It is playoff time once again in the NHL and Operation Sports is ready to discuss a little vulcanized rubber. Over the next couple weeks we are going to preview the Stanley Cup Playoffs and breakdown the match ups by using EA’s NHL ’08 as our guide.

For week number one, we will be heading to the Eastern Conferences Quarterfinals, where there are several intriguing series to look at. Early next week we will tackle the Western Conference field of eight and their first round.


Starting at the top of the bracket we have Montreal and Boston, who are divisional rivals. Montreal was one of the hottest teams this year, and had a tremendous power play throughout the season. Backstopped by rookie phenom Carey Price the Habs look to get back to the finals for the first time in 15 years.

Boston, the 8th seed, has been a little banged up, but all star Tim Thomas is ready with the giant Chara clearing out the front of his crease.

This series is has always been a classic, these “Original 6” squads are very familiar with one another, and there is no love loss for sure. In real life the Canadians should be able to handle the B’s in about five. The power play will be too much, and home ice will prove beneficial.

In the digital world, the young under-rated goaltender Price is a little shaky, and Phil Kessel and Bruins stretch the series to seven games. Thomas and Fernandez split time in net and make it series, but the Habs prevailed in the end. Kovalev led way, sniping seven times in seven games, including two with the man advantage on the ice.


In the 2-7 match up, the Pittsburgh Penguins renew their playoff rivalry from a year ago looking for redemption on the Ottawa Senators. Last year the Sens downed the Pens easily in five games, showing the young birds of winter that spring time hockey is a different animal altogether.

This year the Pens have been bit by the injury bug, as they have lost tons of key players to injuries, including superstar captain Sidney Crosby and young goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. They managed to play well with role players stepping up. Second leading scorer Evgeni Malkin lead the charge with Crosby out of the picture. With the addition of Marian Hossa at the deadline, the Pens have the offensive power to compete with anyone in the league.

My prediction for this series is a complete reversal of last year’s series. The Penguins will come out firing and with that year of playoff experience under their belt, the Penguins will dispose of the Senators in five games. Fleury is the hottest goalie in the league in the last month of action, and Ottawa is too banged up with Daniel Alfredson and Chris Phillips out. There may be some high scoring games as Ottawa is lacking solid goaltending, and Pittsburgh’s defense can be less than stellar at times. Still, Pens make short work out of the Sens and move on.

On the digital version, the Pens also prevailed in six games. Hossa and Crosby aren’t paired together, but each has four goals in the series win over the Senators. The series went six games due to the fact that Heatley, Spezza and Alfredson are hardly contained. In the end, Fleury makes a beautiful overtime save which led to a rush to the other end with rookie Kris Letang jumping up into the play. Letang took the pass in the high slot on the 3 on 2 and buried it high over Gerber to win the game and the series. Malkin had 9 points, with 7 helpers over the 5 games.


A very interesting series in round one pits the Washington Capitals and the Philladelphia Flyers. The Caps were awful the first part of the season, then caught fire and clinched the division and playoffs in their final game of the season. That hot streak sent the Carolina Hurricanes home for the summer to golf their blues away.

The Flyers missed the playoffs with an awful ’07 season, but bounced back into the mix with some key moves in the off-season. They hung on at the end, battling injuries and a tough division to clinch a playoff birth. They are rewarded with league points and goals leader Alex Ovechkin.

My take; I like the Caps in six, but it is a tough series to call for sure. I think Biron is a better answer to the goaltending dilemma that has plagued Philly in the playoffs for years, but will still fall short of where they need to be for now. Great players can win a series in the playoffs, and I think Ovechkin is ready for his spotlight and will help the Caps to the second round of the playoffs.

On the unfrozen pond of NHL ’08 the series goes seven games, with the Flyers claiming the victory. The main reason it went so far here was Olie the Goalie. While Kolzig likely won’t see much action in real life, as deadline acquired Huet will tend to the net, he led the Caps to a 3-2 series lead, only to have his offense forsake him in the final two games. Biron was great between his pipes, and the young guns of the Flyers chipped in with R.J. Umberger netting the game winner in a 4-2 game seven. With Gagne being fully healthy, he led both teams with seven points (4 goals 3 assists) and Hartnell made a name for himself as well with five points.

The Capitals had big games from Federov and Semin, but Backstrom and Green were not true to their real life counterparts by far. Ovechkin goes home early with five goals and an assist to mark his first playoff experience in the NHL.


Finally we have the middle 4-5 match-up of rivals New York and New Jersey. My prediction is not as flashy as Mark Messier’s was back in ’94, but the results are the same, the Rangers will win. I say it takes six games for this series to be decided and, in the end, the Blueshirts have too much depth for the transitioning Devils.

The Rangers are getting old, there is no debating that. But with young Henrik Lundqvist in the crease, they have a solid foundation for the future. Jagr is playing like his old self as well which means the Rangers could be a dangerous team during the playoffs.

The Devils led their division for much of the season, before Pittsburgh came from behind to win it in the last week of the season. Led by veteran and future first ballot hall of fame net minder Martin Broduer, the Devils always have a shot to win, but their style defensive style is no match for the Rangers potent offense in this one.

On the virtual ice, Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner lit several lamps for New Jersey, but unfortunately not many others could help them. The series was a low scoring series for the most part. Games with scores of 2-1, 3-1, 1-0, and 3-2 highlighted the box scores in your local virtual newspaper. Goaltending was phenomenal, and at times it was all the Rangers had in terms of defense. The Rangers took this one in seven games, Jagr had four goals and four assists and Marty Straka was a pain in Broduer's neckin game five, beating him three times. Shanahan and Drury pitched in and helped win game seven as Avery netted the eventual game winner near the end of period one, as the Rangers held on for the 3-2 win.

So there you have the Eastern Conference first round in a nutshell. There should be some exciting match-ups to watch for certain. It is already evident that older superstars play a much more important role in scoring in the game than perhaps they will on the ice. Some of the young stars in the real NHL will most likely make or break their team’s chances at advancing, while in NHL ’08 they still need some more speed or shot aim to help them out. Goaltending in both worlds seems to be very important either way.

Check back early next week as we wrap up the first round of action by analyzing the West.