Sens at Land’s End

I’ve watched bits and pieces of all the first round series, but have seen the least of Carolina-New Jersey and Calgary-Chicago: both have been conflicting with other games I want to see and things I have to do. I will watch the Flames and Hawks play today, but I may not get to see Patrick Kane, who is a game-time decision for Chicago. It seems that while Jonathan Toews has had no trouble stepping up his game for the playoffs, the smaller Kane has been a bit more vulnerable to the Flames’ abuse. (CORRECTION: It seems Kane has the flu. I assumed he was hurt because I saw him looking very pained after taking a big hit the other day.) The Canes-Devils series looks likely to be a long one. I’m surprised — but not too surprised — to see the Devils apparently getting back on track.

For me, the biggest surprise so far has been the Rangers. I think we all knew Henrik Lundqvist was probably going to outplay Jose Theodore, but it seems very few people foresaw just how big a problem the entire goaltending situation in this series was going to be for the Caps. Obviously, if they can’t get their offense going today, they may as well pack it in. What would lie ahead for them after another first round loss this year is clear: a developing reputation as chokers. And a reputation like that is hard to shake.

Which brings me to what has been my favourite series to this point: Ducks-Sharks. It’s just fun. Chris Pronger and Jonathan Cheechoo had quite the battle going last night, with Cheechoo, who runs around like a maniacal ball of energy out there, goading big dumb Pronger into two silly crosschecking penalties. This caused Randy Carlyle to make the face of a man who’s just been told his flight is cancelled and he’ll have to take the Greyhound from Winnipeg to Vancouver. Normally I would find this funny — and really, it was — but because I picked the Ducks to win I am actually rooting for them here. (Yes, it feels dirty and all kinds of wrong.) I now feel I have new insight into what it must be like to be a Ducks fan and have to watch your team take a constant stream of idiotic penalties. It would be like having several highly-paid Christoph Schuberts on your roster. All you can do is shake your head.

My dear Blue Jackets are in a spot of trouble, looking overwhelmed in their series against Detroit. They’ve also had some pretty unfortunate bounces, but mostly Detroit just plain has them off their game. Trying to get things back on track, they’re doing some line shuffling and our old buddy Antoine Vermette now finds himself centring the team’s top line, with Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius as his wingers. Good luck with that, Antoine.