Well, well, well. If you refer to the April 25th post about the NHL (you can’t miss it…it was the only mention of hockey before this), we clearly explained that you should take one of those Canadian teams to win the whole thing. Round 1: 8-seed Montreal upsets 1-seed Washington. Canadiens all the way! We’ve still got Vancouver left too, so if either one wins the Cup, give YGS credit.

Seriously though, is this that huge of an upset? Since the NHL went to its current playoff format in 1994, the Canadiens are the ninth No. 8 team to knock off a No. 1 in 32 matchups. That is better than a one in four shot.

In the NBA, which first used the 16-team playoff format in 1984, only three #1′s have ever fallen. Until 2002, the first round was only a best of five, not seven, meaning underdogs had a better chance of stealing a shorter series. The NHL switched to a best of seven format in 1987. Really, it’s more impressive that Montreal is the first 8-seed to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.

On the other hand, someone who knows zero about hockey can take a look at the stats and be a little perplexed: Montreal had the worst goal differential (-6), the least number of wins (39) and points (88) among all playoff teams. Washington, meanwhile, had the best figures in the league in those three categories: +85 goals, 54 wins and 122 points. Oh yeah, the Caps also have this Ovechkin guy… He’s supposed to be pretty good.

According to the good people at ESPN, the 16 shots on goal by the Canadiens were the fewest by a winning team in a Game 7 since the Lightning in the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals. The Lightning had 15 shots on goal in their 2-1 win over the Flames.

So, what gives? Enlighten us, hockey aficionados. There must be at least one of you out there. How surprised are you that the Caps lost the series? Are the NHL Playoffs really a crapshoot? Isn’t crapshoot a funny word?