Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012: Ranking NHL Postseason Semifinalists

Don’t tell me that the regular season is worthless. 

I know that an eight seed just upset the mighty Blues in the West and that the No. 7-seeded Capitals could potentially eliminate the top-seeded Rangers in the East, but it’s a myopic, simplistic conclusion.

St. Louis has been to the playoffs only twice since the lockout. L.A. has been there the past two seasons and were eliminated by the Canucks and Sharks, two of the premier franchises in the West. The team with the most playoff experience won the matchup.

New York has made the playoffs every year except for 2009-10 since the lockout, but won its division for the first time since the 1993-94 season, the last year it won the Cup.

On the other hand, Washington has won the Southeast four straight seasons before relinquishing its title to the Florida Panthers this season. The Capitals have been perennial Cup favorites since the 2007-08 season, but have floundered in the postseason.

Now their experience appears to be paying off. The team is committed to defense, and Alex Ovechkin is not complaining about ice time. Hats off to Dale Hunter; he’s got his team playing the way they need to in order to win the series.

Now, the Rangers-Capitals series isn’t over yet, but it’s hard to say that regular-season results haven’t given Washington an advantage in the series. After all, the Caps have eliminated the Rangers from the playoffs in two of the past three years.

Phoenix is the outlier. The Coyotes snuck into the playoffs in the past two seasons and were eliminated by the Red Wings in both years. This year, however, they look poised to reach the Western Conference Finals. 

This is the first time in franchise history the 'Yotes have advanced to Round 2, let alone put themselves in position to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

With that said, Nashville has become a perennial playoff team and could turn this series around in Game 5. The Predators have to win in Glendale, but the Coyotes are down a man after Rostislav Klesla’s suspension. 

Nashville can still take the series, and it would be fitting considering they are the team with a better regular-season record since the lockout. 

8. St. Louis Blues

It’s all over now, Baby Blues.

It was a fun run for Hitch and this upstart St. Louis squad, but a Los Angeles team that had significantly more playoff experience simply outclassed the Blues.

A clean sweep, or royal flush, if you will, took place over the course of this four-game series, and the Kings will advance past the second round for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

St. Louis has a foundation to build on, however, and should be back to the postseason next year. Their core of T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Kevin Shattenkirk, among others, has many more miles left on their odometers and now know they are capable of carrying their team into the postseason.

7. Philadelphia Flyers

The first and third games of this series could have gone either way, but Games 2 and 4 were lopsided.

Philly could have capitalized on its rather fortunate Game 1 victory and taken a 2-0 series lead into New Jersey. Instead, they flopped and let the Devils take control of the series.

Philadelphia gets two of the next three at home, but it's looking like the inferior team right now.

As it stands, it looks like New Jersey will take the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

6. Nashville Predators

This one seemed teed up for the Predators. 

They were facing an opponent that was a first-round out the past two years. Their franchise had momentum, having qualified for the playoffs eight of the past nine years and advancing to the second round for the first time last season.

Instead, they had two players, Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Radulov, suspended for breaking curfew during the series, and goaltender Pekka Rinne was porous in the team's first two games.

Granted, it’s always hard to play the first two games on the road, and Nashville’s defense has been solid in the two contests it's played at home, but splitting both games in Tennessee is rough.

There is a silver lining, though.

Phoenix defenseman Rostislav Klesla has been suspended for Game 5 for boarding Matt Halischuk.

At this point, Nashville looks more likely than Philadelphia to overcome the 3-1 deficit.

5. New York Rangers

Slow starts have plagued the Rangers during this series, and it looks like Washington, a team with significantly more playoff experience, has the upper hand despite the series being tied at two games apiece.

Game 3 went into triple overtime in the nation’s capital, which was thrilling, but New York could not seize the momentum from the win and dropped Game 4.

The Blueshirts have the upper hand in terms of location—two of the three remaining games will be played at Madison Square Garden—but the Capitals look like a better team right now.

If the Rangers are going to pull this off, they must come out firing in Game 5. Otherwise, it will be tough to win facing elimination in Washington.

4. Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Chimera, Alexander Semin and Mike Green are all producing, meaning that all is well for the Caps.

Interestingly, in a year when the team is a late seed and has no home-ice advantage, Washington looks to be in better shape than it was this time last year, when they were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Caps appear to have figured out Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, or at least are finding a way to get pucks past him. They are also blocking shots, making Braden Holtby’s job as easy as possible.

As long as Washington continues to clog up the lanes and Ovechkin and company continue to produce, the Capitals should eliminate the Rangers—something they have done in two of the past three years.

3. Phoenix Coyotes

OK, it’s not Shane Doan or Radim Vrbata, but it hurts losing Klesla for Game 5.

The Coyotes have done well at home during this series, but Nashville will be dangerous with Kostitsyn and Radulov returning for the contest.

Right now, the Coyotes are in control of the series and in position to snuff the Predators out of the playoffs, but if they give them a glimmer of hope, Nashville is a dangerous team that can choke an already offensively-inept Coyote team and go on a three-game rally.

Fortunately for fans in Arizona, Games 5 and 7 will be played in Glendale.

2. New Jersey Devils

New Jersey has looked like the better team throughout this series.

The Devils may go overlooked in a division with Pittsburgh, New York and Philadelphia, but if the Flyers looked past this club, they are now realizing that they have made a dire mistake.

Save for an unfortunate result in Game 1, at least in the eyes of the Devil faithful, New Jersey has shown it can close out games and is able to come back from an early deficit.

Ilya Kovalchuk is finally looking like the player he was in Atlanta, Marty Brodeur has been, well, Marty Brodeur and hockey fans in Minnesota and Detroit are uneasy realizing that a deep playoff run means that superstar Zach Parise is probably going to remain in Newark.

This team looks awfully dangerous. 

1. Los Angeles Kings

They may be an eight seed. They may have made the postseason because the rest of their division was inept. They may not be scoring a lot of goals.

Regardless of all of these shortcomings, L.A. is sitting pretty right now. This team looks like they could represent the West in the Stanley Cup Finals this year.

I don’t mean to get too far ahead of myself—Nashville or Phoenix are both worthy opponents—but this team got hot at the right time and is in position to make hockey fans in L.A. forget about all those decades of failure.