Goaltending was the key to Western Conference upsets
Upsets
almost always are part of the first-round playoff fabric, but even the most fanatic Western Conference fans must be stunned by this year’s results.
Who would have thought Vancouver, Detroit, Chicago and San Jose would be gone so early in the postseason? Nobody, that’s who. In the West, goaltending was the difference. Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak made it happen for the St. Louis Blues, with Elliott winning three of the four games after Jaroslav Halak won the first. Pekka Rinne carried Nashville on his back, Jonathan Quick got it done with the Los Angeles Kings, and the Phoenix Coyotes with Mike Smith.
All were brilliant in the first round – far better than those in the East, where – other than in New York, New Jersey and Washington – the goaltending was
“What you have in Round 2 is five of the eight teams haven’t
won a Stanley Cup.”
unpredictable, at best.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were the favourites to win it all going into the playoffs, but Marc-andré Fleury and his defencemen went south. Tim Thomas, last season’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner, allowed several soft goals to the point where it’s likely the Boston Bruins will attempt to work a deal for him. Philadelphia’s Ilya Bryzgalov was horrific.
What you have in Round 2 is five of the eight teams haven’t won a Stanley Cup. In other words, even though the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers now are the top seed, the odds are that one of those five winless teams will hoist the Cup in June, thus prompting the NHL to use the “P” word, as in parity.
The reality, of course, is that it’s still a long way off.
That won’t stop Gary Bettman from suggesting parity has arrived, but I’m guessing that the NHL commissioner, the CBC, NBC, TSN and RDS executives have a lot more on their minds – starting with television ratings.
All of the Canadian cities are gone after the first round for the first time since 1996, which leaves New York the only major centre in terms of attracting television viewers.
I’ve got to think Bettman and the networks had hoped for more.
rfisher@montrealgazette.com