2012 NHL Playoffs: Top Seeds And Perennial Contenders Dropping Like Keslers

(Photo via sports.yahoo.com)

If the Washington Capitals find a way to take game 7 in Boston against the Bruins, we'll have no returning Cup champs in the tourney. No Penguins. No Wings. The Blackhawks are holding on by a thread and could be bumped out by Phoenix in the near future.

2012 NHL Playoffs: My Top 4 1st Round Series You Need To Watch

(Photo via sports.yahoo.com)

Here we go again! The most wonderful time of the year. Round one of the NHL playoffs kick off this week and puckheads could not be happier. If your household is like most, you need to fight for that precious TV time. Choose your battles wisely, my friends. With that said, here are four 1st round series that you need to watch:

Wherein The Ottawa Senators Can't Buy A Goal

Sad Michalek (Photo via sbnation.com)

Silver Seven, hands down my fave Senators blog, beat me to the punch on this one. Alfreddson and Co. cannot score a goal to save their contracts. It's downright shitty timing for a drought with the NHL playoffs around the corner. Ottawa has scored 5 goals in their last 4 games. That's 0.8 goals per game. And that is just not enough. Teams go in and out of these funks throughout a season. I get it. But now is not the time to start falling apart. I've watched these games over the past week and one theme keeps coming up: puck support. As in there isn't any. How do you expect a defensman to pass the puck from his defensive end to his forwards when they are all floating around the offensive blue line? Why are you expecting a pass when your ass is in neutral? Why are you consistently dumping the puck without burning steel to grab it? MacLean stated that he wants the Sens to be a puck possession team, but it looks like they are a puck regression team of late. Instead of pushing the play, they are giving it away. These are terrible habits to get into with the second season on the doorstep.

Eastern Promising: The 93 Point Dash To The NHL Playoffs

(Photo via washingtonpost.com)

93. This is the magic number for all NHL clubs. This has been, in recent seasons, the average number of points needed to get access to the second season. Most teams have about 10 games left to play and, in my view, this is one of the most exciting times as a hockey fan. The playoffs are tops in any fans heart, but the lead up to the first round is where winners and losers are made.

The Race In The East

3 Reasons Why The Ottawa Senators Are A Team To Watch

(Photo via senators.nhl.com)

Many (everybody) predicted that the Ottawa Senators would be tenants in Bettman's basement this season, myself included. I wasn't going to flip out like I did last pre-season when all the puck pundits predicted the Sens would miss the playoffs. I decided to have no expectations for this club this year. In case you missed it, the Sens traded a few pieces away before the 2011 deadline that were considered "heart and soul" character players including fan favourite Mike Fisher and defensive specialist Chris Kelly. So, this Ottawa Senators team is rebooting and building the next chapter of their history through the draft and free agent signings. I would've never guessed that the Sens would be holding down fifth place in the conference, 2nd in the Northeast in January. Did I mention that they are one of the hottest teams in the league over the last 10 games? Ottawa is 7-1-2 with a couple come from behind wins. This has been their story this season.

Introducing The 2011 NHL All-Concussion Team

There's always plenty of injuries during the course of an NHL season. It's a tough game that's played at blazing high speeds. If you're following hockey this year, the injury du jour is the concussion. With that said, here's your 2011 NHL All-Concussion Team:

Center

 87 - Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins

P&B Take Buffalo: Hockey Road Trip Edition

Paqman and Turnbull are heading to Buffalo to watch the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres game tonight. Also on the menu will be a stop at the world famous Anchor Bar, birthplace of the chicken wing! 3 of my favorite things will be on tap for P&B: hockey, beer and wings. There is no better way to get a weekend started!

On a very biased notes, the Sens are my team of choice and today is a very special and important day. It's Alfie Day!! It's the tp11th day of the 11th month of 2011 and the longest serving active captain in the NHL Daniel Alfredsson wears #11! You know I'll be rocking my Alfie jersey tonight!

For any of our fans that will be in attendance tonight, check out the About Us page to see our pics and come say "What's up?!".

-Paqman