What we witnessed in the last week in the Philadelphia Flyers-Boston Bruins Eastern Conference semifinals series is only the latest evidence that the Stanley Cup playoffs are the most compelling and unpredictable in all of pro sports.
The Flyers had to win a shootout against the New York Rangers in their final regular-season game to even make the playoffs. A big underdog against Marty Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia cruised to 4-1 series victory in the first round.
Then it looked like reality finally had set in on Philadelphia when it went down 3-0 in its series against the favored Boston Bruins. But the Flyers rallied not only from that series deficit, but from a 3-0 hole in Game 7 on the road to win the game and the series 4-3.
So we've got the No. 7 seed Flyers against the No. 8 seed Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference finals.
If you can eliminate sports preferences from the debate, and I realize I'm in the minority in preferring hockey over pro basketball, this shows why the Stanley Cup playoffs are so much better than the NBA playoffs.
Incredible upsets such as this rarely happen in the NBA.
This season, it's hard to even find a competitive series. Three of the four conference-semifinal series in the NBA were four-game sweeps. The other series, the Boston Celtics' 4-2 victory over Cleveland Cavaliers, did last six games, but most of the games weren't either close or compelling. Yes, that series was an upset, but nothing like the Flyers' victories. After all, the Celtics did win the NBA title two seasons ago.
Any team that makes the Stanley Cup playoffs knows by just reviewing history that they have a shot at making a run to the Cup. In the NBA, there usually are only three or possibly four teams that have decent shots at winning the championship.
That fact is what frustrated me so much when my Carolina Hurricanes couldn't quite recover from the early- season hole it had created. The Canes played well the last two months of the regular season and I thought they had a chance of making another thrilling run if they could have slipped into the field. Sadly, it didn't happen.
Since coach Peter Laviolette was the coach who guided the Canes to the 2006 Stanley Cup, I'm definitely cheering for Philadelphia even though it pains me to be backing the Flyers.
I'm extremely happy for goalie Michael Leighton, a former Norfolk Admiral who got released by Carolina. Philadelphia smartly picked him up, but then he had to deal with an injury. But an injury to Brian Boucher thrust Leighton into a tough high-pressure playoff situation and he's performed well.
Sure we won't have Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin in conference-finals series, but the Sharks-Blackhawks and Habs-Flyers series should be entertaining.
Wake me up when the NBA playoffs end.
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