Carnival Of The NHL #21: 2006 Stanley Cup Playoff Edition

First off, thanks to Chris Young for moderating an online roundtable discussion on the playoffs. that he hosted over at JABS this week. For two days Chris did his best to keep James Mirtle, Paul Kukla, Tom Benjamin, Chris McMurtry and yours truly away from each other's throats.

The result: A surprisingly civil discussion that mixed dispassionate analysis with some good old fashioned hockey hate (Bobby Clarke gets a nice kick in the shins from Tom). For Part I of the discussion, click here. For Part II, click here.

Also, thanks to Jamie Mottram over at SBL, who had me on yesterday's edition of the program for a playoff preview. Click here for the audio. I covered a lot of the same ground over last night at Bleacher Guy Radio with my pal Rob Visconti. Click here for links to that interview.

Before we get into the rest of the predictions, be sure to stop by Jamie Fitzpatrick's place over at About.com and check out his Stanley Cup Playoffs Survival Guide:

As the TV talking heads always remind us, it takes grit and determination to survive four rounds of playoff hockey. Here are a few tips to help you persevere, so when the Stanley Cup is finally handed out in June, you can turn to your spouse, surrender the remote and proudly announce: “Remember honey, it’s all about who wants it more!”

That's as good a place as any to start. Come back later this afternoon for a veritable avalanche of hockey links and predictions!

UPDATE: During the past few baseball seasons, one of the regular features I've enjoyed was taking a daily temperature of fandom from around the nation through blogs covering the teams in the postseason. For some reason, I've never done that with the NHL, but I guess it's time to start. So, courtesy of James Mirtle's guide to the hockey blogosphere, I've compiled a list of hockey blogs broken out by playoff series.

First, here's the Eastern Conference:

OTT-TB

Senators
Battle of Ontario
Hockey Country
Hockey Will Tear Us Apart
Sens Underground (Podcast)
The Sens Watch

Lightning
Boltsmag

CAR-MTL

Hurricanes
The Acid Queen
Casonblog
Red and Black Hockey
Behind The Net

Canadiens
Sisu Hockey
Habs Blog

NJD-NYR

Devils
Devils Due

Rangers
Blue Line Blog
Blueshirt Bulletin
Hockeybird
Hockey Rodent
Puck Update
Ranger Pundit
Sidearm Delivery

BUF-PHI

Sabres
BFLO Blog
Hockey Night In Buffalo
Sabre Rattling

Flyers
Bullies Blog
Flyers Fan Central

If I missed anyone I should be reading, send it my way.

Western Conference, coming up!

UPDATE: Western Conference, ho!

DET-EDM

Red Wings
The Bleacher Guy
Abel to Yzerman
Behind The Jersey
On The Wings
Red Wings Bulletin
Wings Blog
Stat Girl

Oilers
Battle of Alberta
Covered In Oil
The Oilers Source

DAL-COL

Stars
Andrew's Stars Page
Cupchasers
Grapevine's Ramblings
Razor With An Edge
Bob Sturm

Avalanche
Avalanche!

CAL-ANA

Flames
Battle of Alberta
Red Mile

Ducks
Accepting applications on a rolling admissions basis.

NAS-SJO

Predators
Predators Official Blog
Predators Den (RIP Charlie, we know you're watching)
Duckstorm

Sharks
Sharkspage
Don't Feed The Sharks

CAVALCADE OF PREDICTIONS: Mudcrutch, Grapevine's Ramblings, Covered in Oil and Canucks Hockey (beats caddying for Ryan Kesler).

Yes, they're officially Cup Crazy in Ottawa, here's Hockey Will Tear Us Apart:

When you're gravely concerned about the outcome of a monkey spinning a wheel.

When you go through fits of mania, solemn and calm and collected in one moment and screaming out in agony/joy the next.

When the colours of each piece of clothing you wear is important.

When you start to hate cities...

Yep, she's ready. Over at The Sens Watch, Thomas DeChastelain wants to believe his boys can go all the way, but he can't shake his doubts about the man behind the bench, Bryan Murray:

I am worried, and that is mostly about Murray. As I have said many times I believe Murray will be the biggest obstacle in our path to a Cup.

I did make a mistake earlier in the year. I once wrote that Murray probably never had a team as talented as the Senators. Today watching some preview commentary on TV, I found out that is not exactly true. He was in charge of some excellent Detroit Red Wings teams and excellent Washington Capitals teams, all who had premature exits.

Of course my beefs all boil down to his masochistic approach to forming lines.

Here in Washington, we remember Murray well. He was at the controls when the team shook of the loser label for the first time and actually made the playoffs. But that's about as far as he could take those Caps, and then he had to suffer the indignity of being replaced by his own brother.

McMurtry detects a conspiracy in the making at the CBC:

Not only do we get Greg Millen back after he left to joyous cheers for LeafsTV and their viewing audience of 11, but now senile Bob Cole as well? Be prepared for retarded analysis and a whole lot of calls containing the words "the Senators player". I for one can't wait.

Turning our attention to the Hurricanes and the Habs, Sisu Hockey has some advice for Bob Gainey and Guy Carboneau:

Key for Montreal success: Use Photoshop to paint a Bruins sweater onto Eric Staal with the name 'Thornton' on the back. Hey, it worked in '02 and '04.

Better yet, why not buy a Thornton jersey, like this one for only 99 cents American?

Back soon with MORE!!!

MORE PLAYOFF MADNESS: You gotta love The Acid Queen, she knows how to get down to brass tacks:

SCREW JUSTICE! I WANT A CUP!

No justice, no peace. Know justice, know peace.

Casonblog is fighting off despair:

Let's hope the D doesn't spend a huge chunk of this series on the PK. If so, we're doomed I say, dooooomed.

Red and Black Hockey needs to get with the program. Wake up!

Meanwhile, Habs Blog is whistling past the graveyard over Cristobal Huet:

What he can do in the playoffs remains to be seen but nothing indicates he won’t be able to play the same way. I don’t see Huet getting ‘rattled’ or thrown off his game in any kind of way because it’s the playoffs. I don’t see him cracking under pressure but rather relishing in the oppurtunity to be the main guy for the Canadiens chances. How is he going to feel coming onto the ice on Wednesday night to 21 thousand+ hockey mental fans?

Excellent question. To get an answer, I performed a mind meld on CH after he gave up three third period goals to the Devils earlier this week:

Est-ce que mon Dieu, combien mal je juste ai joué ? Quel suis-je allant faire quand les jeux comptent réellement ? Est-ce que je juste un pauvre garçon de Suisse, que je suis- fera probablement?

He's gonna crack. Canes in six.

SLOGGING THROUGH THE EAST: Despite being the underdog, Rangers Blogs are defiant. Here's Jim@Hockeybird:

As you can probably guess, the Rangers are the underdogs in their upcoming playoff series. And why shouldn't they be? I mean, they lost their last 5 games, the Devils won their last 11, would you expect anything else?

You know what? WHO CARES? Let them be the underdogs. Haven't they been underestimated all year long? They were picked to finish LAST in the NHL. We have waited for a playoff game since May 25th, 1997. That is 3,254 days come Saturday. Underdogs, overdogs, reservoir dogs, hot dogs, who gives a rat's ass?

This guy is trying to be rational:

Yes, the Rangers suffered a monumental collapse in the last five games. But that doesn't mean it'll be impossible for them to find their game when the playoffs start. The Rangers were a top-five team for 90% of the season. A #6 seed or a #3 seed; they can go far in these playoffs either way -- and we still can all be happy that they're finally in the Stanley Cup tournament.

Basically, we're trying to be very rational.

Good luck with all those guys coming down with the flu. You want rational, I give you Steve Ovadia:

So, while I appreciate Renney's ability to get Jagr going this year, it might have been nice if he had done something for the rest of the team, too. I understand that as Jagr goes, so go the Rangers. But you can build a gritty third line without taking anything away from Jagr and whatever it is he needs to feel happy. I'm willing to bet he doesn't even know who plays on the Rangers' checking line.

The only Devils blog I could find is still enjoying the season ending win over Montreal.

Meanwhile, hopes are high in Buffalo, where they're so unconcerned with the Flyers that they'd rather point out the deficiencies of USA Today reporter Ted Montgomery.

For a more detailed look at the series, visit the Blog of noted philanthropist Thomas Luongo, and check out the rest of his analysis too.

Ohhh, we're halfway there!

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