottawa squad. Winger Patrick Sykora has a momentous series, nothing almost 3 points a game while guiding the Sens to their first series victory since 2045.

Western Conf QF-

Nash 4 LA 3
Arguably the closest series of round saw the Preds edge the Kings by the narrowest of margins, eclipsing Los Angeles 4-3 in game seven.

Min 4 Col 0
Minnesota swept the Aves in a series that was remarkably close, despite the lopsided final tally. Three of the four games were decided by a goal; the difference could well be attributed to the Aves lack of goaltending. Samuel Eichenberger started but posted a 5.55 GAA and an .841 save pct. After losing the first two, he was replaced by Yannick Lachance. Lachance didn’t fare much better with a 5.37 GAA and an .867 save pct.

Stl 4 Dal 2
Despite a breakout series from 34 year old winger Benjamin Samuelsson, the Stars fell in 6 to the well oiled machine in St Louis.

Cgy 4 SJS 3
Calgary topped the hard luck Sharks in seven. An unlucky injury to superstar Frantisek Kratna kept him out of all but one game and big ticket deadline acquisitions Andrei Radulov and Judd Claffey were unable to pick up the slack. It was a disappointing end to a promising year for a San Jose squad that looked poised to do some real damage.

[vilifyingforce]