Goods & Bads

With the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs almost wrapped up, Washington and Montreal have a decisive Game 7 left to play, here are some goods and bads of the post season so far.

Good - Detroit played as close to a perfect game as possible in Game 7 against Phoenix. They scored on their power plays and they killed all of the Coyotes' man advantage situations. And, to use a real cliché, their best players were their best players.

Bad - Washington will be without defenseman Tom Poti, who suffered a fratured orbital bone after getting a puck in the face. Tough break for the Caps.

Good - Marc Savard is healty and has been cleared to play in the second round. Although Boston finally found some scoring against the Sabres, Savard will be a most welcomed addition.

Bad - The New Jersey Devils. I really thought the Devils would go far in the playoffs this year, and I am sure they did too. But many of their best players did not show up for the first round and the Flyers took advantage of that, handing in four solid wins in five games.

Good - Brian Boucher. After a rollercoaster decade he is finally back playing for the team that once drafted him, the Philadelphia Flyers. He was fantastic against the Devils and he leads all goalies in save percentage and GAA.

Finally I have to get back to last night's game and say, I really like Dave Tippet. Besides being a really nice guy he is also honest. At the post game press conference he did not shy away from admitting they had been thumped by a team that, at crunch time, had stepped its game up to a level the Coyotes could not reach. I also liked it when he called the Red Wing-duo, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk the "Two-Headed Monster". Classic!