BT's 2011 NHL Eastern Conference Playoff Preview Round 2

Win or lose, Carey Price was right.

The pre-season means nothing. Chill out, guys.

Price went from being ostracized and cast-off in Montreal before his team had even played a game that mattered, to a hero who saved the season and led the Canadiens to a playoff berth in a matter of months.

The young goalie came into the season never having played in more than 52 games or winning more than 24 games in any one year.

This year he played in 72 and won 38 of them. Before the 2010-11 season, Price had just four career shutouts in 134 games. He recorded twice as many shutouts in just a fraction of those games.

Most important, the 23-year-old hadn’t won a home playoff game since April of 2008, when Price beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime. This year, he reversed his home playoff fortunes in a big way. Despite losing the first two home games of the series, he came up huge at home with the series on the line, down 3-2, and made 31 saves for a 2-1 win to force game seven.

By all accounts, Carey Price’s season, prequeled by a stumbling pre-season, was a success. He tied the league lead in wins, owning the eight-best goals-against average amongst starters (made even more impressive by the fact he faced the second-most shots of any goalie in the league), and finishing third in shutouts earned him all the notoriety he got.

But more than that, more than earning the respect of the fans, is that keeper earned the respect and confidence of his teammates. Whether he had it before or not isn’t the question, because if he had it before, all he did was solidify and strengthen that faith. And for anyone in that locker room who had any lingering doubts entering the season, he erased all of them, and had his teammates singing his praises at any opportunity.

Even Tim Thomas, at the commencement of Boston’s first-round series with Montreal, told Carey he had an outstanding season. It was probably of little consolation to the young netminder; nonetheless, Price’s efforts weren’t only noticed by his own team and fans.

That’s the mark of success. That’s the mark of a champion.

That’s what Carey Price is, and that’s what he will be. Price didn’t doubt himself before.

Now the city of Montreal doesn’t either.

1. Washington Capitals v. 5. Tampa Bay Lightning

What Washington has going for them: The thing that keeps getting addressed in the second round is a team’s mental ability. It seems a little ridiculous and clichéd, but the Caps are one of those teams that is mentally stronger this year, thanks to their first round series. Big comebacks, OT wins, and overcoming a home loss in game three have this team better prepared to go deep. Although they played that tight-checking, grind-it-out style against the Rangers, they can still score too. Don’t forget that.

What Tampa Bay has going for them: Like Henrik Lundqvist, the Caps have to beat another strong goalie in Dwayne Roloson. Roloson seems to have gotten better with age, and Washington may be in tough. Keep in mind Roloson has never lost an elimination game. Along with that, Tampa can certainly keep pace offensively, especially with the re-emergence of Steve Downie offensively.

Who wins: Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals don’t want to be upset again in the playoffs, and they were foiled by a hot goalie in the playoffs last year. Granted, there’s no secret or pattern to these hot goalies, but they’ve got a new bag of tricks to throw at Roloson in hopes of a win.

Washington wins 4-2.

What Tampa Bay needs to prove me wrong: Simply put, they need to exploit and punish Michal Neuvirth, and fortunately they have the weapons to do so. The Rangers were a slumping offense that had plenty of untested pieces. This will be Neuvirth’s big test and he’ll have to stand tall. Tampa also needs their defence stays reliable and not take unnecessary chances if they’re staring down a deficit, and Dwayne Roloson needs to keep up the results.

What’s not great about the playoffs: People misunderstanding a team deserving a championship or a solid playoff run, as opposed to a market. So many people complain about who wins the Stanley Cup, or which teams are going deep in the playoffs, because they’re jealous that this gift isn’t bestowed upon their team. But it’s not like this is just handed to them, these teams build for it, and fans or not, they do deserve it.

2. Philadelphia Flyers v. 3. Boston Bruins

What Philadelphia has going for them: The Flyers are a team that gets stronger as the playoffs goes on, and the offence is certainly working after they scored five goals in games six and seven to come back to win the Buffalo series. We’d be remised to say that a returning healthier Chris Pronger doesn’t immediately make this team better and assist the goaltending woes just a bit.

What Boston has going for them: They have one goalie (Well, two, but they aren’t playing peek-a-boo with Tuukka Rask right now). And the fact that he’s a Vezina nominee helps a bit too. They’re also big enough and tough enough to contend with the Flyers and will refuse to get pushed around. And consider this for offensive depth: David Krejci led the team with 62 points in the regular season. Krejic had one point in seven first round games and was outscored by Chris Kelly (6), Rich Peverly (5), and Brad Marchand (5). This will be the series of the first round.

Who wins: People will argue that the Flyers were able to make it past the Sabres’ Vezina-calibre goalie with the merry-go-round in net so there’s a little hope for the first round, but unless they get something consistent in the second round, this series won’t be long enough for people to worry about that. The Flyers goaltending situation will sort it out (Brian Boucher will settle in), and these two teams will just try to knock each other out.

Boston wins 4-3.

What Philadelphia needs to prove me wrong: They need to get to Tim Thomas, knock him around, and use their size to make his life between the pipes miserable. While Chris Pronger’s return from injury is gallant, he can’t be playing four minutes a game as a power play specialist. He needs to be last year’s pain-in-the-butt, punch-you-in-the-face version.

What’s great about the playoffs: Rivalry matchups. Both Eastern Conference matchups pit bitter rivals against each other, whether it’s old-time matchups like Philly/Boston or a divisional matchup like Washington and Tampa Bay. It not only makes the series an exciting one, but going forward to next season and beyond, it lays the groundwork for plenty of intriguing story lines.

So that’s my take on the East. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my take on the West.