Eastern Conference Finals Breakdown
Sabres vs Senators
Season Series: Senators win 5-3 (Buffalo won 1 game in a shootout)
I’ve struggled with this one for a little while. Both teams have played great hockey thus far in the playoffs and both of them were great in the regular season. So who has what it takes to go to the Cup finals? The reality is that both of them do.
The history here is intense. Both teams play in the Northeast division, so they played 8 games against each other this year. They also met in the Conference Semis in last year’s playoff, a matchup which was won by the underdog Sabres in 5 games.
Ryan Miller will be facing one of his toughest challenges thus far against the Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson line. They had 23 points total against the Devils (out of 35 racked up by the entire Ottawa offense). As a team, Ottawa scored 288 goals in the regular season, which is second only to Buffalo’s 308 in the NHL. So Miller’s 2.07 GAA will be tested by this potent offense. And here’s something else to consider. Miller, this season against the Senators, is only 1-4. Buffalo has given up a lot of goals (total in the series is 33 for Ottawa and 24 for Buffalo according to my rough math) and will have a hard time putting out the fire that is the Senator’s top line offense.
On the flip-side, however, Buffalo has a few big game stars as well. Chris Drury has a total of 14 game winning goals in his career and 7 goals thus far in 11 playoff games. Ray Emery, the Ottawa goalie, has 2 shutouts thus far in the playoffs and is having a hell of a season. He was 7th among all goalies in Save %, which might be the key to everything (Miller was 16th, by way of comparison). Can he put a stop to a red-hot Buffalo team?
Yes.
My pick: Senators in 6
Trophies:
Lady Bing
Finalists
- Pavel Datsyuk (Det)
- Joe Sakic (Col)
- Martin St. Louis (Tby)
The good conduct trophy, as it’s called, is a toss-up. Paul Kariya is usually in the running so I’m not sure who to pick. I think St. Louis got shafted by not getting any other nominations so I’ll pick him here.
Who should win: Martin St. Louis
Who will win: Joe Sakic
Sabres, Senators, the Devils, Ottawa, Buffalo, NHL, hockey, stanley cup, playoffs
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