NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Claim First Victim
By Traci Kay
Photo Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time ever, I have decided to play the Stanley Cup brackets. Yes, I’ve been a hockey fan for over 25 years, but I’ve never played the brackets until a friend mentioned that I should give it a try. Surprisingly, I find myself cheering for teams that I never thought I would and I’ve had a great time watching as many games as possible in the first round.
The first round of Stanley Cup playoffs have claimed their first victim. The Tampa Bay Lightning were swept out of the playoffs by Montreal last night in the fourth and final game of the series. Yes, I got that one totally wrong. Not only did I pick the wrong team, but I was also completely shocked when the Lightning got swept. The Montreal Canadiens are moving on to the second round.
So far, I have the Rangers/Flyers match-up wrong too. But, I’m happy to say that the Bruins and the Penguins have come through for me so far. This is hockey and anything can happen so I’m not done worrying about my picks yet.
Boston is up 2-1 in the series while Pittsburgh is winning by the same margin. The Rangers are up 2-1 on the Flyers and I’m hoping Giroux can lead his team to back-to-back wins in order to make a seven-game series out of this one.
On the other coast, my western teams are doing relatively well. Anaheim is up 2-1 on Dallas, San Jose is leading 3-0, Colorado has pulled ahead 2-1, and St Louis has the jump on Chicago 2-1. But, like I said, this is hockey and things can change in the blink of an eye.
One thing that has become quite apparent to me is that I don’t know east coast teams as well as I thought I did. It seems that my eastern picks are completely wrong while I have a pretty good handle on the west coast teams.
Well, at this rate, I’ll know exactly who to cheer for in the final round!