Here’s my take on this series between 1 Detroit vs 2 Anaheim:

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This series will feature all three Norris candidates as Ducks’ tandem Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger are set to do battle against Nicklas Lidstrom. The 37 year-old Lidstrom has won the Norris four times during his illustrious 16-year career. The Swede is arguably the best defenseman of his era. In terms of consistency, no one has been better. Offensively and defensively, the Detroit captain has been a tower of strength on the blueline.

Pronger and Niedermayer have also both taken home a Norris in their outstanding careers. Both are perennial All Stars who can impact a game both offensively and defensively. Pronger does it with sheer physicality while Niedermayer does it with effortless skating and speed. They certainly pose a huge challenge to Lidstrom and Co. if they’re to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Just a note. I went 4-for-4 in Round 2 on my site. Not too shabby after an inauspicious first round.

This also is the first time Detroit has seen Anaheim since Giguere stoned them in that shocking first round sweep in 2003.

From TSN.ca

New Jersey Devil forward Patrik Elias has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit in New Jersey Federal Court against his former agents, Mark Gandler and Todd Diamond, sources tell TSN.
The court documents were reportedly filed yesterday in New Jersey.

In the suit, Elias alleges fraud, embezzlement, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of US Federal Securities Laws.

Elias has not been represented by Gandler and Diamond for several years.

Elias is being represented by San Francisco lawyer Ed King, who specializes in cases involving professional athletes suing their representatives.

Details to follow.

This will be epic folks. Anaheim and Detroit at 7:30 on VERSUS. Doc and Eddie O. with the call. It will be a war out there everyone.

If anyone is interested in my thoughts, I’ll be continuing postgame coverage of the Conference Finals over at my site.

An excerpt from last night:

2.Special teams was the difference:

PP: Ott- 2 of 6 Buf- 0 of 5

PK: Ott- 5 of 5, 1 SHG Buf- 4 of 6, 2 PPG allowed

3.With a PPG tonight, for the first time in his postseason career, Alfredsson has scored in three consecutive games. Clearly, the Ottawa captain is playing the best hockey of his career in an attempt to silence many critics.

4.Due in large part to all the penalties his team killed, Buffalo top center Daniel Briere took only 20 shifts (15:33 TOI) and was a non-factor finishing minus-two with no shots.

Hope ya’ll check it out!

Honestly, Buffalo had their chances tonight. They could have taken Game 1, they were not all that worse, but they gave Ottawa an opening and Ottawa showed a killer instict which we’ve never seen from them before in a playoff series by taking it 5-2.

More tomorrow.

Here’s an excerpt courtesy of my site:

Last year, the Sabres despite as many as four starting defensemen hurt lost to the Hurricanes in a hard fought seven games. I’ll never forget my diehard buddy Brian’s reaction when Carolina won. It was a tirade of epic proportions. Who could blame him?

A Buffalo fan could only take so much pain and heartache.

The Sabres’ opponent knows something about that. Since coming to the NHL as an expansion team in 1992-93, Ottawa has built a solid foundation by making the postseason 10 consecutive seasons since ‘96-97 when they upset the top seeded Devils in six games.

Buffalo and Ottawa tonight at 7 at the HSBC in BUF on VERSUS and MOJO HD. Not sure whether they are going with Team Emrick or Team Beninati to call it. My guess: Two American markets will get Doc and Edzo over Buffalo and a Canadian team.

I will be covering the Eastern Final, while Derek will check in with the Western series between Anaheim and Detroit.

Here’s part of my post series analysis on what took place last night at The Swamp courtesy of Hitting Back:

So why did the outcome turn out this way?

1.Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson couldn’t be stopped. The Devils continued to insist on matching the Madden line against them. They should’ve seen that it wasn’t working. I’d have scratched the plan tonight. They needed to do whatever it took to score goals and win. Lamoriello and his assistants failed here.

2.In this series, Brodeur had the clear edge over his younger opponent at the opposite end of the rink. He admitted that he had to be better after Game 4. It just never materialized. Whatever rebounds Emery let out were cleared by his D. And Marty might have been overworked because he continued to let in odd goals which hurt his team. He definitely needs a lighter load next year.

3.In the first round victory over Tampa, Parise was awesome scoring six goals. The super soph was blanketed in this round against a more defensive oriented opponent. Credit the checking of Mike Fisher because he saw a lot of Zach’s line. The Ottawa blueline also did a solid job along the walls shutting them down.

4.As predicted, the Ottawa blueline was more involved offensively. More active on the forecheck due to effective pinching, they made an impact. In particular, Preissing who just killed the Devils in key moments such as Game 3 and tonight. They also were more steady in their end and didn’t turn the puck over as much.

5.Devils’ captain Elias tried hard in the four games he got into but couldn’t find the back of the net. He was sharpest in the elimination game tallying an assist and also getting robbed point blank by Emery in the final minute. Clearly, he wasn’t himself in this series and hurt the play of linemates Gomez and Gionta. One goal in 10 playoff games isn’t very Elias-esque. Even if he did finish 1-9-10, they needed him to finish more.

6.Anton Volchenkov. End of discussion. The Russian tower on the Ottawa D dominated this series by blocking a ton of shots including four more tonight. His teammates also chipped in and made it extremely difficult on the Devils to get shots through. In the clincher, they blocked 25 or 14 more than their desperate opponents. In fact, Volchenkov, Wade Redden (6) and Preissing (5) combined to block four more shots than the entire Devils roster (15-11).

The Devils need to get some offense on the inside tonight. They’re playing Joe Thornton hockey, everything on the perimeter. Game on VERSUS tonight, scroll down to find your local VERSUS station.

Go DEVILS!

Pando for the Selke.

Marty for Hart and Vezina.

Lundqvist for the Vezina.

Good luck to all!