Overview:
Since the top 3 seeds in the East have fallen, Toronto now will enjoy home ice up until the finals and may actually be favoured to make it out of this pack of 4 and face one of the big 3 teams in the finals. Toronto is also the last Canadian team remaining in the playoffs.

Pittsburgh at at a glance:
The Penguins dethroned the top-seeded Devils and will try and keep the upset bug going as they take on Toronto. League MVP favourite, Jaromir Jagr is the key player and the Penguins need their star to be healthy. Despite recording 2 assists in their Game 7 win against the Devils, Jagr was visibly slowed and he missed 4 games in the first round.

Toronto at a glance:
The Leafs lived off of CuJo in their first round win against the Flyers and will do so against Jaromir Jagr and the Penguins. The one problem for the Leafs was their offense which set an NHL record for least goals scored by the winning team in a best-of-seven series with a mere 9 in their 6 first round games. The Leafs need Matts Sundin to improve his point production if they hope to advance to the Conference Finals.

Pittsburgh will win if: Jaromir Jagr’s groin stays healthy.

Toronto will win if: Curtis Joseph keeps it up and Matts Sundin picks it up.

Prediction: Gotta go for the Canadian team. Leafs in 6.


Buffalo v.s. Boston

Overview:
The Dominator will try and kill another team after the baffled Ottawa. Meanwhile, with a few top seeds falling, Boston is beginning to look like a team capable of advancing to the finals with Lord Byron Daffoe leading the way.

Buffalo at a glance:
I’m tempted just to say Hasek here, because with a quick glance not much else stands out on this team except the 2-time MVP. To be fair to the Sabres, they have the highly underrated 40 goal man, Miroslav Satan up front along with Selke winner Micheal Peca. However, the Sabres are Hasek’s team and they need him to steal a series on his own again. Buffalo’s fate this year will answer the question: can one player win the Stanley Cup by himself?

Boston at a glance:
Boston looks like they have a team which can beat Hasek which is a rarety. The big key is in goal, where Byron Daffoe joined Hasek as a Vezina finalist. Daffoe led the league in shut-outs and picked up a pair against the Hurricanes and he’ll be counted on the match Hasek in goal. Up front, the Bruins have some young firepower but they need Jason Allison to pick up his game. The ageless Raymond Bourque will anchor a fragile defense.

Buffalo will win if: Hasek plays like he did in Nagano and steals a few games.

Boston will win if: They put 40 shots on Hasek a game and get a lot of traffic in front of him.

Prediction: A very tight series but I’ll go with Boston in 7.


St.Louis v.s. Dallas

Overview:
It looks like a huge mismatch and do not believe the Dallas Stars when they say that they are not looking ahead to Colorado or Detroit in the next round. St.Louis won 3 straight including a game 7 in OT to advance this far so they are hot.

St.Louis at a glance:
The Blues did overcome a lot against Phoenix but Phoenix is not Dallas and this St.Louis team is not among the big 3 in the west. The Blues one strenght is their defensive corps which is lead by Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. Up front, the Blues are weak and they have to pray for Grant Fuhr’s health.

Dallas at a glance:
Dallas was the best team in the regular season and they managed to sweep Edmonton even without Derian Hatcher who still has to serve 1 game on a suspension. The Stars will still play a denfensive style and will hold St.Louis to 20 shots or less in a few games this series. The key for Dallas will be to generate some offense which means giving Brett Hull the green light more often.

St.Louis will win if: Modano, Belfore and Hull all get 7 game suspensions.

Dallas will win if: This series is played.

Prediction: I know I’m going to seem pretty dumb if St.Louis wins but Dallas in 4.


Detroit v.s. Colorado

Overview:
This will probably be the most anticipated, the most watched and the best series we see in the entire playoffs. These teams have a bloody history with each other and have combined for the last 3 Stanley Cup wins. In their previous 2 playoff meetings, each team has won 1 series, 6 games, scored 32 goals and sent many players to the hospital. This figures to be a hard hitting and fast skating series with 2 of the league’s best teams.

Detroit at a glance:
The 2 time Stanley Cup champions are gunning for a 3-peat and they stocked up on talent at the deadline. They were the most dominant team in the first round. Disposing of the Mighty Ducks in 4 games. Detroit is worried about Chris Osgood’s health but he should be able to play. If he’s not healthy, Bill Ranford should be able to step in. It’ll be interesting to see who the first player to take a run at Claude Lemieux is and if Patrick Roy and Chris Osgood will drop the gloves for a re-match.

Colorado at a glance:
Theo Fleury compared the Detroit-Colorado rivalry to Edmonton-Calgary and he may have hit it bang on. The acquisition of Fleury forced Deroit to go and pick up their 4 aged veterans, none of whom will affect their team as much as Fleury will in Colorado. The Av’s now have 3 of the league’s Top 10 scorers and a more balanced attack which should be able to beat Colorado in any run and gun game. Their one weakness may be on defense but Patrick Roy will be gunning for his fourth cup and he won’t let much by him.

Detroit will win if: Their defencemen can shut down the Avalanche big guns.

Colorado will win if: They get great goaltending from Patrick Roy and win the physical battles.

Prediction: It’ll be a great series. Colorado in 7.