NHL Playoffs: Round 3

And then there were four! The last time the Oilers were this far in the playoffs, Serbian troops had just seized Sarajevo, Barney and Friends was making its debut on TV, LA was rioting over the Rodney King verdict, John Gotti was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, "Jump" by Kris Kross was all over the radio and in your tape deck and kids started wearing their jeans backwards, and fucking Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the Pope. It has certainly been a while.

Stats will be done a little bit differently this time since I have some playoff numbers I can use...

(8) Edmonton vs. (6) Anaheim: Can anyone believe that this matchup is taking place? If anyone had told me at the beginning of the season that the Oilers were going to make the third round of the playoffs, I would have laughed, patted them on the head, and called them a good little delusional Oilers fan. I'm going to enjoy this and savour every moment of it, since every team goes through their ups and downs and I have no clue when we might make it this far again. Anyway, looks like D-Wayne's old demons come back to haunt him. Remember in 2003 when the 7th place Mighty Ducks swept D-Wayne and the 6th place Wild in 4 games? However, the shoe is on the other foot now as the Oilers went 4-0 against the Ducks this season. That can be a major psychological road block in the mind of the opponent. But 6 playoff wins in a row? That's impressive. I'm not worried about the Oilers starting this series so soon after finishing the last one, but they always seem to play like shite after a long break. I'm not worried about the Ducks being rusty either...I think that's bunk. I realize I haven't given the Ducks much respect this postseason as I've picked against them both times. Unfortunately, my crystal ball has now become obscured with a thick cloud of homerism, so all I can see is the Oilers in 7.

EDM goals 3.17 per game vs. ANA 1.82 goals against per game
EDM goals against 2.42 per game vs. ANA goals 3.00 per game

EDM 20.9% powerplay vs. ANA 91.0% penalty kill
EDM 86.7% penalty kill vs. ANA 12.7% powerplay

EDM shots 27.8 per game vs. ANA 27.1 shots allowed per game
EDM shots 34.4 allowed per game vs. ANA 31.4 shots per game

A few more interesting stats:
1) Edmonton has never lost when they outshoot their opponents. Conversely, Anaheim has never lost when outshot by their opponent. Something has to give here. That being said, Anaheim has taken more shots than they have allowed on average and the opposite is true for Edmonton. Weird!
2) Edmonton has never lost when leading after 1 period. Anaheim has never lost when leading after the 1 period and after 2 periods. Methinks it has something to do with all the shutouts they've been getting. Clearly, it is important that Anaheim never holds a lead when the horn goes, yes? See #3 below...
3) Anaheim has never lost when they score first. Also something to do with all the shutouts.
4) Just to update the Roloson Watch, in 6 games in the second round, D-Wayne had a 1.81 GAA and a 0.931 save percentage. Still good enough to start on my team, but compare that to Bryzgalov who had a 0.94 GAA and a 0.967 save percentage in the second round. This will be the battle of the goaltenders.

(4) Buffalo vs. (2) Carolina: What happened to Brodeur? I mentioned that Cam Ward was not to be fucked with in my round two predictions, and it seems like that's just what the Devils did, hence why they're now out of the playoffs. They couldn't score to save their lives. Other than that, I completely missed the mark on the Carolina/New Jersey series. I was very pleased that it only took the Sabres 5 games to dispose of the Senators instead of 7 like I had thought. However, Buffalo won all of their games by only one goal with 3 of them needing to be decided in OT. It could easily be the Senators in this one if they had better luck. Buffalo has all the depth, but Canes are just that good at home. If Buffalo stays out of the penalty box, it will prolong the series and if not, they're in real trouble. Of course I'll be cheering for the Sabres so my Stanley Cup prediction of Dallas/Buffalo can at least be half right. Hurricanes in 6.

BUF 3.91 goals per game vs. CAR 2.46 goals against per game
BUF 2.46 goals against per game vs. CAR 2.91 goals per game

BUF 15.4% powerplay vs. CAR 84.5% penalty kill
BUF 85.2% penalty kill vs. CAR 27.8% powerplay

BUF 29.4 shots per game vs. CAR 26.5 shots allowed per game
BUF 29.9 shots allowed per game vs. CAR 33.0 shots per game