Carolina Hurricanes
In the Eastern Conference, only the Senators scored more goals than
the Hurricanes, who can roll out four 30-goal scorers. Carolina struggled
a bit down the stretch, though, and the loss of point-a-game forward
Erik Cole to a neck injury in March didn't help. Big-name reinforcements
Doug Weight and Mark Recchi, both acquired in-season, were mostly
big flops, combining for just eight goals and a minus-14 rating in
43 games with Carolina.
Buffalo Sabres
Following four seasons spent in the playoff wilderness, the lean-budget
Sabres fattened their win total considerably in 2005-06, posting 52
victories to tie Ottawa and Carolina for the most in the East. The
fifth-highest scoring team in the NHL, the opportunistic Sabres boast
a balanced attack, a deadly-efficient power play and a stifling penalty
kill backstopped by one of the league's best young goalies in Ryan
Miller.
"If the Canes do end up meeting the Lightning in the playoffs,
they may be glad they took care of home-ice advantage in the first
round a long time ago. They're winless -- 0-2-2 -- at the St. Pete
Times Forum this season."
- Luke
DeCock of the (Raleigh, N.C.) News and Observer on Carolina's
season-long struggles in Tampa Bay after the Lightning's overtime
win over the Hurricanes on Mar. 15 in Tampa.
"A few months ago, simply making the playoffs seemed good
enough. On Jan. 6, the Devils trailed the division-leading Philadelphia
Flyers by 19 points."
- Rich Chere of the (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger
on the Devils' improbable turnaround, which saw them become the first team to overcome a 19-point deficit to win their division since separate divisions were created in 1974-75.
"Miller is untested in the playoffs, but he's hardly alone.
Dominik Hasek has 97 playoff victories, and his availability is questionable
at best. Martin Brodeur has 84. Sean Burke is the only other goalie
in the Eastern Conference who has more than 20 playoff appearances.
Suddenly, Miller's status as a rookie doesn't seem like such an obstacle."
- Buffalo
News columnist Bucky Gleason on Sabres rookie goalie Ryan Miller,
who has never appeared in an NHL playoff game.
"Forsberg's absence raised serious doubts about his ability
to be a force in the postseason. It also shattered the assumption
that he was skipping games he could afford to miss in order to be
at full go for the playoffs."
- Philadelphia
Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan on the status of Flyers forward
Peter Forsberg, who missed the team's penultimate regular season contest
due to a chronically sore groin and indicated afterward that he wouldn't
have played even if it had been a playoff game.
"He'll be coming off a strain to a hip flexor muscle that
is critical to his butterfly style of goaltending, and playing behind
a team that has unraveled down the stretch and is looking to him to
restore order and confidence."
- John
Dellapina of the New York Daily News on the return of Rangers
rookie goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for the team's final regular-season
contest after a seven-game absence during which New York went 3-4.
"All things considered, this was Tortorella's finest coaching performance, even better than that surf-the-avalanche performance of 2004."
- St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton on the performance of Lightning coach John Tortorella in 2005-06, a season in which the defending Stanley Cup champions narrowly avoided missing the playoffs.