Haha I was just looking at the standings myself.
Let's see, what's my predictions?
Eastern Conference:
Montreal(1) vs. Boston(8 ): Montreal in seven. Tim Thomas will stand on his head a whole lot during this long first round series, but the Bruins will lack scoring.
Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7): Pens in five.
Washington(3) vs Philly(6): Caps in seven? Philly is hot right now. But something about a young team of Russians under the wing of Sergei Federov could really be the birth of something here. Then again, this will be the first playoff experience for a few of the Caps roster. And aside from hot **** d-man Mike Green, who would really want a defence made up of Tom Poti, Brian Pothier and Jeff Schultz?
Jersey(4) vs Rangers(5): Rangers in six. If they show up.
Western Conference:
Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ): Nashville in six. Both teams have mixed it up in the past before, but I think Nashville will be hungrier.
San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): Sharks in three. Because Calgary sucks that bad.
Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Minnesota in five. The trap of the west will come alive! And Ryan Smyth will cry.
Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Ducks in four. Although Dallas has won its past two games, they've looked godawful the half dozen or so before those. Pronger will go a whole series without being suspended.
With the amount of divisional matchups in the first round, I can see these games being pretty violent. Go playoffs!