Some Playoff Musings...

Talk about parity, huh?

The first three and half days of playoff hockey have produced the following:

- Nine one-goal games - excluding empty net goals that number would be 12...there have only been 13 games played.
- Five series tied up at one game apiece, with the other three series yet to play their second games.
- The seventh and eighth seeds from both conferences won their opening game.

Say what you will about the parity in the regular season standings being a result of the "three point game" - which is completely true - but there's no denying that all 16 playoff teams have very realistic shots of moving into the second round and beyond.

Here are a few things I've noted throughout the first 13 games on the path to Lord Stanley's Cup...

1. Sidney Crosby is the best player in the world. I know, I know, I'm beating a dead horse here, but it's hard not to talk about a guy who continually impresses in big situations. The Pens' Captain does everything at 100 miles per hour - combine that with Crosby's skills and smarts, and you're looking at a player who simply will not be denied.

2. Speaking of one Shattuck-Saint Mary's alum (Crosby), how about the effort from the Devils' Zach Parise last night? You know what you're getting with Parise every game, every period, and every shift. To say the Devils will go only as far as Parise will take them would be foolish - you know Parise's going to be driving the bus, the only question is if the rest of the Devils will hop on board. Last night, they certainly did. On a side note, how happy does Ilya Kovalchuk look to be suiting up in the playoffs for a true Cup contender?

3. Andy Sutton's hit was clean. Vicious, but certainly clean.

4. It's taken a while for me to move to the position that Montreal should keep Jaroslav Halak and move Carey Price (assuming of course they decide to keep one and move the other - having two goalies in the NHL isn't like having two QB's in football. It can work if done properly, at least in the short-term. Obviously you need to move one and get some value in return, at some point.) I've always felt Montreal can't move Price because of his superstar potential, but Halak has proven he's a stud in his own right.

5. Kudos to Nashville for playing a sound and patient road game in their opening tilt in Chicago. Pierre Lebrun does a great job of breaking down the Preds' "quiet swagger."

6. Despite the Caps' regular season dominance, I've remained skeptical of their ability to win in the post-season employing their particular "run-and-gun" style of play. I tweeted this R.J. Umberger quote a couple weeks back:

"I don't think any team in the West would be overmatched by them. They play the wrong way. They want to be moving all the time. They float around in their zone, looking for breakaways and odd-man rushes...A good defensive team is going to beat them (in the playoffs). If you eliminate your turnovers and keep them off the power play, they're going to get frustrated because they're in their zone a lot."

This much is certain - Washington's best players need to show up. Alex Ovechkin laid an egg in Game One. Mike Green did nothing to dispel the lingering sentiments of his poor performance in last spring's playoffs, and was beaten to the net by Scott Gomez on the game-tying goal, to boot.

7. How about the 'Nucks Alexander Edler doing his best Scott Stevens impression on Thursday? Great game from Edler. The Kings are going to need to generate more scoring chances on Roberto Luongo to be successful (obviously). I thought Daniel and Henrik Sedin played well, but so, too, did Drew Doughty. The Jack Johnson-Randy Jones pairing? Not so much. I thought Jones was a bit of a hack in Philly, and he didn't leave me feeling any differently after Game One.

8. How are the Sabres going to give up a two-goal lead to the Bruins? Claude Julien's squad will never quit, and they deserve their share of the credit, but I found the Sabres' decision to take their foot off of the pedal at the beginning of the second period incomprehensible. Tim Connolly definitely isn't playing at 100%. If Thomas Vanek is out for Game Three, it'll be interesting to see if the Sabres recall Nathan Gerbe.

9. The Detroit/Phoenix series has been very exciting. Odds are if you left your television to take a wiz or snag another brew last night midway through the second period, you missed five quick goals - not exactly what you'd expect from these two solid defensive squads. It puts a smile on my face to see Shane Doan playing meaningful springtime hockey again.

10. That big sigh you heard last night around 1:30 a.m. (EST) came from Doug Wilson.