Because seriously fuck Anaheim.

Boston and Montreal have met 32 times in the playoffs (including one stretch of 9 years in a row) and Montreal has knocked Boston out 24 times.

I'll do my breakdowns as well I suppose:

Despite Washington's history of choking in the playoffs, they're peaking at the right time, and their against easily the weakest team to qualify for the playoffs this season. Lundqvist is obviously going to have to have a Halak-esque series against Washington for the Rangers to come out on top, especially with injuries to Callahan and Frolov, as well as the lack of production they've gotten from Gaborik and Drury. Plus, Washington's primary weakness in the past, their defense, has been corrected. Their goaltending is always a question, but they've all played well up to this point.

The difference between Philly with Pronger and Philly without Pronger is a dramatic one. He holds their entire blue line together, and helps disguise their questionable goaltending. Lately, Philly's scorers haven't even been lighting the lamp as much as usual, and the only opponents they've managed to beat are inferior non-playoff teams. Buffalo's been hot, Vanek is peaking, Stafford is having a career year, the midgets are contributing as well, plus they have Miller in net.

Boston vs Montreal will more than likely be a phenomenal series, but I like Thomas much more than Price. Boston has more offensive skill than Montreal, not to mention the fact that the Habs barely have any forwards over 200 lbs., while the nearly the entire Bruins team is over 200 lbs. That Lucic - Krejci - Horton line can be scary at times.

No Crosby, no Malkin.. also no Jeffrey, the minor league call-up who'd fit nicely into our 1st line and had great chemistry with Neal and Kovy. Pitt will have to play incredibly well defensively to win the series, and get some scoring from the grinders like Talbot and Rupp, which hasn't happened as frequently this year.

Chicago still has star players, but nowhere near the depth at any position compared to last season. Even without Torres and Manny, I think the Nucks have this series pretty easily.

Kings without Kopitar and Williams. Even if Boyle puts in an own-goal in each game on Niemi, they still should have the series.

Zetterberg's injury bothers me, and I'm not sold on Jimmy Howard. I'm not confident that Phoenix will win it, but Tippett is a great coach, and I think he's capable of knocking out this Wings team.

Corey Perry is really the only reason the damn Ducks are in the playoffs right now. 46 pts in his last 28 games. If Hiller comes back, the Ducks could take the series, but I like Nashville's boring neutral-zone trapping. They know how to be defensively responsible, and can win even when Suter has 2 own-goals in the same game.

ya thats why i dont like boston in the series. that and because i think they might arrest chara when he gets off the plane in Montreal. Thomas has been lights out this year tho. i remember last year it was all about tuka rask and he was on fire but this year he didnt live up to the expectations and even if he could have, Thomas had one of the best seasons a goalie's ever had out of nowhere

Out of nowhere? He won the Vezina in the 08/09 season with similarly ridic numbers.

last year it seemed like he was done though and it was surprising considering they used a rookie goalie last year in the playoffs. i guess out of nowhere was the wrong terminology.

My favourite statistic of the year might be Ryan Whitney's +13 in 35 games for the Oilers. How the fuck?

Lol yeah shit's fucked.

Don't think a team with a goal differential in the 30s can be classified that way. Yeah the east is weak sauce but Montreal is clearly the weakest team even taking injuries into account.

Wow this Chicago Vancouver series is going to be a good one. Watched the last two periods while I reviewed some contracts and Chicago looked awesome. Missed where they stunk out the joint in the first but I think both teams have to like how they played. I think all and all the Hawks outplayed the Canucks but Luango was excellent (looked less rattled) and the bounces were kind (4 posts). I like the grit Vancouver showed.

Vancouver was all over them in the first. It was hit after hit after hit. They outplayed us in the second, but it wasn't dominating or anything. The third was fairly even until the later minutes.

Good game by Luongo and the posts. Really though, closer than the score said. This will be a great series.

San Jose is already winning.

Going to the Flyers game Saturday. I hope they do better than tonight.

Yeah so great game so far but wtf on that last powerplay? First cheap shot artist Raymond takes a clear charging penalty (you can't hit a guy on icing at all and especially not that late) and then Sharp takes a "roughing" call in front of the net in a typical scrum? Trying to reestablish control by not punishing instigation is stupid.