Round 1 Results

Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs have come to an end and my bracket is basically fakakta. I made some ballsy predictions and it turns out that sometimes the better seed wins!

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Colorado Avalanche (8)
I had the San Jose Sharks once again going down in flames, this year in 5 games. Welp, looks like they've grown up enough to get past the first round. Do I think they'll beat the Detroit Red Wings in the second round? Not a chance; I refuse.

Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Nashville Predators (7)
I'm both surprised and not surprised the Predators were able to hold on to the Blackhakws for as long as they did. These were two hard-playing teams going head-to-head. There were bound to be some sparks.

Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (6)
Oh boy. Where to begin. Well, in the end, the better team won. Pound for pound, we know what's up. I'm just glad the team that took out the Kings was one that I don't hate with every cell in my body. It would have been so much harder to take the feeling of finality that ran through me while in my seat at STAPLES Center.

Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)
I thought the Red Wings would easily take this series in 6 games, but it turns out they needed to struggle through six games before finally showing up in Game 7. The Coyotes put up a fight until the end making this a pretty exciting battle. Even though I chose Detroit to move on, I was hoping for the Coyotes to win out simply to make the playoffs a bit more exciting overall.

Eastern Conference

Washington Capitals (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8)
I had this match-up as a sweep by the Capitals, but man, was I wrong. Who knew the team leading the entire league for the majority of the season couldn't close out a much weaker 8th seed? When I got home a bit ago and turned on the end of the game, I was definitely not expecting the Capitals to be held to only one goal. Montreal brought up their game and Dominic Moore scored a beauty.

New Jersey Devils (2) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7)
Virtually everyone I knew chose New Jersey over Philly because of Martin Brodeur. For me, I looked up their regular season record, which was 5-1 Flyers. So I went with the obvious. Brian Boucher? Sure, why not!

Buffalo Sabres (3) vs. Boston Bruins (6)
I'm pretty bummed out by this series as I had the Sabres winning the Cup. I was not expecting Tuukka Rask to beat out Ryan Miller. Sabres in 5? Ha, way off here.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Ottawa Senators (5)
There was nothing really exciting in this series for me in terms of the Senators maybe winning the series. Yeah, they won a few games, but did anyone really think they were going to take out the Penguins? Not me, for sure. Then again, I wasn't watching too many of these games since the Kings were still going at it.

*~*~*~*~*

So where does this leave me and my pool?

• 2 out of 4 in the West and 2 out of 4 in the East.
• Neither of the second round match-ups in the West lined up for me, so... that's some feces.
• Eastern Conference? I'm looking okay with, hrm, actually I'm screwed on that side too.
• Buffalo, why in the heck couldn't you at least have gotten to the second round and let me get some points!/

I'll look at the new match-ups and lay those out hopefully before the games start up again. How did everyone else do on their brackets/pools?