Heating up the Ice

Hopefully the Flyers don’t melt the playing surface, because they’re on fire right now. Aside from their early series hiccup against the Bruins, the Bullies have been the best team in the NHL, outscoring their opponents 36-18. But, their 6-0 shellacking on Sunday night showed me more about their defensive effort though. Sure the Canadiens may have layed a big goose egg in Game 1 against the Penguins too, but Pronger, Timonen, Carle, and especially Michael Leighton sucked the life out of a Canadiens offense that was really hitting its stride. I’m not very good with predictions, but if you held a gun to my head, I’d say the Flyers have a real shot winning the Cup. Gill and Georges may have had success bottling up Malkin and Crosby in the last round, but this Philly team looks quicker than both the Caps and Pens. It may be up to the Montreal faithful to get the Habs back in this series.

Let’s not foget about the other hot teams, thats right plural, out West. The Blackhawks may have taken the early advantage against the Sharks on Sunday, but don’t count San Jose out yet. Sure Chicago’s offense is banging on all cylinders, but San Jose was the better team in several aspects of yesterdays Game 1 contest (shots on goal, faceoffs, takeaways) plus they didnt take a single penalty. Also remember that Chicago has lost 3 times at home in these playoffs already. If San Jose evens the series at the Shark-Tank tomorrow, the Blackhawks will have their work cut out for them heading back to Chicago. I wouldnt be surprised at all if this series goes seven games, especially after the tight nature of game 1. Don’t expect any scores like the one we saw in Philly last night. Guys like Campbell and Boyle have been there before and both defenses are being quite stingy at the moment.

PREDICTION:

Flyers in 5…. ‘Hawks in 7