Gee, thanks, NHL.  I had figured that the pencil-pushers just fell asleep mid-schedule.

The Sharks and Flames are already a pair deep in their Pacific match-up, and the Flyers and Capitals are still waiting in their stalls with their special Stanley Cup patches by their team’s crests.  But as a Philly fan that calls DC my residence, I can tell that this city is ready.  Release the puck already!

All the talk this week has been directed at the Caps destined Hart winner, the Russian that wears number 8.  And while his Segway is benched in this series, I expect him as the central figure in NBC’s man-crush in this series.  Still, I think that this series has many angles that the media’s missing.  They are:

•  The Flyers are better than the Caps. That’s it.

If we check with the final standings, the Flyers ended up with 95 against the Caps 94.  Because the SE is terrible, the Caps are the three seed, and the Flyers are at six.  Awfulness by Atlanta, Tampa, the Canes and Panthers caused this quarterfinal screwing.

If the Caps are early exit-headed, it will be the injuries that end their campaign.  The blue line features banged-up players, and with Chris Clark and Michael Nylander far, far away, strength at center is an issue.  The Flyers (well, the Flyers that aren’t named Gagne) are all returning just in time.  Smith and Hatcher, while glacially sluggish, are healthy, and Danny Briere shall return after his Ruutu-related malady. 

He’ll likely be checking in here later this weekend.

In net, it will be a battle between a pair that are equally sizzling netminders.  Huet and Marty will likely play a matched game in net, cancelling their equal’s input in the series.  Ultimately, the Flyers can shift three lines that display the skills in netting game-changing wristers; they had a league-leading 7 players in the twenty-tally club.  They will deal with Alex.  The Caps can’t deal with Briere, Knuble, Carter, Richards, Hartnell, Lupul, and that guy that was with Tampa.  He wears #40.

 If you just read my semi-awkward series preview, you may have noticed that I wrote the whole thing without using the letters O and V.  If I’m able to leave O-V out of a whole damn post, you better believe the Flyers will find a way to keep him out of the series’ storylines.

Flyers in 6.

 (I know you’re shocked.)