Jersey was perhaps the most impressive team in the first round, grinding the high-scoring Bruins into oblivion, the Devils seeming lack of scoring still not a problem if surrendering two goals or less as they do most of the time. While I won't discount Tampa, particularly since these teams are fairly even in goaltending, Tampa is more likely to make the mistakes of inexperience that a Pat Burns team is surely going to exploit. Devils in five.

A long layoff caught the Stars flat out of the gate in game one against Anaheim last night but eight periods of hockey probably brought them up to speed even if they didn't win the game. Missing Bill Guerin early in this series shouldn't be enough to prevent the Stars from eventually taking over and prevailing. The Ducks will need Jean-Sebastien Giguere to outplay Marty Turco by a large degree. Otherwise, the Stars have simply too much depth for the Ducks to handle over a seven game series. Stars in six.

Brian Burke described the Wild as "a cult" which is presumably a higher level than "a team" and perhaps he's right, Minnesota getting remarkable efforts this year from relative unknown's like Richard Park, Dwayne Roloson and Pascal Dupuis to claim its first playoff spot and then a come from behind triumph over the Avalanche in one of the biggest upsets in Stanley Cup history. They face a fairly young Canucks team that may be equally goggle-eyed at being in the uncharted waters of the second round although Vancouver's regular season credentials the last few years have been more impressive. It would be easy to name the Canucks in this series and call it a day but the orchestrated Wild, the cult, beat a free-flowing Avalanche team in the last round. In order for Vancouver to win they'll have to play a remarkably patient game, something the experienced Avs failed to do when they had the Wild on the mat. I'm the guy who wants to see an Ottawa/Vancouver final so it pains me to say Minnesota in seven.