The first round of the 2010 playoffs is in the books and the conference semifinals are well underway. In the East only one of the top four seeds survived, as three of the lower seeded teams were able to pull off the upset in the first round. As we move into the semifinals here is a brief look at each series along with each team’s current odds to win their conference and the Stanley Cup.
#6 Boston Bruins vs. #7 Philadelphia Flyers
Bruins Current odds to win the Eastern Conference 27-10 Stanley Cup 10-1
Flyers Current odds to win the Eastern Conference 12-1 Stanley Cup 22-1
In the first round, Boston faced their division rival Buffalo Sabres so you knew this series was going to be a knock down, dragged out affair. After splitting the first two games in Buffalo, the Bruins took advantage of home ice to build a 3-1 series lead. They closed the Sabres out in game six with a 4-3 win.
In game one against Philadelphia it took them until overtime to get the 5-4 win. Marc Savard, back after missing 25 games with a concussion fired the game winner past G Brian Boucher with 13:52 gone in the extra period. In game two last night, it was Milan Lucic who provided the heroics as he beat Boucher with 2:32 left in regulation to give Boston a 3-2 win and a two games to none advantage in the series.
Philadelphia needed an overtime shootout win over the New York Rangers in the final regular season game just to make it into the postseason. This may have actually worked in their favor because they drew the #2 seed New Jersey Devils in the first round, a team they had beaten five out of six games during the year. They had the Devils number right from the start and went on to win the series in five games.
In game one against Boston, they were able to match the Bruins goal for goal in regulation as they rallied from a two goal deficit three different times to keep this game close. Dan Briere’s goal tied the game at four with just 3:22 left in regulation, but the Flyers fell in OT. In game two, they once again had to play from behind tying the game twice after Boston took a one goal lead, but could never score a go ahead goal of their own in the 3-2 loss.
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