Eastern Conference Quarterfinal

 

Season Series (Even 1-1)

 

Leading Scorers
  • RW Marian Hossa (80 GP, 30 G, 45 A, 75 PTS)
  • LW Vaclav Prospal (79 GP, 22 G, 40 A, 62 PTS)
  • C Joe Sakic (82 GP, 20 G, 42 A, 62 PTS)
  • LW Dainius Zubrus (82 GP, 26 G, 33 A, 59 PTS)
  • RW Marek Svatos (81 GP, 26 G, 31 A, 57 PTS)
  • RW Martin Havlat (81 GP, 22 G, 56 A, 78 PTS)
  • C Joe Thornton (81 GP, 42 G, 32 A, 74 PTS)
  • LW Milan Michalek (82 GP, 35 G, 39 A, 74 PTS)
  • C Brad Boyes (76 GP, 18 G, 43 A, 61 PTS)
  • LW Andrei Kostsitsyn (82 GP, 20 G, 34 A, 54 PTS)

 

Special Teams
  • Power Play - 15.8 % (14th in NsHL)
  • Penalty Kill - 91.7 % (1st in NsHL)
  • Power Play - 16.7 % (t-7th in NsHL)
  • Penalty Kill - 82.3 % (t-25th in NsHL)

 

Keys to the Series

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

  • Ray Emery. The young keeper played very well for the Penguins this season. This will be his first taste of playoff hockey, and the Sabres have a couple lines that can create offense. Emery will have to keep the rebounds to a minimum. If he can do that, the Pens will be all smiles.
  • Keep the hits coming. The Buffalo Sabres do have a lot of skill, but they aren't very physical. The Penguins will look to take the body as often as possible in this series to wear down Buffalo. The Pens aren't an extremely physical team either, but hits lead to mistakes. The Pens know what to do with mistakes.
  • Sergei Gonchar and Tomas Kaberle. These two will have their hands full with either of Buffalo's top two lines. They have to be solid in their own end and continue the crisp transition game that has helped the Pens finish among the league's best teams. They will also be relied upon when the Pens get the man advantage, as the Sabres penalty kill has struggled much of the season. Their play will go a long way in deciding the outcome of this series.

BUFFALO SABRES

  • Mika Noronen. It will be Noronen, not Ryan Miller, in net for the Sabres when this series kicks off. While he has played well this year, he hasn't played a lot. The Penguins will look to get to him early in games, and he will have to be ready to face a very balanced Pittsburgh attack. The Sabres defensemen aren't fantastic after Boucher and Jackman, and Noronen will have to on his game for the Sabres to have a chance.
  • Joe Thornton and Martin Havlat. Captain Obvious strikes again! The Sabres need these two to control play when they are on the ice. They were major acqusitions by Buffalo this season, and have produced. Anything less than a repeat in this series will spell doom for the Sabres.
  • Power play. The Penguins have the best penalty kill in the league. The Sabres power play has been good this year, but it will have to be great for Buffalo to advance. Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek have eight power play goals each, but no one else on the team has more than three. They will need to cash in on the power play or this could be a short series.

 

And the winner is...

The Penguins are very deep. The Sabres are very top heavy. That tends to work in favor of the deeper team in a seven game series. The Pens were pretty clear on getting back to the playoffs this year, and they just missed the top spot in the conference. The Sabres are looking to prove that last year's run to the conference finals was no fluke. This will be a competitive series, and we think...

Penguins in seven games.