Well now, round 1 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs is now complete.
So we can begin to track what happens from now on.

In round 1, we saw the Detroit Red Wings take care of business nicely 
against the LA Kings, turning in the only round 1 sweep.  Dallas and 
Colorado also took care of business with 5-game series wins against 
Edmonton and Phoenix respectively.

In by far the biggest surprise of the playoffs, in the west, 8th place 
San Jose came back, after being up 3 games to 1, then losing 2, to win 
the pivotal game 7 against the NHL's regular season points leaders, the 
St. Louis Blues.  The Wings been there, done that against the Sharks in 
1994, so we all know that Sharks happen.  This doesn't necessarily 
benefit the Wings, as it's Dallas that will now be seeded against the 
Sharks, and Detroit will have to face Colorado in round 2.  We all know 
the curious turn of events that led to last season!

In the east, New Jersey, Philly, Pittsburg, and finally Toronto advance 
to round 2.

This year, of the 6 remaining Canadian teams, 3 made the playoffs, 2 
had to face each other in round 1 (Toronto v Ottawa), and now only 
Toronto remains.

So it's Wings at the Avs Thursday night!

12 responses total.

Detroit Red Wings absolutely *must win* games 3 and 4 at home, today (Monday,
May 1) and Wednesday, if they are to have any hope against the Colorado
Avalanche in round 2, who are up 2 games to zip.  The Detroit offense is
nonexistent.  Osgood is playing well enough for the Wings to win, but they
are wasting his effort.  Give credit to the Avs:  They are making it difficult
for the Wings to put together more than 1 pass in a row.  But still, there
has to be extra effort if they expect to go anywhere now...

Well, the Wings accomplished part 1 of "must do" by beating the Avs last night
3-1 at the Joe.  It was another tight-checking, tense affair, that was only
settled with less than a minute left on an empty net goal by Brendan Shanahan.
All other goals were scored on the power play:  Larionov for Detroit, Forsberg
for Colorado, Federov for the Wings.  Now they must follow up with a win
Wednesday night to get the series to 2 games apiece.

The Wings lost 3-2 in overtime tonight at the Joe.  The series heads 
back to Colorado with the Avs up 3 games to 1, with a chance to wrap 
things up Friday night, which now looks to be likely.  Detroit came 
back to tie things up at 1 in the 2nd period, then went up 2-1 about 
midway through the 3rd period on a power play goal.  The Avs tied it at 
2 with about 5 minutes left in the 3rd, on a bit of a fluky goal.

The Wings were mostly leading the play in OT, but got caught on a 2 on 
1 with about 9 minutes gone, Forsberg to Sakic.

Toronto was able to knot its series at 2 games apiece by winning at New 
Jersey.  Philly got an overtime win last night at Pittsburg to make 
that series 2 games to 1 in favor of the Pens.  And San Jose won game 3 
at home to make that seris 2 games to 1 in favor of the Dallas Stars.

I guess I'll "do my duty" and bring this thing up to date, just for 
posterity.

For the record, in game 4 of the Wings-Avs 2nd round game, played at 
the Joe, the Wings gave up a late 3rd period goal to make it 2-2.  The 
game went into overtime, where an ill advised pinch by Steve Duschene 
led to a 2-on-1 on which the Avs scored the winner, sending the series 
back to Colorado with the Avs up 3 games to 1.

The Wings lost game 5 4-2 and thus the series.  So again the Wings went 
out in round 2 losing to still-hated rivals Colorado.  Their offense 
just deserted them.  It appears that Steve Yzerman was hurt.  They had 
the bad fortune of running into a hot team too early in the playoffs.  
They would have been better off if the Blues had pulled out their 1st 
round matchup against San Jose.  The Wings would have made a better 
showing against the obviously vulnerable Blues.

For only the 2nd time in Stanley Cup playoff history, and the first 
since 1964, both semifinals went to a game 7.  Last night New Jersey 
came all the way back from a 3-1 series deficit to win game 7 at Philly 
to advance to the SC finals.  And tonight, Dallas forged a 3-0 lead 
after 2 periods, then hung on to edge Colorado 3-2 in Dallas and 
advance to the SC finals to defend their title.

  Thanks Kevin. I've been too bummed to do anything in this conf since the
Wings were eliminated from the playoffs.

Championship success is difficult and fleeting.  Just be thankful that 
the Wings were able to bring the cup home in back-to-back seasons, in 
arguably their least-successful regular season efforts leading up to 
Cup success.  The Wings have been playing at a consistenly excellent 
level for several years now, and our expectations have been raised.  
The Wings have had the "bad fortune" of being stuck in the Western 
conference where all the best teams are.

I don't know what to think of this upcoming Dallas-Jersey final.  The 
sensible fan would look for a long series.  Give Dallas the momentum.
But it was only in 1995 that the Devils won the cup, with many people 
still on the team from them (and evil Claude Lemieux back with 'em!).

The SC finals opened last night in Jersey, with the Devils putting the "Stars"
to shame by the score of 7-3.  Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, who was brilliant
in the Colorado series, giving up no more than 2 goals in any game, gave up
6 to the Devils.  In an interview after the game, he mentioned that some
medicine he was taking for a cold may have affected him.  How bush!!!  Even
if true, you don't use that for an excuse.  Just take your loss like a man,
and move on.

Both teams would be advised to look at it as merely one victory for NJ, and
nothing more.

Brett Hull scored both of Dallas' goals, including the winner with about 3
minutes left in the 3rd period, as the Stars knotted up the series at a game
apiece in New Jersey Thursday night.  The game was a tight-checking affair,
more in line with what people expected of the series.

The SC finals are on the verge of being over, as the NJ Devils took 2 
games at Dallas to go up 3 games to 1.  Game 5 will be played Thursday 
night in Jersey.

In game 4, the Devils scored late to eek out a 2-1 win in another tight 
checking affair.  Monday night, Dallas worked very hard to take a 1-0 
lead into the 3rd period, only to see the Devils score 3 goals in the 
span of 3:43 (one short handed) to go up 3-1, then hold off Dallas for 
the last 13 minutes.

I guess if NJ wins, the Wings can at least say that they're the last 
team to repeat!  :-)

NJ had a chance to wrap up the 2000 SC at home.  But Dallas won 1-0 in the
3rd overtime period to send the series back to Dallas for game 6.  I must
admit that I fell asleep after the 2nd OT.

New Jersey won Stanley in a second double ot game in a row.  Congrats
to the Devils!  Dallas came close to winning-- they had a power play with
two minutes left in the first ot.  Im happy for Claude Lemieux, he now has
a Stanley for eachof his four children (on three different teams)

If you're quick, you can read all about it at 
http://espn.go.com/nhl/2000/20000610/recap/njddal.html

Jason Arnott had the winning goal.  The score was 2-1 NJ.  NJ wins the 
series in 6 games, 4-2.  Dallas lost all 3 of its home games in the SC 
finals.  NJ's Scott Stevens was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy (MVP of 
SC playoffs).

I guess this should give some hope to Red Wings fans:  NJ came back to 
win the cup in 2000 after last winning it in 1995.

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