April 23, 2003
NHL Playoff Roundup
Three Game Sevens. Two were yawners as the fourth seed in both conferences finally closed out a tougher than expected foe. But in Denver, hockey fans were treated to another OT upset that's going to echo throughout the playoffs and the offseason.
Wild 3 Avalanche 2: Say for a moment that you're Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals. You just saw your team go down in 6 games in the first round of the playoffs to a team that hasn't won a playoff round in its 11 years of existence. And the Caps didn't just lose, they blew a 2-0 series lead heading into a pair of games on home ice. They lost four straight games, two of them in OT on home ice. Your team is led by Jaromir Jagr, a player in the midst of a seven-year, $77 million contract -- a contract that is eating a serious hole in your pocket. For the final four games of your most recent playoff series, Jagr was held scoreless.
So last night you're sitting at home, checking the scores of the other playoff series. You can't help but notice that in Denver, the Minnesota Wild, a team in its third season making its very first playoff appearance, have managed to take the Colorado Avalanche into OT in Game Seven of their playoff series -- the Avalanche that have won two Stanley Cups in the last seven seasons. You flip on the HDTV, and decide to watch OT on ESPN's high definition channel. Just a few minutes into OT, you see Andrew Brunette, a player that earns just a shade over $1 million a season score the game winning goal against Patrick Roy, a future member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
As Brunette skates into the defensive zone, he's travelling so slowly it appears he's skating in concrete. He manuvers toward the net with all the grace of a Chrysler mini-van negotiating an S-curve at the Monaco Grand Prix. Yet, he still manages to deke, yes, deke, one of the greatest goalies of all time out of his skates to score the winning goal.
By the way, a few seasons ago, your current General Manager let Brunette go in the expansion draft thinking he would never amount to anything.
In four full seasons as the team's owner, you've made the playoffs three times, and lost in the first round every time. You've lost as much as $50 million over that period, and you're not looking to lose anymore.
Think you might be cutting payroll? Think you might be looking to dump your high-priced superstar? Think you might start letting highly paid free agents walk out the door and just start all over again?
I say yes to all of it.
Meanwhile, the Wild are getting ready to move to the next round against an equally exhausted Canucks squad. All of a sudden, a run to the Finals doesn't look so impossible.
Flyers 6 Maple Leafs 1: The Leafs sure know how to suck all the excitement out of a Game Seven, as they were out of this game very early in the evening -- something which allowed me to catch last night's installment of 24 on Fox. The Flyers' ability to roll four lines finally wore the Leafs down -- something Philly is going to need to rely on when they face an Ottawa team that rolls four lines of forwards as well. As for the Maple Thugs, I won't miss them.
Canucks 4 Blues 1: I just knew Blues' goalie Chris Osgood couldn't stand up to the pressure, and the final three games of this series proved it -- at least without Norris Trophy candidate Al MacInnis knocked out of the lineup for the balance of the series. Canucks goalie Dan Cloutier wasn't all that much better, but the bit and bruising defense that played in front of him was. For their trouble, the Canucks now get to face an inspired team from Minnesota -- a series that is shaping up to be a complete toss-up in light of the way both teams have played lately.
Overall, I picked six of the eight series correctly. I probably would have gotten seven of eight, but instead I hedged on both the Wild-Avalanche and the Ducks-Wings series. My predicition for the Finals: Canucks-Flyers, remains intact. The playoffs, and my roundup get to take tonight off, but look for my preview of the Conference semi-finals sometime tomorrow.
UPDATE: ESPN.com's Terry Frei has his own reflections on the collapse of the Avalanche.
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