NHL Playoffs: Conference Finals

This post will not be nearly as long nor as in depth as I'd like as I've spent the weekend with a 2 and a 3 year old and am utterly pooped. Additionally I have to get up way too early in the morning to participate in family pictures and will undoubtedly be awaken at some god awful hour by one of the munchkins bouncing on my air mattress. I love these kids, but it makes me appreciate my hamster more. Anyway...

Western Conference Final: (1) San Jose Sharks vs. (2) Chicago Blackhawks

These two teams are fairly evenly matched, despite the fact the Hawks took 3 out of 4 during the regular season. You can pretty much throw out those stats now, because they don't mean a hill of beans at this point. I think this series will come down to three things: 1) Which teams' top line performs better. The Marleau-Thornton-Heatley line is potent, but the Pavelski line has been the one tearing it up in the post season. If Jumbo Joe shakes his playoff performance stigma, watch out. On the flipside, the Kane-Toews-Buff line has been dynamite, with Toews leading overall with 20 points, Kaner has 7 goals and Buff scored a hat trick and caused Luongo to sniff smelling salts again. The big question on this line is Byfuglien. If he does his disappearing trick like he's known to do against teams not from Vancouver, expect Coach Q to derail this line by Game Three. 2) Which goalie will out perform the other? Nabokov has a Luongo-type stigma of not being able to win the big games. See: 2010 Olympics. When he's good he's good. When he's bad, he's shitastic. Niemi has been solid enough and has the uncanny ability to follow up a bad game with a really excellent one. If the Hawks' offense continues to click, Nemo's not going to have to be Patrick Roy ala his rookie year. 3) Whose special teams will click? Was the Hawks' PP that good, or was the Nucks PK really that bad? I'm sure the Sharks remember the hat trick of shorties scored against them in November. I'm a homer, so I'm going for it: Hawks in six.

Eastern Conference Final: (7) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens

Will the person(s) who correctly predicted this, please give me a call. I need you to pick some Powerball numbers for me. Seriously though, I can't even pick one. Flip a coin - that would be more predictable than this conference. I'll go with the goaltending here for shits and giggles: Habs in Seven.

A final note here: I am glad I am not a Bruins fan. What a horrendous way to go out. It's almost laughable. I bet every Yankee fan is thanking the karma gods for revenge on Boston fans. I will admit I was rooting for the B's - I want an O6 final and they do have the best television commercials.

Well, I will be on the road when the Hawks' Game One starts tomorrow. I only hope I can get 560AM in on the car wherever I'm at at 2PM CST. Because I guess WGN Radio thinks a May Cubs game vs. the goddamn Pirates when they are playing the most shitty baseball in years is more important than a Hawks third round playoff game. Assholes.