The Quest for the Cup: HoG's Quarter Finals Preview

It's been entirely too long since the House of Georges covered America's most popular/oft-televised sport. We're not going to get into the woes that Major League Baseball and professional football have suffered with the recent hormonal explosion the National Hockey League has seen. That would likely only bore our readers, and prompt them to do something unheard of, like scroll immediately, without reading the post, to the comments and leave some form of rash commentary.

We're not going to look at how atrocious my picks for last year's playoffs were. And we're certainly not going to look at how insane some of this year's matchups are. Oh. Wait. Yes we are. Get your blades sharpened, folks. What lies ahead promises to be the best post we've concocted in hours. The scope of how the first round of Lord Stanley's coveted trophy shakes down, a mere saucer pass beyond the jump.

The East



This evening the action gets underway as Sidney Crosby and his two-seed Pittsburgh Penguins host the seventh-seeded, defending Eastern Conference Champion Ottawa Senators. This matchup will be brutal. The Pens, still shy of reaching their young potential in last year's post-season, have stepped it up a notch, and then some. And they'll be seeking revenge from the club that, minus fearless leader Daniel Alfredsson, will need all the help it can get. Though they had to fight for every inch of it, the Atlantic Division-winning Pens had an impressive campaign; Evgeni Malkin and Crosby together combined for 71 goals. Add to that that Marc-Andre Fleury showed considerable improvement down the stretch, and Pittsburgh takes this series in five games.



Not too far from the aged Igloo, at exactly the same time tonight, the four-seed New Jersey Devils host their crosstown rivals, the fifth-seeded New York Rangers. New York continued the tradition of New York sports rosters this off-season by adding more depth to their power lines. Rangers newcomer Scott Gomez added to the veteran-stacked offense of New York that includes Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan, and Jaromir Jagr. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist put together a stellar campaign, but he is no -- nor will he ever be -- Marty Brodeur. Any club might kill for an opportunity to wrangle Brodeur from the Devils, a move that would totally devastate New Jersey. That is, their bench has some depth, but not enough. New York shocks the world and advances in the playoffs. Although they nearly swept the Devils in the regular season, it'll take 'em all seven to eliminate Marty's crew this go-around.









Tomorrow evening at six central, an Original Six contest takes place, as the east's number-one seed, Northeast Division champion Montreal Canadiens will smack sticks with the eighth-seed Boston Bruins. Boston's club, having spent the last decade establishing themselves as the league's playoff choke artists, produced less-than-impressive offense this year, and barely above mediocre goaltending. Their defensive efforts were respectable at best, but given injuries and their inability to defeat Montreal in eight tries this season, they don't stand much chance. The Habs have inferior netminding, but equivalent D, and a more potent offense. The Bruins might squeeze one win out of this contest, but no more.



And on Friday night, the three-seed Washington Capitals host those pesky, sixth-seed Philadelphia Flyers. Perhaps no club showed more gusto down the stretch than Alexander Ovechkin's Southeast Division-winning Caps. His 65 goals and 47 assists (112 points!) were incredible this year, and the play in the crease of Cristobal Huet proved to be an improvement over veteran Olie Kolzig, but beyond that, they're thin. John Stevens' Flyers, however, are not. Their collective experience goes deep, perhaps enough to push them ahead a couple of rounds in this year's quest. Look for Philly to surprise everyone, and sweep the early-peaking Capitals.

The West










Tonight the action in the west gets underway at eight central, and it starts with the three-seed, Northwest Division-winning Minnesota Wild hosting the sixth-seeded Colorado Avalanche. The Wild, in their short existence, have experienced some success and some disappointment, mostly the latter, in post-season play. The Avs, having faltered of late from near-dynasty status, look to pick up their old ways of late-season pushes that translate into playoff success. Too bad for them this won't be their year. The Wild, surprisingly, has more leadership on their bench, and better goaltending in Niklas Backstrom than Colorado's Jose Theodore, a puck stopper who has never really lived up to his potential. The rest of the Avs, while their personnel decisions have been semi-respectable, are old. And frail. Minnesota takes this one, but in seven.



Elsewhere in the west this evening, the Pacific Division-winning San Jose Sharks host the seven-seed Calgary Flames at nine central. Mark my words: This will be the grind match of the entire quarter finals. Both of these teams are strong from front to back. They're tough. They play smart. And, between Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff, and the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov, you won't find a tighter goaltending matchup. This series promises a ton of overtime, dozens of scrums, and there's a good chance of blood, to boot. Unfortunately for the Flames, it won't be Shark blood. San Jose escapes wounded in seven.










Tomorrow evening at six, hockey fans must suffer through what will likely be the biggest disappointment of the opening round. The eighth-seeded Nashville Predators showed a lot of guts late in the season, continuously avoiding playoff elimination by finding ways to win games. They've managed to keep a solid core of players around, even having lost some to free agency, but they'll be no match for the homo-erotic, Central Division champion/President's Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings. I won't waste any more energy on the club that calls their glorious city "Hockeytown," except to say that they'll end their recent trend of playoff chokeage, and only drop one to Nashville before advancing.










Finally, at nine central on Thursday, the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the fourth-seeded Anaheim Ducks will host the unpredictable Dallas Stars. I assure you this series will be the opposite of the San Jose/Calgary tilt; it will bore even the most devoted of fans. The Stars, for reasons we can't figure out, have hung onto the aged Brendan Morrow, Mike Modano, and Sergei Zubov. These guys still have some hockey left in their tanks, but that once-coveted Dallas D, in front of goalie Marty Turco no less, is a thing of the past. Anaheim, on the other hand, has managed to mix the perfect composite of old and young, fast and tough, still wise all around. It's this combo that earned them the trophy last year, even when facing the Sens in the finals. Oh, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere has stopped a few pucks in his day, too. The only X-factor in this series is that, every year, Dallas manages to find some cheap, flukeish way of eking out a win here and there. They'll keep that tradition alive in this series, but only once. Anaheim eliminates the Texans in five.

There you have it, y'all. Get your playoff hockey on, Versus style here, and NBC chips in its piss-poor contribution here. Game on!