What do the Flyers, Coyotes, Senators, and Avalanche have in common?
They were picked to lose their opening-round series by the bulk of NHL punditry.
Granted, the 2010 NHL playoffs are still in their infancy, but each one of the favored teams in last night’s games got a wake-up call. If you don’t come to win the NHL playoffs, you’re going to lose.
The regular season and playoffs are two different animals in the NHL. The regular season is filled with highlight reel goals, saves, and hits, but the playoffs are filled with gritty, grind-it-out games.
The team that absolutely wanted to avoid a first-game loss (read: upset) was the San Jose Sharks.
They’ve consistently been the NHL’s most disappointing team come playoff time. They’ve been bounced from the playoffs early in consecutive years, and if they can’t respond tomorrow night, they’re in deep trouble of repeating that fate.
The Coyotes did exactly what they needed to do against the Red Wings—score on the power play. All three of their goals came with the man advantage.
In contrast to the San Jos ...
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Article written by Hunter McDowell
NHL Playoffs Off To a Surprising Start
April 15th, 2010 by Hunter McDowell Leave a reply »
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