Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012

Throughout this years version of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we have seen a couple of old story lines revisited as well as some breakout stars. It's been a long time since I have last written anything, but I want to provide a brief recap of what we have seen so far and who has impressed me. I'd also love to hear anything you have to add because there has been a lot to talk about so far.

The Philly vs Pitt series in the opening round was unbelievable. Words cannot describe everything we saw. These 2 teams hate each other and they didn't try to hide it. There were unbelievable goals, high scoring games, fighting, trash talking, hair pulling, and endless "Crosby Sucks" chants from the fans in Philly. Going into the playoffs, Pittsburgh was my pick to win the cup. They are the most talented team in the NHL, especially when Crosby and Malkin are both healthy and playing. Philly proved my prediction wrong fairly quickly. They seemed to have a way to get under the Pens' skin and take them off of their game. Even when things were going well for the Penguins, Fleury would give up a pluthera of goals (and for that matter so did Bryz) and still get the Pens a loss. It's really starting to look like both of these teams have invested too much into their goaltenders. Fleury is as inconsistent as they come, and I don't feel like Bryzgalov has ever been the elite goalie that the Flyers are paying him to be. When was the last time that Philly had good goaltending in the playoffs? This has been their biggest obstacle to overcome every year and they are going to need to figure it out if Giroux is ever going to lead them to a Cup.

The biggest surprise of the playoffs so far has to be Mike Smith. So far he has posted a 1.87 GAA and a .946 SV%. This is coming from a relatively inexperienced and unproven goaltender. Smith has absolutely shut teams down and allowed the Coyotes to play their game. Phoenix gets outshot by a wide margin just about every game, yet they never get blown out and they seem to rarely lose as well. This team reminds me of the Minnesota Wild from 2003. Fernandez and Roloson would get absolutely pummeled by shots all game, but they would find ways to win. The Coyotes play a game that only hockey fans like to watch. They aren't highly offensive powered, but they play very disciplined. You won't find them out of position and they play the trap to perfection. They don't have a single skater with more than 9 points right now, which really proves the fact that Mike Smith has taken this team to where it is right now.

Smith hasn't been the only goalie that has shined this postseason. Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick have been right up there with him with .937 and .947 SV% respectively. This makes for an interesting discussion. If you could have one of these 3 guys as your goaltender right now, who do you pick? Is there really a wrong answer in this situation? Personally, I would go with Quick. Maybe it's me being biased and picking who is likely going to be the next starting goalie for the United States of America (sorry Ryan Miller), but he is just my gut pick. Quick and the LA Kings took out the top 2 seeds in the Western Conference by beating the Vancouver Canucks (Gotta love the shirt, "The Sedins: 2 girls, no cup) and the St. Louis Blues. Both of those teams are better than what the competition has defeated. The Caps, Senators, Predators, and Blackhawks don't have as many weapons as those 2 teams do. However, it's an accepted theory that you need a hot goalie to win a title, and all 3 of these guys can certainly get it done this year.

Now to touch on the Devils. They are overachieving and will be out of the playoffs in 5 games at the hands of the Rangers. But hey maybe we'll be treated to some more of this!

Marty Brodeur is getting absolutely lucky so far. I haven't ever seen a goalie flop around and make that many saves. He will go down as one of the greatest of all time, but I think his luck runs out here and he will retire with an unbelievably successful career that most can't even dream of. Kudos to him for being the Brett Favre of the NHL and playing into his 40s.

It's conference final time and we are going to see 2 series with teams who consider each other rivals. We'll probably see low scoring grind it out kind of games from Phoenix and LA, and I would expect some more scoring and good offensive games out of New Jersey and New York. It's time to sit back and see who will come out on top and get a shot at Lord Stanley's Cup.