3:00 ET, St. Louis at Los Angeles: On Sunday afternoon the Los Angeles Kings have an opportunity to be the first team this season to qualify for the conference finals. It's a round of the playoffs the Kings organization hasn't reached since the 1992-93 season, which was also the first -- and to this point only -- time they reached the Stanley Cup Finals. So far, the Kings have been the most impressive team in the playoffs and have rolled through the top two seeds in the Western Conference, compiling a 7-1 record against Vancouver (the Presidents' Trophy winners) and St. Louis (third best record in the NHL), and outscoring them by a 24-13 margin.
At this point, it just seems to be a matter if "when" and not "if" they move on to round 3.
As for the Blues, well, you know the history. Only three teams in NHL history the (the '42 Maple Leafs, the '75 Islanders and the '10 Flyers) have successfully overcome a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs. So, yeah, they have their work cut out for them, and it all has to start today.
7:30 ET, Philadelphia at New Jersey: Scoring first is supposed to be an advantage. Historically, it's a huge advantage in the postseason and the teams that do score first tend to win the overwhelming majority of their games. So far this postseason that hasn't been true for the Philadelphia Flyers.
In these playoffs the Flyers have scored first five times, and have incredibly lost four of those games, including Games 2 and 3 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the New Jersey Devils. Just for some historical perspective: Of the 104 teams that advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs over the past 13 years, only three of them have actually posted a losing record in the postseason when scoring first (the '08 Sharks, '06 'Avs and '99 Blues), and none of them were as bad as the Flyers current mark of .200.
Small sample size that isn't sustainable? Perhaps a fluke? Maybe a sign that their goaltending and defense has been pretty bad? It's not supposed to work like this.
If the Devils can win on Sunday evening they will take a commanding 3-1 series lead, and also give goaltender Martin Brodeur a nice birthday present as the future Hall of Famer turns 40 on Sunday.
Your daily miscellany
- The Phoenix Coyotes should learn on Sunday whether or not they will have defenseman Rostislav Klesla on Monday night as he has a disciplinary hearing scheduled for his hit on Matt Halischuk on Friday night. He was given a minor penalty during the game, but very easily could have received a five-minute major.
- Asking the right questions when building a hockey team and the importance of content over style. [Flames Nation]
- And, finally, another Jordan Staal trade rumor, this one coming from Tribune-Review beat writer Josh Yohe:
For more hockey news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnHockey and @agretz on Twitter and like us on Facebook.I believe there is a strong chance the Penguins will trade Jordan Staal to Carolina this summer. More on this in Sunday's Tribune-Review.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) May 5, 2012
