History Has Been Made (FLYERSFLYERSFLYERS Edition)

I was ready to post this yesterday, but due to unforeseen circumstances was unable to do so. As of this writing the Hawks defeated the Sharks in Game 1 and Philly/Montreal is playing right now.


The playoffs are only getting better and better. The 2nd round was much more entertaining than the 1st as things have really started to heat up. So just like before I will analyze and rank the games from the second round followed by previews/predictions for the Conference Finals.

4. Sharks over Red Wings in 5 - Not to say this was a bad series, because it was awesome especially given the result, but it's fourth solely because it only went five games. Every game was very close other than the total beatdown from the Wings in Game 4, but the Sharks had a mission this year, and they finally achieved it. What a team to get over that hump that is the 2nd round too, the Wings are never easy to beat. However, Jimmy Howard showed his inexperience in the series, and combined with Thornton finally making some noise in the postseason, the Sharks were destined for the conference finals.

3. Hawks over Canucks in 6 - Honestly Sharks/Wings was technically the better series, but I'm being biased here because Chicago won it. We had two very ugly games at home this series, which is something we need to fix in the next round, but on the bright side we absolutely owned Vancouver on the road, which is a good sign considering we have potentially four road games next round.

2. Canadiens over Penguins in 7 - Of course any series that goes the distance has to be great, and this series was. Every game was close except Game 7, but that's okay because the result was great. This victory by the Habs is even more amazing when you consider that Pittsburgh had been getting healthier as the series progress whereas the Habs were losing key players to injury. Most of all, LOL Crosby. Losing Game 7 is completely his fault. He got called for boarding ten seconds into the game and completely sucked all the energy out of Mellon Arena. Montreal was relentless the whole game and it showed. Just a great performance, but it didn't make history

1. Flyers over Bruins in 7 - They're not kidding when they say history will be made. This is only the 4th time in sports history that a team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. Now, make that even more epic by having Game 7 end the same way the series did, with Boston taking a 3-0 lead and Philly coming back to win 4-3. Does it get any better than that!? Also, Philly did this with two goalies who were primarily backups in their careers. They won this series with heart and soul, and that's why hockey is the best.


So, the conference finals features a 1 vs 2 and a 7 vs 8. Pretty neat right? Let's preview and predict those games:

Hawks over Sharks in 6 - The Quest for the Cup continues for the Chicago Blackhawks, and even with this new surge from the Sharks nothing is going to stop them. Niemi will need quality goaltending to prevent any momentum going to San Jose, and we'll need to our top players to continue playing well (I'm confident about this, our #19 is better than theirs). Now, I know we won Game 1 today, but there was no way I wasn't picking against Chicago anyway, so no big deal.

Flyers over Habs in 7 - This is the first time a 7th seed faced the 8th seed in the conference finals. For a conference that has both Crosby and Ovechkin, this is a very nice thing to see. Two teams, I should emphasize TEAMS, played their hearts out and rightfully earned their place in the conference finals. However, I think Philly has just a bit more heart, which will net them one more win than Montreal will get.


Four teams, all with something to prove. All with the desire to win the Cup, and it shows more than maybe any other postseason I have seen. This is desire. This is passion. This is heart.

This is hockey.