Second round starts Thursday in Stanley Cup playoffs
Eight teams are gone and eight remain as Round 2 of the NHL?s Stanley Cup playoffs begins on Thursday night with Game 1 between Philadelphia and Montreal in the East, and Colorado and Detroit in the West.
The Flyers needed seven games to take care of the Capitals in the opening round. In Game 7 on Tuesday night Joffrey Lupul scored the game winner in overtime in a 3-2 Flyers victory. Daniel Briere was a scoring machine for Philadelphia in the first round with six goals and five assists, while Vaclav Prospal also had a strong series with three goals and six assists. Flyers? goaltender Martin Biron was largely inconsistent in the series and finished with a pedestrian 2.67 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.
The Canadiens also went the distance with Boston in the opening round before vanquishing the Bruins in Game 7 with a 5-0 shutout victory. After struggling in Games 5 and 6, Montreal goalie Carey Price stonewalled the Bruins stopping all 25 shots he faced. Price finished the series with a 2.09 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Rookie Sergei Kostitsyn led the Canadiens with three goals and three assists in the opening round, while veteran sniper Alexei Kovalev recorded two goals and four assists.
Montreal should be happy that they drew the Flyers in the second round. During the regular season the Canadiens were 4-0 against Philadelphia, outscoring them 15-6 in the process.
Colorado returns to the ice for the first time since eliminating the Wild way back on Saturday, April 19, when the Avs sent Minnesota packing with a 2-1 win in Game 6. Jose Theodore continued to turn back the clock with 34 saves in the win, as he posted as an impressive 1.88 goals against average and a .940 save percentage in the series. Joe Sakic led the Avalanche with two goals and four assists against Minnesota, while Peter Forsberg had a relatively quiet series with a goal and four assists.
The Red Wings went six games with Nashville before sending the Predators to the golf course. Detroit blanked Nashville 3-0 in Game 6, as Chris Osgood made 20 saves. Expect Osgood to remain between the pipes against Colorado after he replaced Dominik Hasek versus Minnesota. Osgood had a 0.39 GAA and a .981 save percentage against Minnesota compared to Hasek?s awful 2.91 GAA and .888 save percentage. Pavel Datsyuk led Detroit with three goals against the Wild and he also registered a pair of assists.
Detroit was a perfect 4-0 versus Colorado this season, with three of those wins being shutouts. Hasek recorded two of those shutouts, while Osgood was in nets for the third.
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