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After one, Buffalo 2, Leafs 0. Sabres outshooting the Leafs 11-4.
Since my team has been playing all year for the 2008 Stanley Cup (Washington), I'm rooting for my wife's favorites (San Jose) and my good friend's favorites (Buffalo) to win. A Sharks-Sabres final would be an interesting match-up, but I don't see anyone beating Detroit in the west....maybe Calgary has the best shot...
In the East, Ottawa looks strong, but I still can't see them getting to the final without Hasek. Carolina? Maybe, but there are still a bunch of question marks, and which Martin Gerber will show up. Philly and the Rangers both look good, but both are going into the play-offs with a goalie that's never been there (although the goalies *were* the goalies in the Olympic gold medal game...) which brings us back to the Sabres.
The scary thing is that if there is a team in the East that is best equipped to deal with the Wings, it's Buffalo. There aren't many teams that can outskate the Wings, but the Sabres can outskate anyone. On top of that, there's really no one on the roster who is a defensive liability. They have offense questions in McKee, Grier, etc. but everyone plays defense, and plays it hard like Ruff did when he was a player. I like their chances to win it all.
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