Bruins Bite It; Penguins Glide into Playoffs

Last October seems so long ago right now.

That's when the bright minds covering the NHL created mucho content about Boston and Pittsburgh being solid choices to raise the Stanley Cup in Spring 2015.

Of course, Pittsburgh still might, but they'll be doing it as heavy underdogs.

It took them until the regular season's last game to squeeze into the Eastern Conference bracket by nipping the lowly Buffalo Sabres:

Hopefully, the Boston Bruins brought their beach gear to Tampa, because the Penguins' victory rendered their result against the Lightning meaningless. As if.

Actually, that was what was wrong. Boston had the brawn, but the speed wasn't there this season. Same thing that befell the Los Angeles Kings. Dudes were turnstiles. Safe to say the reinforcements had best round out their game sooner rather than later.

The first-round playoff pairings are thus set:

Eastern Conference	Regular Season
1 New York Rangers v 8 Pittsburgh Penguins ...	Rangers 3-0-1
2 Montréal Canadians v 7 Ottawa Senators ...	Canadiens 3-1-0
3 Tampa Bay Lightning v 6 Detroit Red Wings ...	Lightning 3-1-0
4 Washington Capitals v 5 New York Islanders ...	tied 2-0-2
Western Conference	Regular Season
1 Anaheim Ducks v 8 Winnipeg Jets ...	Ducks 3-0-0
2 St Louis Blues v 7 Minnesota Wild ...	tied 2-2-0
3 Nashville Predators v 6 Chicago Blackhawks ...	Blackhawks 3-1-0
4 Vancouver Canucks v 5 Calgary Flames ...	tied 2-2-0

Pucks drop on Wed 15 April. Same time as the shaving stops, if it hasn't already.