Biased Observations From Week One

It's that time of year when I have trouble focusing on anything besides hockey, and specifically the Flyers. This is my first FanPost, so bear with me as my writing may suck, but here are a few things I found interesting about the playoffs so far.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Washington appears to be able to make the Rangers do whatever they want them to do. Lundqvist is playing some solid hockey, but even so, the only thing that can stop the Capitals are themselves. See: Game Three. Dubinsky is a joke.

The Flyers were a bounce or two away (in game one) from being up 3-0 right now. Oh yea, and scoring the odd power play goal might have helped, too. If the Sabres really want to win this series, they should take as many penalties as possible. Ryan who? I stand by my "Flyers in 5" prediction.

The Bruins are clearly built to lose in the playoffs for many years to come. I hope all Montreal residents have their cars safely locked in their garages.

The NHL really dropped the ball in divvying out suspensions in the Penguins/Lightning series. First off, if Steve Downie was on the Flyers (oh wait, he was) he would have been banished into Marty McSorley Land for his check. Instead, he gets off with 1 game in the cushy seats. Same for Chris Kunitz, whose elbow to the head of Simon Gagne reminded me of something I haven't seen since Chelios/Propp in '89 only with much less blood. Somehow I doubt Dwayne Roloson will take a run at Kunitz. At any rate, I hope the league office enjoys deciding the rest of this series, because it's been really difficult to feign interest.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Despite tonight's awful loss to the Blackhawks, I'm still confident that the Canucks will send them spiraling toward another 49 years of irrelevance. That salary cap's a bitch, eh? P.S. - WTG NHL for not suspending Raffi Torres. While you're at it, let Matt Cooke come back early on good behavior.

LA had a Boston-like collapse tonight, and I've got a feeling that will derail their otherwise modest attempt at an upset. I mean, being up by 4 goals without your leading scorer is crazy enough, but a defensive team like the Kings allowing 5 goals to the Sharks in a single period is absolute madness. Sucks for so many former Flyers, but in a not really sort of way. SJ moves on to fail in the later rounds yet again.

Just move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg already. And could there be a match-up between two more boring uniforms? Every game looks like a freaking practice. Red Wings probably sweep unless Gary Bettman intervenes to rescue his white elephant again.

When they move the Coyotes back to Winnipeg, they should sign Teemu Selanne to a one-year deal to finish his career where he started, provided he doesn't win another Cup with Anaheim. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see much of this series living on the east coast with Versus deciding that I should care enough about the Blackhawks/Canucks series to enjoy watching that instead (part of me has, but only because the Hawks are getting killed). However, Selanne has looked awesome from the highlights I've seen (and he's 40!) and this is the type of stuff that makes the playoffs fun. I've always had a soft spot for him and the Ducks. Here's hoping they can move on, but the Predators have definitely proven themselves a worthy opponent.

Side note: How awesome was the NBC/Versus contract announcement? As a borderline psychotic hockey fan, I'm stoked at the potential to watch every single game of the playoffs. Next year. Why do those two words seem to define my life?

At any rate, LET'S GO FLYERS!