The Stanley Cup Carnival Begins: The Eastern Conference Preview

Oh, that magical time of year has begun once again! It's springtime, a time of renewal. It is the season of Lord Stanley's tournament to decide hockey dominance.  There will be heroes.  There will be tragedy.  There will be victory and defeat.

The one burning question on everyone's mind is who will prevail when spring begins to give way to summer?

It is the time, friends, for the swami to don his turban and glance into the future as provided him with his all seeing crystal puck.

Let's first turn our attention to the marquis team and their wary adversaries.

The Washington Capitals, without any doubt, have the potential to become one of the most dominant franchises in recent NHL history.  They steamrolled through the regular season and earned the President's Trophy as a reward.  Alex "Captain Fantastic" Ovechkin, however, seemed to want nothing to do with the award when presented with it.  Wise move, Alex. With sporting the best record in the NHL, the Capitals have brought their high octane offensive game to a new level.

Their first round match-up draws the enigmatic Montreal Canadiens into the clutches of the giant that is the Caps.  Not to detract from the Habs achievement in making the tournament, but they are coming into this opening round series having won just three of 11 down the stretch.  This is not the stuff a first round upset is made of.  

Yes, the Caps' goaltending situation is a question.  Jose Theodore played just one post-season game last year before being pulled in favor of the rookie Semyon Varmalov. Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau has stated that Theodore is unquestionably the starter in goal for the Caps.  

Looking at this match-up, it will not get that far.  The Canadiens just don't match-up well against the Caps.  Look for Washington to stomp Montreal in five stress free games.

Next up is the New Jersey Devils versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

New Jersey turned up the heat after the Olympics and beat out Buffalo for the coveted No. 2 slot in the bracket.  The Devils returned to Cup contender form under the tutelage of Jaques Lemaire, and backstopped by the ageless Martin Brodeur.

Philly will be heated up and ready to go, after an emotional stretch of games which ended with a do or die shootout win for the final playoff berth versus the New York Rangers just two days ago. The Flyers also controlled the season series, taking five of six games from the perennial contenders in Newark.  

Based on that, look for the Flyers to upset the Devils in seven games.

The most compelling Eastern Conference series may just be the Buffalo Sabres versus the Boston Bruins.  

Carried on the shoulders of USA silver medalist Ryan Miller, the Sabres are no strangers to this Boston team.  They gave up four of six games to the up and down Bruins.  

The Bruins spent the season struggling to find their offensive stride, and are missing one of the key components to their underachieving forward corps.  Marc Savard will remain out after sustaining a concussion courtesy of the Penguins' Matt Cooke.  They will also be missing blue-liner Dennis Seidenberg due to season ending arm surgery.

Look to Buffalo to take advantage of the Bruins and Ryan Miller to lead the way to a relatively entertaining six game series victory.

That brings us finally to the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins team facing the Ottawa Senators.

The Pens are not coming into the playoffs on the hot streak they did last year.  This team, with Sid the Kid and Gino Malkin, underachieved all year, and seemed to have lost some of the passionate spark that brought them to a thrilling seven game series against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Pens will again ride the shoulders of their captain Sidney Crosby.  The mark of a truly great player is the ability to elevate others around him.  Sid will again be asked to deliver Pittsburgh to another inevitable showdown with the Capitals.  

For Ottawa to prevail here, the key will be Jason Spezza.  There have been questions of late about Spezza's leadership and post-season production.  Will this year be any different?

When the dust clears, the Penguins will prevail here in a very tight seven game series.

Let the party begin!