Duck Hunting

Last years Stanley Cup Champions, the Anaheim Ducks, are out of the playoffs. The Dallas Stars won the deciding match, 4-1 and clinched the series 4-2. The Stars now face the Red Wings, who beat Nashville last night. This means that we have three out of four teams in the West waiting for the Quarterfinals (Conference Semi Finals): The Avalanche (who will face either the Sharks or the Flames), the Stars and the Wings.

In the East, things are more complicated. There is a 3-3 tie between the Bruins and the Canadiens. The winner there (which will be decided tonight) will face the New York Rangers. And the Flyers and the Capitals have only played five ganes, with Flyers in the lead 3-2. The winner there will face the Pittsburgh Penguins. Should the Caps win tonight, the deciding game will be played tomorrow night.

Back to the West. I'm getting more and more impressed of some of the Swedes in Dallas. Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist had a great game last night, creating many chances and ending up with one point each. Eriksson scored the 3-1-goal and Lundqvist had an assist with his opening pass to Brad Richards. Niklas Grossman also had an assist in the game. He had an opening pass to Stephane Robidas, who in turn passed it on to Stu Barnes. That meant 2-1.
NHL.com has a slogan saying: "The Cup Changes Everything". That really is the case for the Stars. Now they're flying over the ice. But I have put up a finger of warning for them. Look out, Red Wings. This will be a true clash of the titans. I belive that the winner here will also win the Conference Final, ending up in the Stanley Cup final. We'll see.