One Done

Day one of the playoffs are done and ho hum. Not exactly the start we needed.

Philly didn't really show up and given they now have Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn healthy (unlike in '08 when the Flyers met the Pens in rd. 3), that "performance" was totally unimpressive.

Calm down, boys, it's only Game 1

The Canes also seemed to have not set the alarm and the Devils easily disposed of them in Game 1.

The Canucks, well, got lucky as they took dumb penalties (although that evened out as St. Loo did, too) and will someone tell Mats Sundin that he is no longer playing for the Make Beliefs. The hit of the game was the bowling pins toppling as David Perron and Kyle Wellwood bonked each other in the heads accidentally methinks.

There were some comments about the crowd but I thought they were into it and given we're never going to be a Ranger or Blackhawk crowd, but for Vancouver, it was decent. Even so, enough with the lunacy of celebrating a Game 1 win in the streets like we won the Cup. It's Game 1 in rd. 1, folks. Mr. Obvious says, "There's still a lot of hockey to be played before the fat lady sings."

At least in Game 1 in Washington Alexander Ovechkin realized it was the playoffs as he was on fire. It'll be a shame if the Caps get eliminated but it's a distinct possibility given the sieve-like qualities of Jose Theodore. Much has been said about his record of getting out of the first round and not much about his overall poor 19W and 26L record in the playoffs coming into Game 1.

The playoffs have started, comrades!

Let's not forget Henrik Lundqvist has a pretty good rd. 1 record these past two playoffs he's been involved in, and he's got Sean Avery doing his best Ken Linseman impression. That "oops, did I pick you" move was brilliant and led to a crucial goal. Say what you want about his mouth but the guy IS a hockey player.

Come on, Boston and Montreal, tonight show the rest of the NHL how it's done.