Best First Round Ever

Hockey playoffs are something I look forward to every year. Every year I predict the Wings to win the Cup, this year is no different, and every year I'm never disappointed by all the great hockey. Okay, so 2009 was a huge disappointment, but hey, the Stanley Cup going seven games, does it get any better?

Round one of this years postseason has been beyond the shadow of any doubt, the best first round in my lifetime and probably many people's lifetime. It had everything a hockey fan could ask for. Tight games, tight series, heated games filled with emotion, it had everything.

Let's recap things real quick.

Wings took care of business and swept the Coyotes, who reportedly have played their last games there. (Read a story, can't find it, saying that Phoenix is moving, announcement Friday I believe.) Detroit get's the much needed time off to get guys healthy.
Washington took care of the Rangers in 5, the games were good and tightly matched in this series and Lundquist played fantastic in every game.

Those were the boring series, now let's get to the good stuff. Real quick fun fact though, the first round featured 9 straight days with a game going to overtime. Does it get any better than that?

We saw the near collapse of Luongo at the hands of Chicago. The Blackhawks continue to be the bane of Vancouver's existence. The Habs and Bruins met in the first round... again... and The road team won the first four games, then the home team won the next three, advancing Boston to the second round.
San Jose went to overtime three times in their six game series with LA. LA went 0-3 at home, and I blame the jerseys.
Tampa Bay rallied from down 3-1 to beat the Crosby-less Penguins in 7. Nashville took out the Ducks in 6 in a series I was excited about, but could rarely watch. Buffalo almost pulled off the round one upset over the Flyers, they lost game six at home in overtime and then got destroyed 5-2 in game seven.

Four of the Eight first round matchups went seven games, and every series was filled with great hockey that was fun to watch. One can only hope this continues on to the next round. And on a side note, I got 7 out of 8 round one winners right, so I got that going for me which is nice.

Real quick round two predictions.

Washington-Tampa Bay: Capitals in Six: Key Matchup: Ovechkin vs Stamkos. Stamkos started to show up, but he's been absent for the most part going on 30+ games. Alexander, however, has been doing his thing. In round one he didn't carry the load because he didn't have to, but he will if need be. Tampa won't stop him.

Boston-Philadelphia: Boston in Six: Key Matchup: Boston special teams vs Flyer Goalie situation: Both of these were awful in round one, the Flyers goalies being worse of the two. Boston needs to get the powerplay going to win this series.

Vancouver-Nashville: Canucks in Six: Key matchup: Luongo vs Rinne. Will Roberto collapse, and can Rinne stand on his head because he will have to if Nashville wants to pull off the upset.

Detroit-San Jose: Detroit in Six. Key Matchup: Lidstrom and Stuart vs Thornton line. Also key to watch here is the play of Jimmy Howard. If he plays like he did in round one, we'll be fine. But the matchup to watch is Lidstrom's pairing verse the Thornton line. San Jose is loaded with other weapons, but if this line gets going, the Wings are in deep trouble. They also have to do a better job at staying out of the box and a better job of killing penalties. That was the one thing they did poorly in round one and it will kill them against the Sharks. However I'm taking the Wings. I think they're a better team, and I'm counting on San Jose to do their thing and collapse in the post season.

Don't you guys love playoff hockey?