Second opinion

With a wild first round in the books, we look ahead

When the Red Wings trailed the Canucks two games to none a couple of weeks ago, Detroit captain Steve Yzerman said a couple of things that got our attention. He said that he didn't think the series would go seven games. Then he added, "That doesn't mean we're going to lose, either." Yzerman chose not to worry about Dominik Hasek, the ace goalie who had given up nine goals and been outplayed by youngin' Dan Cloutier in the first two games. Hasek was going to come back and steal games for Detroit, Yzerman said.

Yzerman was right, of course, on all counts. The Red Wings, spurred by Nick Lidstrom's long-distance and timely goal, calmly took the next four games, winning more methodically than spectacularly. Hasek picked up a shutout and had two other strong peformances as he turned aside a dogged Canucks team. That combination of veteran skill, savvy and confidence -- which Yzerman and so many of his teammates have in spades -- along with a superb goalie is why the Wings will get past the Blues.

St. Louis goalie Brent Johnson is coming off a dynamite three-shutout series against the Blackhawks, and there's no question the Blues can clamp down on Detroit. I won't be surprised to see St. Louis take an early game in this series. The Blues, all of sudden exceedingly healthy, are playing much better than they did down the stretch of the regular season. Yet Detroit, with all its depth and such a rich cream of talent, will get out of whatever little funk it slips into. The Red Wings won't rattle. The Blues might. And it says here that before this series is over, they will.

You knew the Kings would push Colorado in the first round, and you somehow knew that Patrick Roy would make the difference. Now the defending Stanley Cup champions face a serious threat in the Sharks. San Jose plays as physical and edgy a game as any team left in the playoffs. The Sharks didn't simply beat the Coyotes, they put a steady, insidious hurt on them.

This should be the best series of the second round and well worth staying up for wherever you live (three of the first four games start after 10 p.m. EDT). Patrick Marleau and Adam Graves are real weapons, and all of sudden the Sharks' cast looks a lot deeper than Vincent Damphousse and Teemu Selanne. Selanne has, improbably, taken on the character of this team and that might be the best news of all for San Jose fans. The Avalanche won't have an easy time getting through Sharks defensemen like Marcus Ragnarsson. If the Sharks forwards keep playing their edgy style, which helped stake them to a Game 1 win, Colorado is going to be smarting within a few games.

This is going to be a long, painful series and all I can tell you for sure is that Chris Drury will score a big goal for Colorado and Roy will have a shutout. Tune in for the rest, folks, but if you're asking for a pick, I say the Sharks edge the Avs.

I may have picked all four first-round series correctly in the Western Conference, but that was sticking to chalk. Only one Eastern Conference pick went my way as the Senators managed to beat the Flyers in five games. The wide-angle hockey fan in me thinks it would be great to see the Maple Leafs and Canadiens in the Eastern finals -- now that would be a series with something at stake. However, after barely holding off the Islanders in the ugliest series of the first round, Toronto will have a hard time with Ottawa.

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson continues to be everything a captain should be (hip pain? what hip pain?) and his team's skill up front gives Ottawa a real chance to set the tone in this series. This is where the absence of Mats Sundin could really hurt Toronto. The Senators skate better and move the puck better than do the Leafs and they could get Toronto back on its heels early. Look for Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa, Todd White and Shawn McEachern to push the action more than they usually do.

Where the Maple Leafs can answer is in the trenches. Whatever you think of players like Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson, there's no question that these are men with huge hearts. The same is true of Gary Roberts, and you can expect him to pot a key goal early on for Toronto. The Maple Leafs absolutely need to get production from Travis Green (who snapped his schneid on Tuesday night) to stay with the Senators. The good news is that Alexander Mogilny has quietly developed into one of the most underrated playoff forwards in hockey. His stop in Jersey really helped to polish his two-way game.

You can count on Mogilny and Roberts to be forces for the Leafs. To win this series Toronto must win two of the first three games. If the Senators get on a roll, they could win going away.

All year long I doubted the Hurricanes and all year long they've proven me wrong. This is a pesky, pesky, pesky team. We know about Ron Francis (of course) and Sami Kapanen and Jeff O'Neill but would you want Bates Battaglia on your team? I sure would. The Hurricanes beat the Devils without a lot of production form their stars (and without the marvelous -- but still injured -- young defenseman David Tanabe) and served notice that the rest of the team could hang in tight games. Goalie Kevin Weekes, who had never before played in a postseason game, now suddenly looks like a playoff veteran.

Yet there's something about the way Montreal goalie Jose Theodore dominated those last two games against the Bruins, something about the magic of Saku Koivu's return, something about the improbable re-birth of Dougie Gilmour, something about the way Yanic Perreault, moments after the Canadiens had beaten the Bruins in six games said, "We haven't accomplished anything yet," that makes you think this is a special season in Montreal. Michel Therrien is an emotional coach and he has this team, and its city, full of more emotion than any other club in the field. Will they get another jolt of goosebumps when Richard Zednik returns?

I've misfired all year on the Hurricanes and I'm setting myself up for one more. I like Montreal in this one. I could see the Canadiens playing in the finals a couple of weeks hence, which, as any Montreal native would tell you, is right where they belong.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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