Long Live Frank Fixaris!

With Carolina's furious comeback (two goals in the final 80 seconds), the Hurricanes eliminated the NJ Devils in Game 7 last night, and earned themselves the right to face the Bruins in Round 2. The series gets underway Friday night in Boston. Here's the schedule for all the Round 2 series:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=420555

Looking forward to it. I will miss most of the series I am Dominican bound on Saturday.

Unless you're going to be gone for a month, you should be back for game 4. Have you seen the schedule? Holy crap, could they spread it out any longer? Next season might start before these playoffs are over. Whatever happened to back to back games? This isn't just applicable to the NHL, but the NBA too. A day off between games one and two? Two days off to travel? What the hell? If I understand correctly, if the Bruins sweep again, they'll have played 8 games in about a month's time before the next series starts. Shouldn't playoff hockey be more grueling of a schedule than the regular season?

This might be something MLB has over the super-tough-guy NHL. A seven game series in baseball takes no more than 9-10 days. This Bs-Canes series is scheduled for 14 days. Get on with it already.

The Bruins only playes back to back 14 times through out the whole season. A game every other day or 2 is not that bad. Remember when the NBA was having 4 days between games a few years ago? That was brutal.

Gotta keep in mind too that these arenas are used for other things. In addition to the Bruins, the Garden also has to reserve dates for the Celtics, plus any concerts or other events that might be already booked.

I think the Bruins should win this series. I dont think that they will sweep. The canes have been hot as of late and coming off an impressive 2 goals in under 80 seconds to beat the Devils, they are goign ot be riding high.

Also they have been through the playoffs recently with a stanley cup win. I think bruins in 6. It will be nice to watch the game at Mr Goodbars with out having to worry about working!

Also the fact that either Ovechkin or Crosby will be in the finals will make it tough for whomever wins the B's Whalers series tough in the ECF

I wonder what Bettman had to sell besides his Soul in order to get a Crosby/Ovechkin matchup after the Caps went down 3-1?

By the way...what the hell happened to Marty Brodeur that last series? Gave up two game winners very late and gave up a couple soft goals last night.

He is 36. Not exactly career prime for a goalie. Maybe he has cataracts and needs Lasik.

What ever it was it wasnt enough for it to be for the conference finals. Plus Im sure he would rather have the Bruins Rangers in this round and not the Whale. The Whalers dont draw the fans on the TV like the Chokers do.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_br ... _bettman_i

Game 1 is tonight at 7:30. Hopefully the B's can shake off any rust from their long layoff quickly and put this one in the bank.

So with these series going 7 and there being 3 weeks between series games, the Cup will be hoisted sometime in late July or early August.

I think they've had enough in between time during the season so that it won't affect them. If anything, I think having time off between series will help. Especially in a best of 7. If it were one-and-done like the NFL, maybe you could make a case. But you know they'll play at least 4, and it only takes one game to get going. So I say the more rest the better! Hopefully they can sweep the upstart hurricanes and get some more time off.

We are seeing a great gameplan here tonight. The lines that Julien has come up with are just making plays and creating mismatches. This is a treat that I haven't seen since the last time I really followed hockey which was sometime in the early Joe Thornton era.

Very nice win by Boston, 4-1. Two goals by Mahk Sahvahd. Thomas played great too.

It was a manhandling. I am serious, the lines tonight were well thought out. The Bruins were always on the offensive.

And as much crap as I have given Chara, he's come through so far. He is the monster of the midway.

Lucic was a monster too. One thing I'd like them to improve upon is faceoffs. I didn't see the stats but it felt like Carolina dominated in that area.

I think the shots on goal were similar, but definitely not the shot quality and selection. The B's had far more shots up near the crease while Carolina was taking shots from along the blue line. Carolina was just not really getting the puck up near the net, B's just held them off.

I thought it was an incredible mismatch. I'd be surprised of Carolina wins more than one game.

The B's swept the Canes 4-0 in the regular season, so for them to beat the B's 4 times in the next 6 games seems unlikely.

A horrible 2nd period by Boston, allowing two goals (one shorthanded), and they dodged a huge bullet when what appeared to be a goal with 0.2 seconds left by Carolina was ruled no goal (the announcers thought it was in - it hit the crosbar, dropped down and hugged the goal line before a defenseman cleared it out. Even in HD it was hard to tell if it was a goal).

Down 2-0 after two, let's hope they get their [bleep] together in the third period.

Not sure we're gonna get anything by Cam Ward tonight, he's been amazing. And yes, this is my attempt at jinxing him, my "mentioning a no-hitter in the fifth inning" if you will.

Well, every team eventually has a stinker in the playoffs, and I'd rather Boston have it early in round 2 than later in the playoffs. Ward was just awesome, let's hope he plays below that level the rest of the series. I still think the B's win this round.

A sloppy turnover leads to a 3-2 OT loss in game three. B's now trail 2-1.

A sloppy game period. They were apathetic and lacked any fire. This is unfortunately starting to remind me of every Bruins playoff team I have seen in the past 20 years. They need to get physical and aggressive or this series and season will be over quickly. Damn Bruins.

Yeah, what happened to the Bruins of game 1?

I hate to call any game that can't eliminate you a "must-win" game, but I think that is the case tonight for the Bruins. They can't afford to go down 3-1 in this series, not with the way Ward is playing. Boston was 4-0 against Carolina in the regular season, so to say it's over if they lose is probably incorrect, but they leave themselves almost no margin for error.

Awful. [bleep] awful. Down 3-1 now, game 5 Sunday night.

And here we go...

Great effort by the B's tonight as they pick up the 4-0 win. 1st playoff shutout for Thomas, big game by Kessel. Some real cheap shots by Carolina (Walker sucker punching Ward for example) in this one. And man, I've come to hate Eric Staal in this series. Let's hope we see a similar performance Tuesday night.