How soon we forget

[slademan]

I notice a lot of people picking Philadelphia to handle the Leafs quite easily. How soon we all forget. Ottawa is a much better team than Philadelphia. So line up the teams and the Leafs will play the underdog and keep knocking them down.

 

[Lil'Miss]

I'm hoping for the Leafs to win, but their record against Philly during the regular season is not on their side.

Miss

 

[Ranger68]

Head-to-head record doesn't actually mean all that much once you get to the playoffs. Just look at overall regular season play.
The Flyers were slightly better than the Leafs, thus earned home ice advantage, and should probably be slight favourites to win the series. But, don't let all those head-to-head games influence your call too much.

 

[shack]

The Flyers were slightly better than the Leafs, thus earned home ice advantage,

The Leafs had more points than Philly, but Philly won their division, thus earned home ice advantage.

 

[johnnyhandsome]

Am I the only who thinks that is a stupid NHL rule??

Division leaders are seeded first.

 

[n_v]

Am I the only who thinks that is a stupid NHL rule??

Division leaders are seeded first.

I don't think it is necessarily stupid but I don't agree with. While I know they want the Division winner in the reg. season to mean something, having a lower point total division winning team ahead of some other team in the conference standings is not just. That division winner racked their points at the expense of weaker teams in its own divison. It also does not stir the pot come playoff time. While I like the battle of Otario, 3 of the 4 matchups were 1st round, look at the Habs too. Last two years they made the playoffs was against the Bruins in the 1st round. Philly and NJ also met inthe fiorst round. These teams also are in the same division. 10 or so years ago they went to conference set-up as opposed to division set-up to make these 1st round matchups less frequent. Change the seeding NHL.

 

[Ranger68]

Yep - forgot that, for some half-assed reason, Philly got seeded ahead of us not for playing better, but for winning their division.
(Stupid rule, BTW.)
My mistake.
In normal circumstances, this'd make the Leafs slight favourites, although Philly having home ice advantage (ugh) probably erases that.
It's a close one. The Leafs have more key players injured, though, especially if you count Mogilny.