The final two NHL teams

The opening, overly lengthy first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs is almost over. Teams with a shot of winning the Stanley Cup are finally starting to thin out and so are the teams that have a shot of winning my fandom.

At the time of writing, six of eight playoff opening round playoff series have wrapped up. Despite my enthusiasm for the underdog teams prevailing, just two have managed to pull off an upset so far.

The Eastern Conference’s number two seed New Jersey Devils were sentenced to an embarrassingly short playoff run by the Philadelphia Flyers. Meanwhile, the hometown Boston Bruins were able to beat the Northeast Division leaders Buffalo Sabres in a six-game series to advance to the conference semi-finals.

The Sabres were one of my great hopes for a team to cheer on, but I couldn’t help but lose interest during the playoff run. The United States Olympic hero Ryan Miller was brilliant manning the net for Buffalo but, despite their higher seeding, Boston just overpowered and outplayed Buffalo.

Until their series clinching win, the Bruins didn’t score a first goal in the series and had to play from behind. Three of their four victories were by one goal. Boston stuck out a tough season to make it to the playoffs, and they worked every minute to make sure they got to the second round. I would never swear allegiance to a team from Beantown, but it’s always fun to get swept up in some local team loyalty during the playoffs. I may never like a team from Boston, but that doesn’t mean I have to really hate them either. If Boston gets lucky, they’ll get a chance to play the seventh seeded Flyers in the next round.

That will all depend on what happens in the series between the number one seeded Washington Capitals and eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens.

The Canadiens had to fight and scrap their way to the final spot in the playoffs, but they’re currently giving Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps all they can handle.

 I gushed about taking Ovechkin’s side over Sidney Crosby’s in the biggest rivalry in the NHL and I even stuck up for Washington when I eliminated every other “southern” team in the contiguous United States. But if the top team in the Eastern Conference can’t hold off an attack from a bunch of Canadiens, well, it might be time to just them let go from the running of being “my team.”

Washington started off the series in a hole, taking an overtime loss at home to Montreal. They had to hang in there for another overtime showdown in game two to tie the series. In Montreal, the Caps came alive by taking games three and four, with Ovechkin grabbing three goals total on the road.

Back at home they couldn’t wrap up the series as the Canadiens snatched up an intensely close 2-1 game, before Monday night tying the series back up in a 4-1 spanking in Montreal. Needless to say, Washington hasn’t looked like the team that was able to cruise to a very easy Southeast Division title and President’s trophy with a league leading 118 points.

Ovechkin might be one of the best players in the NHL but, every single playoff series the Caps have been in since picking up Ovechkin, has gone all seven games.
So here I stand torn. Cheer for the Capitals or for the upset from a team I am supposed to hate? If I’m even thinking at all about the latter, can that mean I could ever truly be a Washington fan?

If the Capitals withhold what would be the biggest upset of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, they’d still have to face stiff competition for “my team” against Ryan Kesler and the second round bound Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks grabbed the third seed in the Western Conference thanks to a particularly weak Northwest Division, but that didn’t stop them from destroying the Los Angeles Kings in six games.

In the biggest margin of victory of the playoffs, the Canucks picked apart the Kings defense with a 7-1 victory in game five of the series last Friday, while my hero Kesler picked up five assists and a goal for his participation in the six games.

I’ve been watching the NHL for four months now and I’m just about ready to make my final decision. From the west, the Vancouver Canucks or the Eastern Conference’s Washington Capitals. You’ll have to read my column next week to find out who’s going to be my NHL team.

Brian Anderson can be contacted at banderson@keeneequinox.com