Ducks, Preds Out
April 21st, 2008 by Jason CKudos to the Preds for putting up a hell of a fight, but the much more talented Wings were too much to handle, not to mention a couple lucky bounces went their way, in particular Niklas Lidstrom’s short-handed marker that proved to be the eventual game-winner. Missing captain Jason Arnott and playing an injured David Legwand doesn’t help either, but you can’t not feel good about this organization. After the Jim Balsillie debacle in which captain Kimmo Timonen, Scottie Upshall, Scott Hartnell, and Paul Kariya were lost, David Poile still somehow managed to ice a competitive team and Barry Trotz remains one of the league’s most underrated coaches. Losing Steve Sullivan for the season also hurt, but JP Dumont and Alexander Radulov have become dependable scoring wingers in their own right. The Wings will face either the Avs or Flames in the next round, both teams a much more talented and physical bunch than the Preds. Once again whichever team with the strongest goaltending will win the series, as the Preds would’ve been eliminated had it not been for Dan Ellis‘ excellent play.
Corey Perry’s soft shot was Marty Turco’s only mistake of the night as the Stars finally advanced past the first round for the first time in their last three playoff appearances. It marks the end of Anaheim’s defense of the Cup, and perhaps also the careers of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne. Brett Hull and Les Jackson will be commended for their deal to land Brad Richards, who has 5 points in 6 games and is +2. He hasn’t been exactly dominating, but having Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro, and Richards down the middle now gives them arguably the deepest pool of centres in the West, comparable only to Colorado’s Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Paul Stastny.
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