State of the Playoffs: Round 2

The Stanley Cup Playoff Semifinals: 8 teams enter, 4 teams leave with playoff hopes alive. Make the jump for thoughts on the matchups so far

Last night, Roberto Lunongo was sent home to polish his olympic medal, as the Vancouver Canucks were finished off dutifully by Chicago, 5-1. this leaves only 2 active series remaining in round two, with one of them guaranteed to be over tonight.

First, let's look at the two completed series, incidentally, both in the western conference.

San Jose handled Detroit much more easily that most people, myself included, expected. With the luck and skill San Jose has been displaying, they'll be tough to top in any round. However, despite their success, they are still rookies at this point: they've never gotten this far in franchise history. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

As I said earlier, Chicago wiped the floor with Vancouver. This puts them in a position of playing San Jose, who's just now learning the ins and outs of the Conference Finals. Chicago, of course, is familiar with having lost to Detroit in them last season. It's difficult to say much here without doing a full-on preview, so just wait till that's up, probably early next week.

Now, we'll look at the east. Let's start with the matchup that ends tonight.

#4 Pittsburgh takes on #8 Montreal tonight in Pittsburgh for, as Mike Lange would say, all the marbles. A lot has and is being made about this matchup, for obvious reasons. It's not every year that you get such a Cinderella as Montreal in the NHL playoffs. Still, this series has been much more even than is being suggested across the internet. The key to this game will be which Marc-Andre Fleury shows up, and which team takes the early lead.

Finally, we have #6 Boston still looking to close out #7 Philadelphia. Philly needs to win two straight (which they've done with the last two) to clinch this one, but Boston won't likely just fold. Michael Leighton will have a tough time trying to keep up his performance after not playing a game since probably march or april. Still, when Boston loses that scoring touch, a win is no small feat, either.

That's it for today. Be sure to make your way back Friday, as the Friday Pack of Cards should be back on track.