The NHL playoffs continue Thursday with two of the four conference semifinals. The first game sees the Philadelphia Flyers cross the border to face the Montreal Canadiens. In the nightcap, the Colorado Avalanche meet the Detroit Red Wings. Montreal and Detroit are the top seeds in the East and West. Odds had yet to be released at press time.

The Canadiens will be the more rested team in their matchup. Philadelphia eliminated Washington Tuesday night in overtime; Montreal’s series with Boston also went the full seven games, but ended a day earlier. The Habs will have captain Saku Koivu available for Game 1; after missing the first five contests against the Bruins with a broken ankle, Koivu contributed three assists in two games.

Detroit will start Chris Osgood in goal against Colorado; Osgood leads all playoff goalies with a .982 save percentage, while Jose Theodore is fourth at .940. The under is a combined 89-70 for these two clubs.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under NHL playoffs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.