WHEW!  With a must-watch hockey game every night, how is everyone doing?  I’m skipping the gym and am way behind on Game of Thrones.  Poor Chuck is trying to graduate from grad school!  We must remember to revel in it now because when it’s over, it’s over.   Then you can get a tan, learn Swedish, run Tough Mudder and whatever else I’m you’re doing this summer.

(Hahaha, sorry but I had to!)

Meanwhile, back in the playoffs…

These jerks again!  I hate and fear the Flyers in equal measure right now.  And every time I see Danny Briere’s face… everyone cover him!  But that would leave no one to cover the playoffs leading point-scorer (Giroux) or Philly’s season leading goal-scorer (Hartnell)!  Game 1 was great – a strong sign for the Devils who had about 10 minutes off between rounds 1 and 2.  Still, this is exactly how the Pittsburgh series started.  Tonight we’ll see what the Devils bring in game 2.

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The screaming.  The newly-coined 4 letter words.  The way Mike Green refuses my love and plays WORSE than before!  Last night was solid, physical, frantic.  The Rangers were using Green as a bounce house and Mike Knuble was winning footraces.  Ovi played for the blink of an eye (read the decoy theory here and here) but scored the GWG.  For a crash-course in this series, check out a great piece from Puck Daddy.  At least I’m burning a lot of calories watching this stuff.  Game 3 in DC tomorrow night.

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I enjoy a series where both mascots are clearly defined (What is a Capital, exactly? A Ranger?) and have fangs.  Phoenix won game 1 in OT, but weren’t thrilled with their 24-shot performance.  Coyotes’ hot-glove goalie Mike Smith stopped 39 of 42 shots.  So they came back in game 2 with a 39-shot effort that yielded 5 goals.  Give Smith that kind of support and he may be unbeatable.  Chuck is all for the Predators, but they’re going to need a big game when the series moves to Nashville on Wednesday night.

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Chuck’s adopted 2012 team is the LA Kings (she’s with Dawn), who had a goal-splosion last night to win game 2 by a score of 5-2.  Mike Richards rang the bell just 31 seconds in, then LA got 3 in the last 6 minutes of the first period.  More points for everyone named Dustin!  Jonathan Quick doesn’t care what seed you are, world.  The Kings take their 2-0 series lead back to LA Thursday night with the best momentum of any team still playing.

I can’t make any honest Round 3 predictions with a team still in the race, but I’d love to hear yours.  What are you most impressed with, what scares you most?  Who have you come to love or hate?  (Or both, and you can’t say Giroux because that’s my answer!)