Here we go again, folks. The Sharks actually managed to pull it off; they beat the Flames 5-3 to win their game 7 last night. That means we get Detroit and 17,000 highlights of Roy fighting Osgood and Vernon.
The schedule is as follows, according to NHL.com:
| Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 7:30 PM | Colorado at Detroit | VERSUS, TSN | |
| Saturday, April 26, 2008 | 3:00 PM | Colorado at Detroit | NBC, TSN | |
| Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 10:00 PM | Detroit at Colorado | VERSUS, TSN | |
| Thursday, May 1, 2008 | 10:00 PM | Detroit at Colorado | VERSUS, TSN | |
| *Saturday, May 3, 2008 | 1:00 PM | Colorado at Detroit | NBC, TSN | |
| *Monday, May 5, 2008 | 10:00 PM | Detroit at Colorado | VERSUS, TSN | |
| *Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | TBD | Colorado at Detroit | TSN | |
I’ll obviously be taking a look at the series, but probably not until tomorrow.
With the Flames losing the Avs are officially the lowest seed in the west and tied (winning the tie-breaker I believe) with Philly for lowest over all. The Avs are mathematically eliminated from the chance to have home ice in any series.
The good news is that home ice doesn’t matter much. The Flyers beat the Caps, the Avs beat the Wild, the Rangers beat the Devils and the Stars beat the Ducks.
At this point, the team without home ice advantage has a 50-50 chance of winning the series, if no other factors are considered, of course.
Looking at Detroit:
I have already seen some people who are scared of Detroit.
I don’t think we should be afraid of Detroit:
-Detroit is not the dominating force that they seemed to be during the regular season. Nashville pushed them hard and exposed some weaknesses in the mighty red wheeled wing. Hasek was chased from the net, not only in a game but for the series and was replaced by Osgood. Osgood played well, but he too is beatable.
-Yes the Avs lost all four games in the regular season against Detroit and were out scored 11-2. But…During most of those games the Avs where missing either Sakic, Smyth, Statsny or all three.
—The Defense was struggling and trying to find it’s footing due to the injuries and constant changes.
—Jose Theodore was not yet back into his rhythm and in fact we were to some degree still riding the “Goalie-go-round”
-Since the Avs 0-4 season series with Detroit, the Avs have acquired Adam Foote and Ruslan Salei and have made the Avalanche Defensive Corps a force to be reckoned with (just ask Gaborik). Leoprone has returned to the line up and seems to be playing extremely well. Scott Hannan and JML have also increased their play (maybe due to Foote putting his foot in action).
-Peter Forsberg is back…in more ways than one. He could very well find him self with a lot more room on the ice with out a guy like Burns draped all over him most of the night. And an open Forsberg who has room to play the puck is very dangerous - especially with guys like Sakic, Hejduk, Stastny, and Wolski to finish things if necessary.
Will the Avs win the series? It will be tough, but it isn’t the impossibility that many think it is. And since many people will be talking history…Aren’t the Avs 3-2 against the Redwings in playoff series? And didn’t the 2 series loses come in the Conference Finals?
I like our chances!