RIP to my bracket because it is dead. If are like me and you filled out a bracket for the Stanley Cup playoffs, I am willing to bet yours isn’t looking too hot either. This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs are not going the way we all expected. This is very much like usual, which is what makes playoff hockey the best playoffs in all of sports. Sorry football, basketball and baseball. We have seen top seeds fall and underdogs make some serious runs. Each one of these series that we have seen so far have been different and exciting in their own way. And since my team wasn’t even in the playoffs this year, it’s been bittersweet. It makes the games a lot less stressful to watch, but I still wish I was watching my boys.
To start off in the East, the Washington Capitals were the top seed and one of the favorites to win it all this year. They were led by Alex Ovechkin and Vezina trophy nominee Braden Holtby. The team won the President’s Cup trophy for having the best overall record for the regular season. Everyone really thought that this could have finally been the year for the Caps, especially after last year’s Stanley Cup Playoff heartbreak. We all were hoping, me included (hey, I had them winning in my bracket), to see Ovi finally lift a Cup. They made it through the first round, despite the Flyers surprising everyone to send that series to six games when everyone else was expecting them to get swept. However, the Caps once again lost in heart break to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby in game six overtime.
Another huge story that was coming out of the East was the New York Islanders. I also was hoping they would make a run and that was the bandwagon I really jumped on this postseason since my team is currently calling for tee times instead of playing hockey. However, despite their exciting series and upset against the other East favorite, the Florida Panthers, the Islanders were knocked out in five games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Currently, the Eastern Conference Final is looking to be an exciting match up between the Penguins and Lightning, and is already a pretty physical series.
In the West, the two teams remaining are the number two seed St. Louis Blues and the number three seed San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are a team of bearded warriors led bytheir captain Joe Pavelski. They are the only California team remaining despite the other two, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, making the playoffs as well.
The Blues knocked out the Dallas Stars who were the number one seed coming out of the West and had been pretty dominant throughout the season. Dallas did some serious damage on the scoreboard throughout the season, definitely countering the NHL’s complaints that there isn’t enough scoring.
One of the major surprises out of the West was the number four seed Nashville Predators making it into the second round by beating the Anaheim Ducks in the first round in seven games and then going another seven against the San Jose Sharks. I would just like to take this time to personally thank Mike Fisher for scoring the game winning goal in triple overtime in Game 4. Won me a #bucciovertimechallenge shirt. Thanks Mike, and tell Carrie Underwood I say hi.
