I’ve had a couple of days to calm down (and believe me, I needed it), so I can coherently speak about the Anaheim/Dallas series now.
First of all, BOO-YAH!
Secondly, there were some outstanding performances in this series. Stephane Robidas, of course, who has always been incredible, but he has really stepped it up with the veteran leadership. Mattias Norstrom totally surprised me by basically ruling. The rookies were impressive, particularly Mark Fistric with his 53170891357 blocked shots, and bailing Turco out when he left his net to bump into…Someone, I think it was Selanne. Brenden Morrow is the heart of this team, and is a great captain who leads by example. Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist, our sweet Swedes (congrats on the baby, Joel!), were great. Stu Barnes, Steve Ott, everyone. Every single person on this team clearly wanted it, and they got it done.
So with San Jose winning game seven (way to step it up, Calgary, thanks a lot), that’s our second round opponent. Battle of California, we meet again. Honestly, I felt confident about either possible matchups - Avalanche or Sharks - but I’m mostly hoping the Avs can knock the Red Wings out. I feel quite good about the Stars right now, and I think this San Jose/Dallas matchup will be interesting - it’ll be fun to see if the last game of the season will spill over. I wouldn’t mind seeing Otter go after Thornton again.
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