by Joe Lami

NY Rangers vs. Washington: Game one was an absolute great game it came right down to the end of the wire as Washington won the game with 1.3 seconds left it was a great little pass from behind the net from Alexander Ovechkin passing it to Joel Ward for the buzzer beater. The Rangers Dan Boyle was hit by the Caps Nicklas Backstrom getting a concussion. Boyle has had concussions in the past as Boyle was slow to get up on that one.Hopefully Boyle is okay as the Caps were able to lock away a 2-1 victory going away in the final seconds.

Anaheim vs. Calgary: Game one with the Anaheim Ducks dominating with eight days of rest, the Calgary Flames had four days of rest. The fact of the matter is Anaheim is expected to win this series and their a lot better team than Calgary. Unfortunately for the Flames this looks like this is where the season will come to end. The Ducks are very good the Flames have had trouble at the Honda Center in the past.

The Flames last win in Anaheim was in 2004 and it’s a tough building to play in and its proving itself again on Thursday night. The Ducks are just obliterated the Flames and the Flames look like their lost in their own end.

Montreal vs. Tampa Bay: This is going to be a great series which gets underway on Friday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The series between the Lighting and the Detroit Red Wings in round one was a great series and it came down to the final game in Tampa and the Lighting had to take two third period goals to get by the Wings in game seven to win the series and win the game 2-0.

For the Canadiens they have the best goalie in hockey with Carrey Price, Price has had a phenomenal season he’s the best goalie by far in the NHL. Price had a good first round against Ottawa as Montreal won in six games. The Canadiens will win this series, it will probably go to six games. Tampa Bay might be a little slow footed to begin the series as the series starts Friday night and the Lighting have only a couple days rest before they get back into it.

Chicago vs. Minnesota: The Minnesota Wild who took out the St.Louis Blues in the first round the struggles continue for the Blues. They continued not to be able to get past the first round and it looks like the Blues are going to fire their coach Ken Hitchcock because of it. This bracket of the playoffs was the toughest because I predicted the Blues would beat the Wild in the first round.

In Western Conference side this series should be the best one with the Blackhawks and Wild, just because the Ducks should blow out the Flames. The Rangers and Caps it should be the Rangers in that one. The Wild are riding a hot goalie Devan Dubnyk and it’s entirely possible that a fourth seed team the Wild can get past Chicago.

Joe Lami is covering the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below.