Colorado Avalanche (8) Lost Series 4-2 to San Jose Sharks (1)
The Avalanche, looking poised for a possible upset after winning Game 3 and taking a 2-1 series advantage, crumbled in the end as they were severely outmuscled, outplayed and outshot by the Western Conference's top team, who bounced back from Colorado's fluky overtime winning goal in Game 3 after Dan Boyle's shot deflected into his own net, to take the series in six games.
Colorado did not have an answer for San Jose's second line of Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe and Devin Setoguchi or for the physical play of Rob Blake, Douglas Murray and Scott Nichol, who all elevated their play when it mattered most.
Chris Stewart led the Avalanche in goals with three but injuries to top-six forwards Peter Mueller and Milan Hejduk certainly hurt Colorado's chances of moving on.
Losing faceoff draws and taking too many silly penalties were other major downfalls for the Avalanche, who were kept in games by the thin of a thread by Craig Anderson, who was sensational except in Game 5 when he allowed four goals on 33 shots. Anderson stopped 40 or more shots three times in the series and only once (Game 1) was San Jose held under 30 shots. Colorado won the only game they outshot San Jose.
The Sharks finished second in the NHL, behind only Washington, in shots for through the first round with 245 (40.8 per game).
Nashville Predators (7) Lost Series 4-2 to Chicago Blackhawks (2)
The Predators powerplay was a non-factor throughout the series as they scored as many powerplay goals (1) as they gave up with the man advantage. Chicago scored four times on the PP while also allowing a shorthanded marker.
David Legwand played very well offensively, notching seven points in six games to lead Nashville in scoring.
Los Angeles Kings (6) Lost Series 4-2 to Vancouver Canucks (3)
An exceptional powerplay (clicking at 38.5 per cent) carried the Kings offense through most of the series as 10 of LA's 18 goals were scored with the man advantage. Unfortunately for them, Vancouver is the NHL's top scoring playoff team and outscored the Kings 25-18.
Los Angeles defense partners Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson tied for the team lead in scoring with seven points each.
The Kings had 11 players score 10 or more goals during the regular season. Their top three regular season scorers combined for four goals and 12 points against Vancouver. LA just simply couldn't contain the Sedin twins and Mikael Samuelsson, who combined to score nearly 50 per cent of the Canucks goals (12 of 25) and totaled 29 points.
Kings netminder Jonathan Quick went from regular season hero to playoff sieve, allowing 21 goals on 181 shots for a 3.50 GAA and .884 SV%.
Phoenix Coyotes (4) Lost Series 4-3 to Detroit Red Wings (5)
Stellar trade deadline acquisition Lee Stempniak scored 14 goals in 18 games with Phoenix during the regular season but was held scoreless in the post-season against Detroit. The Coyotes were 13-3-1 with Stempniak in the lineup in the regular season, including 7-0-2 when he scored at least once.
Captain Shane Doan played in only three games due to injury, tallying two points.
A big reason for Phoenix's shocking regular season success should be attributed to the excellent play of Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov faced 30 or more shots six times in the seven-game series and allowed 24 goals on 255 shots. Bryzgalov's 3.43 GAA isn't exactly NHL calibre numbers but his .906 SV% is quite good considering all the rubber he faced against the Red Wings.
NHL Playoffs First Round Casualties - Eastern Conference can be found here
Thomas Cranston - Thomas Cranston is a graduate of the Journalism (Print) program at Durham College (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada). He is passionate about a wide ...
