Eastern Conference

Montreal (1) vs. Philadelphia (6)

Daniel Briere is on fire. Think -- abandoned Montréal police cruiser -- that's how on fire Daniel Briere is right now. He had six goals in Philly's opening-round series against Washington (four on the power play), but we know this guy doesn't like playing in Montreal or he would have signed there last July. Vinny Prospal is looking like the catch of trade-deadline day with nine points in the opening round, and Marty Biron looked good finishing all 7 games in his long-awaited play-off debut posting a 2.67 goals against and a .908 save pct. Carey Price obviously gets the edge in this match-up, but Biron's numbers are nothing to sneeze at. By all accounts, seven games is far more than Montreal should have needed to get past the Bruins after jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, but consider it a lesson learned for a relatively inexperienced group. 12 different Habs have found the back of the net so far - a stat as impressive as it is relevant when you consider that five of the top seven goal getters from the first round are golfing. Depth becomes paramount the deeper you get into the playoffs, and the Habs have a more balanced attack which will be the difference in this series.

Habs in 6


Pittsburgh (2) vs. NY Rangers (5)

If Sean Avery scores as much this summer at his Vogue magazine internship as he did against New Jersey in the opening round, he may not return next season. His out of nowhere three-goal performance was just part of New York's dangerous attack, which is similar to the high-octane top six getting the job done in Pittsburgh. Which is why this series will come down to goaltending. A Vezina nominee vs. a dude who changed the colour of his pads and suddenly got good. I'm not even going to give you Marc-Andre Fleury's numbers because they're bunk. OK, OK, 1.26 GAA, .955 SV%. But he faced the weakest of the 16 teams in the opening round (Ottawa) and when the series opens on Friday, he won't have played a game in nine days. Crosby looked great with eight points in four games, but again, it was against the Senators.

Rangers in 6

Western Conference

Detroit (1) vs. Colorado (6)

The Colorado Avalanche got a little retro magic out of their old guard in round one and the second round is far too early to think that guys like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Adam Foote are going to get tired. Sakic and Forsberg combined for 11 points in six games against the Wild. The series turned out to be a more wide-open series than many thought it might be thanks to the Avs who opened fire and blew holes in Minny's defence-first philosophy. The Wings however, have more than defence and a hot goalie (Osgood, 3GP, 0.39 GAA, .981 sv pct). They roll four lines like no other team right now with nobody averaging more than a point a game, but Osgood is about the only Red Wing that doesn't have at least one. The Wings matched up well against Colorado in the regular season winning all four meetings and there is no reason to believe Detroit won't continue that success against them in the second round. Forget about Miguel Tejada, somebody check Chris Chelios' birth certificate. This guy is playing like he's 26, not 46.

Wings in 7

San Jose (2) vs. Dallas (5)

Good for JR. Four points in game 7. But if the Sharks needed a 38 year-old renaissance man to beat the Calgary Flames, then a heaping helping of reality awaits them in round 2. If special teams wins you hockey games in the play-offs, then this one has sweep written all over it. Dallas scored 10 times on the PP in round 1, good for a 26% success rate - tops among all remaining teams. The worst PK? It belongs to the San Jose Sharks at just 73%. Best PP vs. Worst PK. Hmmmm. I believe the term is "like shooting fish in a barrel", or how about "like a summer internship at Vogue magazine". Marty Turco had his moments in round 1, as did Evgeni Nabokov, but it's time for one of these guys to put an entire series together. Sergei Zubov was back skating with the Stars earlier this week. It remains to be seen whether he will see any game action.

Stars in 5

Big Dude's record 5-3