Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012: Highlighting This Week's Hottest Storylines

Following the crushing defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, the Washington Capitals headed home, and to their surprise, learned they will have a new coach come next season.

Dale Hunter, who took over for Bruce Boudreau in the middle of the season, went 37-37 as their head coach, but more importantly, stressed defense and taught a predominately offensive club how to play on the other side of the ice.

Well, that might be news to some, but let’s get back to the NHL playoffs, which is the real matter at hand.

The final rounds before the Stanley Cup are upon us as the New York Rangers lead the New Jersey Devils 1-0 in their series, while the Los Angeles Kings lead the Phoenix Coyotes 2-0.

The top-seeded Rangers will host the Devils in Game 2 of their series tomorrow night in New York. After the Kings dominated and shut out the Coyotes last night 4-0, the West finals resume Friday night as Game 3 moves the series' venue to Los Angeles.

Preview: Devils at Rangers

The Rangers (51-24-7) are the favorite to win the title this season after they almost lost in seven games to the surprising Capitals. Even though the Rangers are ranked No. 1 in the East, the Devils (48-28-6) showed some fight in Game 1.

Critics thought that this series was over before it even started; they though the Rangers would blow away the Devils, and after a 3-0 defeat, New Jersey should still be optimistic.

One of the main reasons the Rangers have been so successful this season has been their ability to block shots and keep their opponents away from the goal. In Game 1, the Devils were able to shoot just 21 times on Henrik Lundqvist, and the Rangers blocked 26 other shots.

The major problem for the Devils is that they need to find a way to get shots off. They did not have as many opportunities to score as the Rangers and they did not capitalize.

A problem for the Rangers could be that they are playing too conservative on the ice. They are more worried about their defense rather than their offense—there needs to be a certain balance in between, and until they find that, they will not be the most dominant team in the playoffs.

Do not get me wrong, the Rangers are playing very well, but their dominance in the regular season hasn't wholly translated into the playoffs.

Game 2 is going to be an interesting matchup because the Rangers have won the first game of each series in the playoffs, but they have lost the second game in both of the first two rounds. Let’s see if they can break the trend and take Game 2 tomorrow night.

Preview: Coyotes at Kings

Game 3 between the Phoenix Coyotes (42-27-13) and the Los Angeles Kings (40-27-15) heads back to California after leaving the desert, which might be exactly what the Coyotes need.

They sure struggled throughout the first two games of the series. The Kings have dominated every aspect of each contest. They won the first game 4-2 and they shut out Phoenix last night 4-0.

The Kings might not want to head back home since they have won seven straight road games.

Although Jonathan Quick allowed two rare goals in the first game of the series, he has since been dominating. He saved 25 shots in the first game and his save percentage sat at .926. In Game 2, he saved 24 shots, and he failed to surrender a single goal (100 save percentage).

It is definitely tough to score goals against Quick, and the Kings’ offensive onslaught does not help the Coyotes' situation.

Dwight King scored a couple of goals in Game 1 for L.A. and the Kings also featured goals from Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

In Game 2, King was at it again as he scored a third goal in two games. However, the real story was Jeff Carter, who racked up three goals and helped the Kings take a 2-0 advantage.

So far, the Kings have been in complete control this series, and unless the Coyotes are able to find a way to stop King, Carter and Quick, Los Angeles could end this series and advance to the finals by this weekend.

On Another Note

Team USA Hockey defeated Switzerland 5-2 on Saturday night as they concluded their round-robin tournament at the Hockey World Championships with a 6-1 record. The USA clinched the second seed in the tournament and will face Finland on Thursday.

Check out this article for more details.

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