Hockey Today April 9

2008 NHL playoffs Opening Round

Senators lost four of last five games, but won last three against Pittsburgh (4-1/4-3/5-4); six of last eight Senator-Penguin tilts went over the total. Six of last seven Pittsburgh games stayed under total; Pens are 11-5 in their last sixteen games, winning last seven home games.

Rangers were 7-1 vs Devils this year, with NJ winning Sunday in SO; four of their eight games went OT- under is 8-4-1 in last 13 Ranger games, 9-2-1 in last twelve games against the Devils. Jersey won four of its last five games; last time teams met in the playoffs, Devils swept Rangers 4-0 two years ago.

Colorado won five of its last six games; over is 4-0-1 in last five games; they're 3-9 in last dozen games vs Minnesota, with last two going into SO. Avalanche lost last five trips to Minnesota. Wild won four of its last five games; under is 3-1-1 in last five. Minnesota won its last six home games.

San Jose lost last two games, but is still 18-4 in last 22; they're 0-3 in last three vs Calgary, all one-goal losses. Calgary is 2-5 in last seven games; seven of Flames' last ten games stayed under total. Calgary is 3-2 in its last five visits to this rink; visitor won three of the four series games this season.

NHL Trend Sheet

NY RANGERS vs. NEW JERSEY
NY Rangers are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games when playing New Jersey
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of the NY Rangers last 15 games
New Jersey is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
New Jersey is 1-7 SU in their last 8 games when playing NY Rangers

OTTAWA vs. PITTSBURGH
Ottawa is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
Ottawa is 5-11 SU in its last 16 games on the road
Pittsburgh is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games when playing Ottawa
Pittsburgh is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home

COLORADO vs. MINNESOTA
Colorado is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Colorado's last 5 games
Minnesota is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Colorado
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Colorado

CALGARY vs. SAN JOSE
Calgary is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Calgary's last 6 games on the road
San Jose is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Calgary
San Jose is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home

Hockey Today

N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey (7 p.m. EDT). The Rangers won seven of the eight meetings during the regular season with the Devils' only win last Sunday. The last time the teams met in the playoffs was 2006 when the New Jersey swept New York in the first round.

BRIERE BACK?

Daniel Briere practiced with the Flyers on Tuesday for the first time since he injured his knee in a collision last week at Pittsburgh, and the star center said he's confident he'll be ready to play against Washington. Briere missed the final two games of the regular season, watching in street clothes while Philadelphia clinched a playoff berth and missing a win against Pittsburgh that gave Philadelphia the sixth seed.

TRIO OF TROUBLE

Ottawa's top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley combined for 13 goals and 22 points in four games against Pittsburgh this season, with Heatley recording six of the tallies. The Senators carry a three-game winning streak against the Penguins into the opener of the first-round series on Wednesday.

FAMILIAR FOES

Nashville went 3-3-2 against Detroit, its first-round opponent, including a stretch of 22 days in March during which the teams played four times. The Red Wings won three of those, with three decided by one goal. The final game March 30 was a 1-0 overtime win in Detroit, and the Red Wings outscored Nashville 20-19 overall this season.

FISHING FOR A WIN

Calgary has lost all three of its playoff series since defeating San Jose in the 2004 Western Conference final. The Flames and Sharks begin their first-round series at San Jose on Wednesday night. The Flames fell to Tampa Bay in the 2004 Stanley Cup finals before losing in the first round to Anaheim and Detroit in each of the past two postseasons.

SPEAKING

``Every postseason, you really start with the slate clean again. I'd just hate to be on vacation right now with those 14 other teams.'' - San Jose captain Joe Thornton on the second-seeded Sharks' reputation of having shaky playoff showings following a strong regular season.

Wednesday NHL Gameday

The quest for the Stanley Cup gets underway on Wednesday night, with playoff games in New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and San Jose. Here is your NHL Gameday . . .

New York Rangers at New Jersey Devils

The Devils locked up home-ice advantage in this series with a shootout win over the Rangers in their final game of the regular season. New Jersey enters the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, while New York will settle for the No. 5 seed. Is that slight difference going to play a role in the eventual outcome of this first-round set?

Maybe not, since the Rangers beat the Devils three times in New Jersey during the regular season. In fact, New Jersey's home win over their rival to close out the regular season was the only time all year that they'd beaten the Rangers. Jaromir Jagr and company went 4-0 against New Jersey at home this past season, and 3-1 against them on the road. Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist played in each of those eight games.

Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins

The Senators knocked the Penguins out of the playoffs last season in the first round, and they'll be trying to turn that same trick this year. However, the Sens definitely aren't entering the postseason on a roll, and they're missing captain Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher (both are out indefinitely). The Pens, who are the East's No. 2 seed, will be looking to ride offensive stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin past the No. 7 Senators.

Ottawa, though, had a lot of success against the Pens during the regular season. The Senators fell 6-5 to Pittsburgh when the teams first met back in November in Canada's capital, but Ottawa has won each of the past three matchups between the two clubs. Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury has played just 11 minutes against Ottawa this year.

Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild

The Wild compiled a 6-2-2 record over their final 10 regular-season games to clinch first place in the Northwest Division, while the Avalanche ended up three points behind them in second place. That makes Minnesota the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs, while Colorado will begin the postseason as the No. 6 seed.

And the Wild will be happy to have that home-ice advantage against the Avs in the first round, as they went 4-0 against Colorado in their own building during the regular season. The Avalanche managed to beat the Wild three out of the four times they played at the Pepsi Center in Denver, losing 3-2 at home on January 24. Jose Theodore and Niklas Backstrom dueled three times during the season, with Backstrom going 3-0.

Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks

The Flames played just .500 hockey over their final 10 games of the regular season, which dropped them into seventh place in the Western Conference standings and set up this first-round matchup with the Sharks. San Jose, the No. 2 seed, took control of the Pacific Division after the trade deadline, and they're 7-2-1 over their past 10 games.

Calgary, though, was trouble for San Jose during the regular season, as Jarome Iginla and company won three of the four games between these two teams. The Sharks' lone victory came on the road way back on October 22; since then the Flames have beaten San Jose once at home and two more times on the road. Those three straight wins were all close, however, as Calgary just edged San Jose by a single goal each outing.

Stanley Cup playoffs hit the ice Wednesday

The hunt for the Stanley Cup begins on Wednesday night as the puck drops on the NHL postseason. A repeat of last year’s Cup final between Ottawa and Anaheim is a possibility, but both teams will have a tough time getting out of their respective conferences this time.

In the East, the Senators almost ended up missing the playoffs at the end of the season before sneaking in as the No. 7 seed. That low ranking earns them a tough first-round matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It will even tougher on Ottawa without captain Daniel Alfredsson and center Mike Fisher, who are both injured. The Penguins’ main injury concern is Sidney Crosby’s ankle, which continued to give him trouble even after he returned from a 21-game layoff.

The rest of the Eastern Conference opening-round series include Boston versus Montreal, Philadelphia versus Washington, and the Rangers versus New Jersey. The Canadiens should be happy with drawing the Bruins, considering they were a perfect 8-0 against Boston this season. The Flyers could be in tough against Alexander Ovechkin and the high-flying Capitals, unless Martin Biron continues to display the form that allowed him to finish the regular season with back-to-back shutouts. The Rangers and Devils are very familiar with each other, having faced off eight times already this season. The two rivals actually closed out the regular season on Sunday when New Jersey defeated New York for the first time this season.

In the West, the Ducks have drawn a tough first-round opponent in the Dallas Stars. Anaheim has a stacked blueline that includes Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Mathieu Schneider, and with former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere in nets Anaheim will be tough to score against. The Stars stumbled a bit down the stretch, with a 9-11 mark in their last 20 games, but they did take five of eight meetings with Anaheim this season.

Also on tap in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs is Nashville versus Detroit, Calgary versus San Jose, and Colorado versus Minnesota. The Predators have made the postseason for three straight years, but are still trying to get past the first round. Detroit finished with the best record in the league again, but with a number of injury concerns to the likes of Brad Stuart and Tomas Holmstrom, and a shaky goaltending situation, NHL fans are talking about a possible repeat of their opening-round loss to No. 8 seed San Jose way back in 1994.

The Sharks are hoping they can carry the momentum they built up in the second half into their series with the Flames and avoid another early playoff exit. Calgary will go as far as 50-goal scorer Jarome Iginla and netminder Miikka Kiprusoff can take them. The Avalanche dealt with a ton of injuries throughout the regular season but with a relatively healthy lineup now, they’ll hope for veterans Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg to lead them back to the promised land. The Wild are under the radar in the West but they could go on a run especially if Marian Gaborik gets hot.

Ducks given a chance to repeat

They're not the choice to win it all, but they are favored against Dallas in the first round.

It has been a decade since the NHL had a team repeat as Stanley Cup champion and most Las Vegas oddsmakers give the Ducks a good chance of ending that drought this season.

The Detroit Red Wings, who had the league's best record during the regular season, are the consensus favorites at 3-1, followed by the San Jose Sharks, who are listed at 9-2, according to Bodoglife.com.

Then comes the Ducks, who are grouped with the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins on most sportsbooks with odds ranging from 6-1 to 10-1.

Although the Ducks are not the overall favorite, they have a decent chance of matching Detroit's back-to-back championship teams of 1997 and 1998. At VegasInsider.com, they are listed at 6-1 to repeat.

The Ducks will open the playoffs against the Dallas Stars on Thursday and they are listed as favorites to win the best-of-seven series at -240, according to sportsbook.com. The Stars are underdogs at +200.

Other Western Conference favorites to win first-round series: Detroit (-500) over Nashville (+400); San Jose (-380) over Calgary (+320); and Minnesota (-135) over Calgary (+110).

Eastern Conference favorites: New York Rangers (-120) over New Jersey (-105); Pittsburgh (-320) over Ottawa (+260); Montreal (-400) over Boston (+320); and Washington (-150) over Philadelphia (+125).

Hockey bettors not only can wager on the first-round winners but can also put money on the length of each series.

For example, at Sportsbetting.com, the line for the Ducks to defeat Dallas in four games is 6-1 while the number for the Stars to win the series in a sweep is 14-1. For the Ducks to win in seven games, the odds are 7-2, and for Dallas to win in seven, the odds are 5-1.

There are also bets available for potential Stanley Cup matchups. Pittsburgh vs. Detroit and Montreal vs. Detroit are the two favorite matchups at 13-2, followed by Pittsburgh vs. San Jose and Montreal vs. San Jose 7 -1.

The best odds for the Ducks are against Pittsburgh and Montreal at 12-1.

latimes.com