Keith Tkachuk joined the elite club of American players with 500 goals as its fourth member and the 41st in the NHL yesterday. Sadly, the Blues will not be in the playoffs again this season. I do hope he continues to play a while longer, I don’t like Keith’s team yet I do cheer for him as a player.
The playoffs have now been decided with the shock of Philly going in as number six instead of eight. I did receive an e-mail this morning from my fellow Flyer fan Mark the Professor. He attended the season ender and he suspects the Pens took a dive intentionally so they could avoid facing the Flyers in the first round. Fine with me because our team faces the only Southleast contender, the Washington Capitals. Sure these guys have scoring wonder boy Ovechkin but the Caps are suffering from the same problem the Bulls had with Jordan in the beginning, a winning team needs supportive and amazing players to assist the star. I know the Flyers can take ‘em since everything after yesterday is gravy. Next year is when the real pressure arrives for the Cup’s return.
Here’s my prediction based upon what little I’ve watched yet heavily read about:
For the East
- #1 Montreal v. #8 Boston: Montreal Canadiens in 5.
- #2 Pittsburgh v. #7 Ottawa: Pittsburgh Penguins in 6.
- #3 Washington v. #6 Philadelphia: Philadelphia Flyers in 6, not because I’m a fan, the Caps just aren’t very good.
- #4 New Jersey v. #5 NY Rangers: New Jersey Devils in 5.
For the West
- #1 Detroit v. #8 Nashville: Detroit Red Wings in 5.
- #2 San Jose v. #7 Calgary: San Jose Sharks in 6 due to Calgary’s clutch n’ grab.
- #3 Minnesota v. #6 Colorado: Minnesota Wild in 7.
- #4 Anaheim v. #5 Dallas: Anaheim Ducks in 6.
Stay tuned in two weeks to see how close I was.