A Look At The Western Conference’s Other Quarter-Final Series

Detroit vs. Nashville — For a team that was both packed and moved to Hamilton, and slashed payroll left and right in the midst of ownership turmoil, the Predators are in many ways the NHL’s success story for 2007-2008. Not only did they persevere, they made the playoffs in a brutal Western Conference. The reward? Detroit in the first round. Maybe the hockey gods hate country music or something. Anyway, while Nashville will make the Red Wings work for it, there’s just no way they can hope to win this series. The octopi have too much on their side..
Predicted winner: Detroit

Minnesota vs. Colorado — Minnesota comes into this series playing strong. Colorado is hoping there’s still a bottle or two of Ponce de Leon water available for Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic. I’ll go with the teddy bears on a roll.
Predicted winner: Minnesota

Anaheim vs. Dallas — This series will be the main contributor to large numbers of bleary-eyed eastern Canada denizens the next few days, because anyone who cares even a whit about hockey will be glued to their television for this one. The Stars for the most part had the better of it in the season series with the Ducks, but Anaheim was on a tear after Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne decided they’d had enough vacation and came back to the team. Both teams try to whomp the living daylights out of their opponents, both boast numerous top tier players, both can’t stand the sight of each other… you get the picture. This will be a thing of beauty. That all said, Anaheim has Jean-Sebastien Giguere in net. Dallas has Marty Turco. Guess which one cracks under pressure. (Hint: He doesn’t have a feather in his cap.)
Predicted winner: Anaheim

Talking Points