From The Point: Just the usual playoff story.

So far, no big surprises, right? We all knew that, uh, perennial contenders Buffalo and Carolina would emerge from the East, right? And Anaheim, Edmonton and San Jose would be the last three teams standing in the West? Right? That rookie backup goalie Cam Ward would win eight games in nine starts? That rookie backup goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, a household name if ever there was one, would shut out opponents for nearly 250 minutes, the second-longest streak in NHL playoff history? That rookie backup goalie Vesa Toskala would dislodge Evgeni Nabokov in San Jose's net? And that rookie goalie Ryan Miller and under-the-radar goalie Dwayne Roloson would be the other netminders still stopping pucks as the number of teams participating in the post-season was whittled down to five? Of course we knew all that. Just like we knew nine of the... [read full story]