The Ice Sheet: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

If I was attempting to be as trite as possible, I would follow that title with more of Mick Jagger's words: "I'm a man of wealth and taste." This would be misleading because I am certainly not a man of wealth and most people that know me would argue that I'm a man of questionable tastes (you know the idiot that plays Kid Rock at the bar every Friday? That's me). I am, however, new to the NHL FanHouse and this is my first Ice Sheet, so let this serve as my real introduction to you.

Similarly (WARNING! TENUOUS METAPHOR AHEAD!) eight NHL teams have introduced themselves to us during the first round of these playoffs. That means that after a quick rundown of last night's frenetic Game 7 action, we're going to take an even quicker look at all eight teams that have advanced and what they've done to introduce themselves to us during the first round. Groan. I think that metaphor's all used up and I promise you won't find it again after the jump.

So much for momentum
Conventional wisdom going into last night's action was that both the Flyers and the Sharks were doomed! DOOOOOMED!!! to Game 7 losses after suffering crushing Game 6 defeats at the hands of the Capitals and Flames, respectively. After dicey starts that made both games look like they were headed towards conventional wisdom, both the Flyers and Sharks stepped it up and finished off their opposition. The Flyers ground out an overtime win when Joffrey Lupul buried a Cristobal Huet rebound in the back of the net and the Sharks crushed the Flames behind the suddenly ageless Jeremy Roenick's two goals in three minutes. And so with the first round officially over, let's take a quick look at the NHL's Elite Eight.

The Best in the West
Detroit: The President's Trophy winners struggled early with Nashville, but a goalie change from Dominik Hasek to Chris Osgood seemed to revitalize them. I think a match up with the ancient Avalanche is certainly favorable for them.

San Jose: They were pushed to the limit by the seventh seeded Flames and it wasn't Patrick Marleau or Joe Thorton that rescued them when the Flames went up 2-1 in Game 7; it was Jeremy Roenick. That's nice for one game, but not something I'd be counting on. Dallas is licking their chops.

Dallas: Was there a more revelatory team than the Stars in the first round? Most people expected the surging Ducks (10-4-1 since the beginning of March) to have a relatively easy time with Dallas. Instead, the Stars more or less had their way with the defending champs.

Colorado: Wait, Jose Theodore is good again? I can never keep up with these things. I don't really get how Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic can still be spearheading the Avs in the playoffs since they've been doing the same thing since I was in like fourth grade, but whatever works works.

The Beasts in the East
Montreal: They shouldn't have had nearly as much trouble with Boston as they did, Game 7 stomping notwithstanding. Carey Price became a huge question mark after wetting the bed in Games 5 and 6. Their offense is still incredibly imposing, but they've certainly lost that "top seed sheen."

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Fleury all played four stellar games against Ottawa, putting their lackluster performances from 2007 far behind them. Still, there is the nagging question of whether the Pens played that well or whether the Sens simply sucked that badly.

New York: I would argue that their dumping of the Devils in 5 games was more impressive than the Pens' exceedingly easy sweep of the Senators. They scored eight goals on Martin Brodeur in the last two games, Jaromir Jagr played as well as he's ever played without his mullet, and they controlled the series from start to finish.

Philadelphia: There were moments against the Caps where the Flyers looked like world beaters and there were moments where I thought Martin Biron looked terrifying (in the bad way) and the Caps dominated them. I think they match up well with the Habs, but I have no real idea what to make of this team.

Gratuitious YouTube Embed:
In honor of the revival of the Red Wings/Avalanche playoff rivalry, I give you the Brawl in Hockeytown. There are many highlights, but Brendan Shanahan's flying clothesline of Patrick Roy is probably the best thing ever.