Playoff Addiction Step One: Admit You Have a Problem...

I have to admit, I wasn't quite as involved in watching the playoffs last night as I had been for the past week. Oh, don't get me wrong, I watched, but damn if I forgot there were two OTHER games to watch out for- Phoenix-Detroit and New Jersey-Philly. Oopsie.

Enough of that, though. You know what the best thing about this has been? No team has gone 2-0 in the series. For the FIRST TIME in league history! That's when you know every team is playing its hardest- even the lower seeds have come to play and are making it hard on those whom are favored to win. Take Phoenix, for example. Plenty of people I know wrote off the Coyotes despite them being the higher seed because, after all, it's Detroit they're playing, and the Red Wings have all this history, 19 years straight in the playoffs, blah blah blah. All the respect in the world, but Phoenix has a ton of momentum, not to mention a newly nominated Vezina candidate (Ilya Bryzgalov) in net. I've said all of this before, but I'll say it again- you can't count them out, especially since they won Game 3 convincingly yesterday afternoon, 4-2.

Also, unfortunately taking a 2-1 series lead in this round was the Flyers. After getting to overtime, an unlikely fellow by the name of Daniel Carcillo scored the game-winner. Ugh. Spare me. The Devils should be in full desperation mode- or at least trying hard to get the ball, or puck as it were, back into their hands regarding this series.

In other games, the Penguins scored a big win over the Senators last night 4-2 on the road, with Sidney Crosby a present factor (1 G, 1 A, +1) and Marc-Andre Fleury (20 saves) getting things done in net. The Senators had the crowd with them for most of the game, but Brian Elliott has definitely been sharper, and their defense needs to be more focused as well. Also, after a 0-0 stalemate for three periods, a fluke goal off of the stick of San Jose's Dan Boyle cost the Sharks the game in overtime, giving the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 series edge. Talk about tough times for the No. 1 seed.

Tonight, the Capitals and Canadiens face off in front of a raucous Bell Centre crowd, no doubt, at 7:00 p.m., and Semyon Varlamov will start in place of Jose Theodore for Washington, so we'll see how that goes. The Bruins and Sabres also play tonight, with another Vezina candidate (Ryan Miller) in net, and the Sabres looking to avenge a 5-3 drubbing in Game Two. The late game is the Kings against the Canucks, in L.A. tonight. I'll likely only be watching one of these games (Caps-Habs)... I'm in terrible danger of suffering from premature playoff burnout, resulting in an unhappy Angie, and we don't want that, now do we? :P

Enjoy!