2 Sharks over 7 Kings:  Like the Rangers and Penguins, file this one as well in the, “What could have been,” pile.  The San Jose Sharks narrowly avoided becoming this year’s….San Jose Sharks, a term used to describe an incredible team that repeatedly finds unimaginable ways to not get it done in the playoffs (i.e. the pre-’97 Red Wings, the pre-’04 Boston Red Sox, and the entire existence of the Philadelphia Eagles.)  Down the stretch, the Kings lost Anze Kopitar, their leading scorer with 73 points in 75 games.  Although they still managed an impressive 20 goals in 6 games, giving the Sharks a serious run, and 3 of their 4 losses came in overtime, leaving one to wonder if the absence of the explosive Kopitar could have made a difference in just one of those games, the series goes to game 7, where anything can happen.    

5 Predators over 4 Ducks:  Congratulations are in order to the Nashville Predators, winners of their first playoff series in franchise history.  Your reward?  The best team in the league, Vancouver.  Kind of reminds me of that tiny college basketball school who wins a thrilling conference championship to make their first NCAA tournament.  Congratulations…now here’s Duke.

1 Canucks over 8 Blackhawks:  Throughout the first 30,000 years of human existence, we had only seen a professional sports team erase a 3-0 series deficit to win twice: the 1942 Maple Leafs and 1975 Islanders.   In the past 8 years, we have seen that count doubled, with the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and again last year with the Flyers.  The Blackhawks fell just short of a valiant effort to add to that historic list, rallying back from 3-0 to force game 7, and they did it against the best team in the league.  Chicago erupted for 12 combined goals in games 4 and 5 to let the world know they didn’t intend to go gently into that goodnight, or give up control of the Holy Grail without a fight.   They overcame a third period deficit in game 6 to force overtime, and then force a deciding game 7 on Ben Smith’s third goal of the series.  We were then treated to our second thrilling game 7 OT of these young playoffs.  It looked as though the Hawks were once again a team of destiny, tying the game with less than two minutes left in regulation, before Vancouver’s Alexandre Burrows told the world, “Hey remember us?  We’re a pretty good team over here,” ending the comeback just over 5 minutes into sudden death.  

3 Red Wings over 6 Coyotes:  I listed this one last because the Detroit Red Wings won their opening round series.  That’s about as big and surprising of a news story as, it may get hot this summer.   For the second straight year, my Coyotes bandwagon has crashed and burned in the first round.  This franchise has still not won a playoff series since the Winnipeg Jets days in 1987. The Wings swept through the series, and each game with ease.  I guess nobody told them about the recent rash of 3-0 series comebacks, as they dropped the hammer in game 4, by a 6-2 score.  Pavel Datsyuk led the way for the Wings with 6 points in the 4 brief games.  A very good Detroit team is about to get much better, welcoming back Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen from injuries that kept them both out of the first round.  This couldn’t come at a better time, as they get ready for another playoff matchup with San Jose, in what should be one of the great series of the second round.

As for the Jets/Coyotes; At least they will always be known as the first NHL team to take down the mighty Soviet national team in 1978.  The same Soviet team that rolled the NHL all-star team 6-1 two years later, and the U.S. team 10-3 just 3 days before the 1980 Olympics and…well, we all know how those Olympics turned out.  If you don’t, you should renounce your citizenship like Superman.

Missed the Eastern Conference Round 1 Recap?

Written by Scott Blander aka Mr. Ice Guy exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com

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