The Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes have to hang tight until the Eastern Conference semifinals end, but that waiting period got cut way down Tuesday night. Avoiding a huge rally by the Philadelphia Flyers, the New Jersey Devils hung on two win their series 4-1 and became the first team to punch their ticket to the eastern finals.
It wouldn’t have been a shocker to see the series end in five, but for New Jersey to be the one advancing is just another curious twist to one of the craziest postseasons we’ve seen. The Flyers were heavy favorites to win the east after torturing the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, but seemed way out of sync this series. Continue reading
It hasn’t been good to be on top of the charts to win the Stanley Cup so far.
We’ve been documenting it all week. The Pittsburgh Penguins are fading fast and all but out of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only three teams have come back from a 3-0 defecit to win a postseason series, and one of those teams is the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks aren’t very good at this favoritism thing. They were favored to win each of their first three playoff games this year. They were favored to win their conferences. Heck, they were even the favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of the entire NHL postseason.
The Phoenix Coyotes won their first division crown ever, home-ice advantage in the first round of the 2012 NHL Playoffs, and a sweeping wave of momentum.