The NHL regular season is now officially over and we have finished separating the men from the boys. Of the 30 National Hockey League teams that fought all season long, 16 remain for the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/strong> which begin on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Nothing is more exciting then the first round of the post season. Four games on every night as teams elevate their game as they battle for the prestigious Stanley just so each player can lift the cup over their head like they did dreaming about it back when they were kids playing in the driveway till dark.<\/p>\n Ottawa Senators vs. The Ottawa Senators are definitely the huge underdogs in this years NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not only were they were predicted to finish dead last in the Eastern conference, but they were supposed to be the front runner for a number 1 draft pick the following year by claiming 30th position in the league. The Sens were able to shock the hockey world and grabbed the last playoff spot beating out other Canadian teams in the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians. The hard part has just started as their opponent, the New York Rangers had a tremendous regular season finishing top spot in the east, just missing out the presidents trophy. With all the Rangers players buying into Tort\u2019s system and solid tending from goalie stud Henrik Lundqvist, the only Canadian team in the east will have their work cut out for them.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-\n<\/p>\n Washington Capitals vs. The Washington Capitals spent most of the season out of the playoff picture. It wasn\u2019t till a late surge from their captain, Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the team and a little score board watching mixed with a little luck, the Caps had to wait till the last few days of the season before their playoff fate was revealed. Winning the entire NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs has been expected from this team for the last few years so if this team were to not even make the post season, some major shake ups on the roster may have happened and still might. The defending last year Stanley Cup champs, the Boston Bruins, will be looking to defend their title starting on home ice as these two teams square off versus each other.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-\n<\/p>\n New Jersey Devils vs. The Florida Panthers put a strong season together and were rewarded with a playoff spot. They were even able to hold on and win their division beating out the Washington Capitals and the Winnipeg Jets and finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers haven\u2019t been to the post season for over a decade and they are in tough to win their first playoff series since they last did it when they went to the finals back in 1996 as they face the always strong New Jersey Devils. You never know when the great Marty Brodeur will decide to hang them up and with this potentially being his last year, you know he is going to be lights out. This could be a very long and very tight series.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-\n<\/p>\n Philadelphia Flyers vs. The battle of Pennsylvania could be the most exciting 1st round match up in this years NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Stating the obvious, these 2 teams do not<\/em> like each other. A week and a half ago when these two teams met up in their 2nd to last meeting of the season, the third period got ugly and a line brawl ensued. The sixth and final meeting had a fight early but then calmed down as the players just wanted to get through the meaningless game before the games all mean something next week. Both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins have star power and both teams can dance when the music starts. It\u2019s almost a shame that one of these powerhouse teams has to be eliminated from the playoffs so early.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n The only Eastern Conference game under way on Wednesday the 11th of April is the battle of Pennsylvania which is a great way to kick off the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Sens vs. Rangers series and the Caps vs. Bruins series start the following day on Thursday. Anyway you look at it, round 1 of the post season is an exciting time and we are all looking forward for the puck to drop and the get the second season underway.<\/p>\n P.S. Who do you think will win the Stanley Cup this year? Did you know you can blog about it and make money? Try it out by Clicking Here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs \u2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals The NHL regular season is now officially over and we have finished separating the men from the boys. Of the 30 National Hockey League teams that fought all season long, 16 remain for the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs which begin on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":754,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[18,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-2012-nhl-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-boston-bruins","tag-florida-panthers","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl-eastern-conference-quarterfinals","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-washington-capitals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/thecouplecommasclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Let\u2019s check out the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs \u2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Preview<\/h2>\n
New York Rangers<\/strong><\/p>\n
Boston Bruins<\/strong><\/p>\n
Florida Panthers<\/strong><\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Penguins<\/strong><\/p>\n2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs \u2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Schedule<\/h3>\n