So the order is decided:

Eastern Conference
(1) Washington vs (8) Montreal.
(2) New Jersey vs (7) Philadelphia.
(3) Buffalo vs (6) Boston.
(4) Pittsburgh vs (5) Ottawa.

Predictions: Washington in 5, Jersey in 6, Buffalo in 7, Pittsburgh in 5.

Western Conference
(1) San Jose vs (8) Colorado.
(2) Chicago vs (7) Nashville.
(3) Vancouver vs (6) Los Angeles.
(4) Phoenix vs (5) Detroit.

Predictions: San Jose in 5, Chicago in 6, Vancouver in 6, Detroit in 5.

Series will start on Wednesday.

Eastern Conference
(1) Washington vs (8) Montreal.
(2) New Jersey vs (7) Philadelphia.
(3) Buffalo vs (6) Boston.
(4) Pittsburgh vs (5) Ottawa.

Predictions: Washington in 5, Jersey in 6, Boston in 7, Pittsburgh in 5.

Western Conference
(1) San Jose vs (8) Colorado.
(2) Chicago vs (7) Nashville.
(3) Vancouver vs (6) Los Angeles.
(4) Phoenix vs (5) Detroit.

Predictions: San Jose in 6, Chicago in 6, Vancouver in 6, Detroit in 5.

That sounds about right. I'm glad we're not playing the Flyers again. I hate their fanbase. Then again, the Caps are 2-2 against Montreal this year and undefeated against the Flyers.

West

San Jose in 5

Avs are in the "just surprised to be here" category. If their young goalie blows up this series could be over fast. The Sharks are determined to lose the choke monkey and have the talent and experience to overwhelm Colorado.

Nashville in 7

The Hawks have goaltending issues and defensive injuries. Also good young teams often take a step back the year after a successful playoff. The Preds have quietly been Team Consistency over the second have of the season, and Barry Trotz is the best unsung coach in the NHL. Could be the surprise of the round.

Vancouver in 5

(See above)

Phoenix in 7

Because they've been so good for so long people tend to be overawed by Detroit. But this is an old team and and not a very deep one — as their play this season up until the past month revealed. The 'Yotes OTOH have not skipped a beat all year. They've a good blend of vets and youth and, unlike last year, Bryzgalov didn't lose his bottle mid-season.


East

Washington in 6

New Jersey in 5

Buffalo in 4

Pittsburgh in 6

After the way Carolina did the Devs last year (2 buzzer-beaters, 2 OTs,) I have ziltcho confidence.

Opening night to the underdogs. The visitors all win. Let's hope the trend doesn't continue tomorrow. The night's most sickening sight was Bettman in attendance as the Coyotes beat Detroit. I just had a thought, if Phoenix were to win the the cup would the poison dwarf get his name on it?

I would hope he wouldn't. I am very much cheering for Detroit in this series.

There was a discussion of that very question on the Globe and Mail podcast two weeks ago, including widespread revulsion at the idea of Bettman presenting the trophy to himself.

The consensus seemed to be that if any Coyotes owner deserved to have his name on the Cup it was Moyes, given how much money he's lost on them. Someone suggested that Bettman would probably agree if Moyes agreed to drop all legal action against the League (and to pay what they are seeking from him).

Personally, I would leave a blank space.

BTW, Phoenix was at home last night.

Ah, of course. I was confounded by the fact that most commentators have ceded this series to Detroit, it's as if they just needed to show up to win.

I usually catch the G&M podcasts but must have missed that one. It's almost worth a Coyotes victory to see whether the vampiric little bastard is capable of embarrassment.

The beat goes on. Habs takes Caps in OT. No score here at the end of the first, but the Kings goalie has his mojo working big time.

2–2 and we're headed to overtime. Canucks outshooting the Kings but Quick has been better than solid and LA is giving us no time on the puck.

Yowza! It was all Swedes all the time, Samuelsson scores a pair (congrats Mr Element), the Sedins pick up four points and Edler bossed the defence. Too close for comfort but Lulu looked better than he has in several months, which bodes well.

Amor de Cosmos wrote:
Samuelsson scores a pair (congrats Mr Element), the Sedins pick up four points and Edler bossed the defence. Too close for comfort but Lulu looked better than he has in several months, which bodes well.
Heh! We redrafted for the playoffs. Having won the regular season pool, picking eighth of eight - as 'reward' for winning - wasn't much fun. Couldn't get near most of the players I wanted. My only Canucks are Kesler and Ehrhoff this time. I'm very heavy in Penguins and Devils from the East and as a result I'm propping everyone else at present. And to compound it my laptop died the same day :-(

My only Canucks are Kesler and Ehrhoff this time.

Well look on the bright side, you could have got Alberts and Hordichuk.

Later:

And the Preds take game one from the Hawks rather convincingly.

So all eight series were 1–1 after two games (a first?)

The Canucks lost in OT on a PP after the kind of call that makes me despair whether the NHL will ever have credibility as a serious major sports league. After being cut on the face by a skate 'Nucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa was leaving the ice, his replacement was already over the boards. This is standard procedure. According to league rules provided the departing player doesn't "play the puck" it's fine. In this case an LA player deliberately flicked the puck at Bieksa and Vancouver got a penalty for "too many men on the ice." How such an incident can be construed as playing the puck is beyond me. Roller Derby and WWE are officiated less subjectively than the NHL.

I recently (last week) acquired a wonderful LED LCD TV. Having learned to configure it from all the mad scientist forums on these things (the localized color is crazy), I found NHL playoffs on.

My word this stuff id fun to watch on an HDTV. You can see what is happening and everything.

Another appalling call last night — this time by video judge in Toronto. Fans are smoking, and not just in Van. It adds fuel to suspicions that the NHL doesn't want Canadian teams to win so favours large US markets with this type of judgment. Second, that The Canucks are being punished for the Burrows/Auger midseason incident. Of course none of this would matter so much if our PK could stop a basketball never mind a puck, the Kings PP has 7 goals in 12 attempts. As I noted upthread the loss of Ryan Johnson has been massive. Game four will decide this series.

That really was a terrible decision by the video official. Both officials on the ice seemed to see nothing wrong with it. If they're going to have the law written as "distinct kicking motion" then it looked an OK goal to me. Did you hear the guy who made the call on HNiC? It sounded very much like they were trying to rewrite the rules after the fact.

Here's a clip. I can't find anyone defending the call.

A trenchant commentary.

A peewee team would be embarassed with the Canucks' penalty killing in this series, but the officials do seem intent on feeding the fevered imaginations of anti-Canuck/West Coast/Canada conspiracy theorists everywhere.

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you.

I think that rule should go. If you kick it into the goal, then fine. Who cares? You can play it with your skates everywhere else.

TBH I'm less pissed than I was over Saturday's call. This was worse in terms of blatant bush league favouritism (why was Mike Murphy, a long time King player, allowed to adjudicate this incident?) but it didn't really cost us the game while the previous one did. On the plus side you can bet your $100 replica shirt Vigneault will use this in the dressing room. The Canucks played 100% better after this incident than in the previous two periods and I expect that to carry over tomorrow.

I think that rule should go. If you kick it into the goal, then fine. Who cares? You can play it with your skates everywhere else.

I agree. It's one of a number of petty rules the NHL has that could easily be dispensed with. The non-discretionary delay of game penalty for sending the puck over the glass is another.

It's probably my inner goalie speaking, but I don't mind the rule, as long as it really is applied to cases in which a "distinct kicking motion" can be seen.

Completely agree about the non-discretionary delay of game, though. I've seen it happen because of bad ice, ffs.