Sports Eye View : Left-Handed Larceny

Eastern Conference Final
By Caleb Musselman

The West has turned into WWIII. Fighting tooth and nail through the first two rounds, sure Cup contenders continue to fall away as blood is shed and Game 7's take their toll on the Western Conference's elite. While war is waged in the West, the East seems more like a playground kickball contest between the nerds and the athletes.

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The big brother Penguins outran the little brother Isles and pounded Craig Anderson and Co. into quick submission. I could write an entire article on Ottawa's embarrassing performance but I'll bite my tongue. On the other side of the ice are the Bruins who tripped over themselves and found their name in the playoffs. Look mom, we didn't study for the test but did well enough to get a C- in the class. After they righted the ship in the first round in the midst of a Houdini act against Toronto, the Bruins embarrassed a poorly coached NYR team who still hasn't found their identity. Thankfully, they no longer have to worry about Tortorella distracting them on and off the ice with his 3rd grade antics. (Maybe he'll start his own cooking show called "Torts' kitchen" so he can yell and scream at people who will actually listen.) The venting is over.

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So, what are we in for in the Eastern Conference Finals? Will we finally see a series that is worth staying up past 11 to watch? One thing is for sure: The two best squads are facing each other in the ECF. Whether or not they stack up to one another is the real question. This Penguins team is the real deal. One of the best offensive squads put together in my lifetime, the Penguins have no match when it comes to scoring goals. Fleury, newly labeled "The Big Question Mark" (by me), was the one cog possibly holding them back. Well, Fleury is now holding the pom-poms while Uncle Tomas shows the boys how to play ball. The one issue I can see the Pens running into would be their offensive minded D-line. Always prepped and ready to jump into the attack, Pittsburgh has shown signs of weakness in giving up odd-man rushes off of neutral zone turnovers (thanks Geno).

Crosby and Dupuis lead the team with 7 goals each and Dupuis can thank Crosby for almost all of those. In my opinion, they should put a new category in the stat sheet: Layups and Assisted Layups. If they did Dupuis and Kunitz would have more layups than Wilt Chamberlain and Crosby would have more AL's than John Stockton.

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For Boston, Rask has a 2.22 GAA in 12 postseason games and has established himself in Boston after the mysterious disappearance of Tim Thomas. The intriguing part of Boston's game is that they seem to be scoring a decent amount of goals. Even against King Henrik, the ruler of all things crease shaped, Boston tallied 16 goals in 5 games and turned the Rangers defensive zone into a half-time shoot-around. With a very balanced scoring attack, 7 players between 3-5 goals, Boston could cause problems for the Pens.

On the defensive end, Boston has two of the league's elite defensemen in Chara and an undervalued Dennis Seidenberg. If there is a team in the East that can potentially lock down the Potent Penguins, I believe it is this Bruins team. That is one big IF.

So what can we expect come Saturday night? First, expect a physical Bruins team (474 hits to Pittsburgh's 319) to attempt to rough up Crosby and all his BFFs. They will finish every check strong and try to wear the Penguins down from the opening face-off. Lucic, Chara and Horton lead a large Bruins team that isn't afraid to lay the shoulder. Will Pittsburgh be up for that physical challenge or will they take the finesse route and stick to their gameplan?

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Second, expect Crosby to be shadowed all over the ice. The Bruins know that if Crosby gets warmed up, like he did against the Senators, they are in deep doo-doo. Consequently, look for Malkin's line to break through in the first 2 games followed by Crosby's as the series progresses. The home-ice last change will be huge in this series as the Bruins attempt to match-up Chara with Crosby on a consistent basis. Here is Bylsma's chance to prove his coaching prowess.

Third, expect Boston to keep their game clean. Claude Julien knows he can't mess with this Pittsburgh power play. The name of the game for Boston is tough and clean. However, that is a very difficult balance to keep when emotions are high.

Fourth, expect both goaltenders to shine. These guys proved last round that they aren't messing around. Vokoun has a sub 2.00 GAA and has only lost one game. That is a pretty decent playoff resume thus far. Rask will continue his stellar play.

Think of the Bruins as a small child standing in front of a dam. The kid is given 5 pieces of gum and told to keep the dam in tact. Suddenly the holes start appearing in the dam one by one. At first the kid is successful and plugs all the holes. Eventually, he runs out of gum and soon he's running from a wave of water. This is going to be a great series. Two solid sides that love to compete and have experience at this stage. However, the Penguins simply have too many weapons. Match that with solid goaltending and the rest of the league is in trouble. Best case scenario for Boston is winning one out of the first 2 in Pitt and pushing this series to seven games. Worst case scenario is another quick 5-game series. I'll take the middle ground. Malkin posts 7 points in 6 games and Vokoun continues his consistent play.