[Honolulu_Blue]

Well, another a few-games-too-long regular season is behind us. Once again, the New York Rangers and their kajillion dollar pay-roll are hitting the golf courses come early April. Once again the Ottawa Senators sit poised atop the Eastern Conference just waiting to get "upset" by some bruising, physical team. The bigguns' in the West are there as usual: Dallas, Detroit, Colorado. We finally have a team from Minnesota back in the post-season, not too mention a team from Florida (been a while).

Also like to extend a hearty cognrats to Chief Rum's victory in the FOFC fantasy hockey league. I did what I could with the Auto-HB drafted team, but it wasn't nearly enough. Even got screwed out of 4th place by TWO POINTS. Hopefully my beloved Detroit Red Wings will avenge my bitter defeat and take down the Might Ducks of Anahiem!

That brings us to... The Match-ups:

Eastern Conference:

#1 Ottawa vs. #8 New York Islanders

This is a nifty little first round match-up. I quite like it, though I think the Senators should win handily. Last year's Toronto-Islanders play-off series was easily one of the most, if not the most entertaining series in the post-season. You don't have quite as many "combustible elements" here (no one has as many of those as the Leafs), but you have the whole "Yashin" subplot and Ottawa's vow, yet again, to get "tougher" which they seem to have with the late additions of Varada and Rob Ray courtsey of the Sabres. The Iles are a tough, nasty bunch (Cairns, Weimer, Scatchard, Webb, etc.) and are likely going to try to out-muscle the more talented Sens. Even though Garth Snow has played well, he is still Garth Snow, big, stupid-looking in pads and not all that great. I see the Senators winning in 5, but it should be good fun.

#2 New Jersey Devils vs. #7 Boston Bruins

Poor Bruins finally felt the effects of losing their top scorer and #1 netminder. They really tanked after the midway point of the season. New Jersey struggled at times as well, but Brodeur has been excellent and should be enough to carry them past the Bruins. I like the Bruins, love Joe Thronton. They are definitely helped by Samsonov's return, but don't have great goaltending (Hackett's been knicked up) and lack a solid blueline. Even the Devils, with their inability to score more than 2 goals a game, should be able to oust the struggling Bruins. Then again, the Bruins did fire Ftorek right before the end of the season. That usually means good things in the post-season, but it's not enough here. Devils in 4... Maybe 5.

#3 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. #6 Washington Capitols

The Lightning started off like gangbusters in the begining, cooled off, got sorta hot again and then rode it out. They team is nifty. I love the 'Buhlin wall, St. Louis and Richards became threats and Lecavialer came into for as well. No, he's not the next Mario Lemieux, but he had a decent season. The Caps are a weird team. They seem to have decent talent (Lang, Jagr, Bondra, Nylander, Gonchar, Witt, Kolzig) but can't pull it all together. Jagr is weird. Bondra had a down year. All very strange. That being said, if Kolzig plays well (again it's anybody's guess) they should previal. I think they will, in 6.

#4 Philidelphia Flyers vs. #5 Toronto Maple Leafs

Wow. A GREAT first round series. Great. It will be a HUGE disappoint for whichever team loses this one, as both had Stanley Cup dreams dancing in their heads. Both teams re-tooled before the play-offs. The Flyers went out and got Amonte, Sami Kapanen, and Claude LaPointe. The Leafs got big-gun Owen Nolan and old-timers Dougy Gilmour, Glenn Wesley, and Phil Housley. This is a tough one to call. Both have good, though somewhat erratic goalies in Chechmanek and Belfour. Both have a ton of talent upfront, but somewhat questionable blue-lines. At the end of the day, I think I have to go with Hitchcock and the Flyers. In 7.

I will do the West later....