04 May 2006

I don't know what it says about the NHL that the bottom four seeds in the Western Conference won their opening round series of the playoffs. It could be a sign of parity. It could be a quirk of nature. Or it could underscore the relative meaninglessness of the regular season. It's probably bits of all of these, but whatever it is, it's one more oddity than the NHL needed.

That being said, I am now firmly latched on the Buffalo Sabres bandwagon, in no small part thanks to the point explosion from former Terriers Chris Drury and Mike Grier in the series-clinching game against the Flyers.

(It should be noted that all the higher seeds won their quarterfinals series in the Eastern Conference. Go figure.)

1 comment:

Craig Barker said...

Big factor:
The Red Wings got very fat off a division disparity that gave them 24 games against Chicago, St. Louis, and Columbus, and they took 46 of the 48 possible points there. Then look at Edmonton's division with Calgary, Vancouver, Minnesota, and Colorado, two of whom also made the playoffs, and you realize that basically, the Red Wings did what they were supposed to do, but they weren't as good as their record would indicate.

I would have replied sooner, but I am finally not angry.

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