It was hard to call the second round of the playoffs a surprise.  I don't want to pat myself on the back too much, but in the AccuScore predictions for the second round I correctly picked all four winners.  Was it that big of an achievement?  If you look at how dominating the final four teams were in the second round, it would be easy to say no.  That, however, is what we call hindsight.  Still, I can't really say I am surprised.

The two "upsets" came at the expense of Montreal and San Jose.  The Canadiens struggled in the first round withthe Boston Bruins, while the Sharks struggled with the Calgary Flames.  Meanwhile the Flyers had to go up against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, while the Stars took down the defending champions.  It wasn't that the Stars took the champions down.  The fact that Dallas just totally shut Anaheim down showed that they were much better than their number five seed indicated.

As for the Penguins and Red Wings, they are easily the top teams in their conference, and showed it in the second round.  Colorado may have the names, but they showed that they are no longer the dominant franchise they were at the turn of the century.  The Avalanche stood no chance against Detroit, especially when the Red Wings top scorer was Johan Franzen, and not one of their stars like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, or Niklas Lidstrom.

The Penguins are on fire in this playoff series, and it was obvious that the Rangers stood no chance.  This was obvious in game three, when the Rangers threw everything they had at Pittsburgh, only to see the Penguins one up them every time.  In game four it didn't appear that the Penguins were trying at the same pace as they were in the first three games, and then in overtime of game five they turned on the speed, and just outmatched the Rangers as they did the whole series.

I am looking forward to the conference finals because there are actually some challenges in these contests.  The Red Wings are easily the class of the Western Conference, but the Stars are performing well, being led by excellent play from Marty Turco in net.  The Penguins are on fire, with everyone from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to Jarkko Ruutu and Georges Laraque performing on offense, while Marc-Andre Fleury resembles a brick wall in the net.  The Flyers have shown one of the most balanced offensive attacks over the season, and have continued this in to the playoffs.  Martin Biron will have his hands full, but the Flyers should put up a better offensive attack than the Rangers and Senators did.

Some Stanley Cup facts about the final four team:

Detroit:  The Red Wings won the Cup three times from 1997 to 2002, and have won 10 times total.  Have appeared in the Stanley Cup finals 22 times.  Defeated the Flyers in the 1997 Stanley Cup finals.  They went 42 years (1955 to 1997) between their 7th and 8th Cups.

Dallas:  Their only Stanley Cup came in 1999.  Made it to the finals twice as the Dallas Stars, and twice as the Minnesota North Stars, losing as the North Stars in 1991 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh:  The Penguins have only appeared in the Stanley Cup finals twice, winning both times in 1991 and 1992.

Philadelphia:  The Flyers won the Cup in 1974 and 1975 (might have been the last time anyone from Philly has won anything), and have lost five times since.  A fun fact about the teams who beat the Flyers, they have all gone on to become dynasties.  Montreal beat them in 1976, then won the Cup the next three years.  The Islanders beat them in 1980, then won the Cup the next three years.  The Oilers won the Cup in 1984, beat the Flyers for the Cup in 1985 and 1987, and won the Cup two more times over the next three seasons.  The Red Wings snapped a 42 year Cup drought against the Flyers in 1997, then won the Cup two more times in the next five years.  Things will look good for Detroit or Dallas if they happen to beat the Flyers for the Cup this year.