In Memoriam: 2002-2003 Detroit Red Wings (1st of 15)

(for those unfamiliar, this is a series i've done for the past two or three years, as each team is eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs)

It's not uncommon, when a team is eliminated from post-season competition for them to comment "We just ran into a hot goalie."

This certainly can be said about Anaheim goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, but it's not the complete truth about why the defending champions' season came to an abrupt, first round end.

Looking at the Wings' season, an observant hockey fan can note a highly talented team which coasted through most of the regular season. Unfortunately, although doing so can keep injuries minimal, there is a potential for losing the competitive edge. With the opportunity to lock up the top playoff spot in the West several times, and to put pressure on the eventual President's Trophy winning Ottawa Senators for the top ranking overall, the Wings finished the regular season with a series of lackluster performances.

The pilot light seemed to have gone out. But, after all, that was just the regular season, and has no bearing on the pursuit of hockey's Holy Grail.

So, the Wings coasted into the playoffs. They'd start playing with intensity once the games meant something again, right?

Unfortunately, no, not really.

This isn't to diminish Giguere's performance in the least. He was superb in backstopping the Ducks. His statistics- stopping 165 of 171 shots, a save percentage of .961- attest to that. However, of the shots he faced, many were taken from bad angles. Especially after the game 1 loss, the Wings played like a team shaken, and under the theory that if the puck isn't shot, it won't go in. Unfortunately, when shots are taken from below the circles on the wing, the chances that they're going to go in are slim at best, and when a team starts taking shots rather than looking for scoring chances, it can get ugly fast.

No Anaheim-Detroit playoff series has gone more than four games. The Red Wings now know what it's like to be on the short side of the slate, as well as what it's like to be the first defending champion swept in the opening round of the playoffs in 51 years.

In Memoriam: 2002-2003 New York Islanders (2nd of 15)

This series matched the President's Trophy winning Ottawa Senators against the New York Islanders, who all but backed into the post season. The surprise isn't that the Senators won over the Isles, but that it took five games.

New York came out in game one against a very flat Ottawa team, and took the early advantage by stealing a 3-1 victory from Ottawa at the Corel Centre. It all went downhill from there for the Islanders.

There were three keys to this series for the Islanders to have any real hope of pulling off the upset: they needed Alexei Yashin to perform offensively against his old team; they needed production from Michael Peca; and they needed to be able to play physically against the Senators.

Yashin had a decent series with two goals and two assists, but Peca was all but invisible- he failed to register a point and failed to be the pest he's become known for being. When it came to physical play, the scales tipped toward the Senators.

In Memoriam: 2002-2003 Boston Bruins (3rd of 15)

Grit and determination have long been hallmarks of Bruins hockey. Trailing three games to none, the B's showed just that, coming out and playing a solid game which showed them taking the play to the New Jersey Devils.

Boston scored early and often in game four, and chasedthe Devils' Martin Brodeur en route to a 5-1 triumph. There was a glimmer of hope in Beantown. Had Joe Thornton and company found a reliable way to solve Brodeur? Had they shaken his confidence enough to come back in the series?

Unfortunately, the hopes of Southie were dashed, as Brodeur came back to stone the Bruins as the Devils eliminated Boston with a 3-0 shutout, Brodeur's second such blanking of the Bruins in the series.