Flyers-Sabres – These previews will be comprised of three questions that each team has to answer and a prediction.

Flyers –
1) When will Chris Pronger play? He’s still not skating with the team and he isn’t handling the puck in drills.

2) Can the Flyers on again, off again, and mostly off, power play get jump started for the playoffs?
3) Will rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky play the entire series or will Brian Boucher play at some point because he has solid career numbers against Buffalo.

Sabres-
1) Can Thomas Vanek become a scoring machine in the playoffs? So far he’s only managed 15 goals in 29 playoff games, very pedestrian numbers.
2) Can the Sabres handle the four lines that the Flyers will throw at them?
3) Will Ryan Miller shut down the Flyers potent offensive pressure that we are all expecting?

To me regular season stats are meaningless in the playoffs. Right now the Flyers know what it takes to win and their strong blue line will help carry them past Buffalo in 7.

KEITH JONES: For the Flyers and Buffalo, it's going to be the story will be goaltending on both teams. Ryan Miller, of course, not playing every game down the stretch because he's been bumped up and bruised, and got into action over the last couple of games of the season. One of them against the Flyers where he came in and replaced Enroth for the third period.
Sabres having to make the playoffs down 3-2, and Ryan Miller shut the doors. Sabres come back and win that game, so that had to do wonders for the confidence of the Buffalo Sabres. They've been terrific down the stretch.
With new ownership came a lot of victories and a new attitude. And the Buffalo Sabres are a dangerous team, led, of course, offensively by Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford.
One guy missing is Danny Briere. Who with the new ownership would probably still be in Buffalo, but moved on to Philadelphia and has had tremendous playoff performances in the past.
He went head-to-head against the Flyers in '06, and had nine points in the six games. Was probably one of the biggest deciding factors for the Flyers to go out and sign him as an unrestricted free agent. So he'll be the story.
He's been the story against Buffalo during the regular season where he had eight points in the four games. Goaltending in Philadelphia is going to be a wildcard.
Michael Leighton has an opportunity to get into the nets should Sergei Bobrovsky struggle. It was not a great final weekend for Bobrovsky, losing in overtime to Buffalo. Then coming back against the New York Islanders and getting pulled on three goals on nine shots. Not the way that I think Peter Laviolette wanted to end the season.
He announced Bobrovsky as his starting goaltender in Game 1 about a week ago. And he announced yesterday that he had given his intentions a week ago, and was no longer going to give his intentions. The playoffs are here.
So it remains wide open. Boucher replaced Bobrovsky and got the victory against the Islanders. They have three goaltenders, and it's going to come down to one of them playing really well because the Flyers have struggled over the last four or five weeks of the season.

Rangers-Capitals

Rangers-
1) Can the Rangers defense keep Jason Arnott and Mike Knuble from owning the crease during this series?
2) Will Marian Gaborik score at the pace that he’s expected to. He has 22 points in 29 playoff games in his career but his last two playoff appearances netted five points in 11 games.
3) With Ryan Callahan on the shelf can Chris Drury provide a much needed spark to the offense, face-offs and PK? He only had one point in six playoff games back in 2009.
Capitals -
1) Can the Caps get solid goaltending in this series? Michal Neuvirth is expected to be the starter.
2) Can Alexander Semin provide more offense than last season when he had just two points in seven games?
3) Can Alexander Ovechkin score at even strength like he did during the regular season with Marc Staal shadowing his every move?

Capitals in 6 – The Rangers aren’t a very good home team and the Capitals improved defense should advance them to the next round.

PIERRE MCGUIRE: I do think so. But the bottom line is they're still going to have to produce offensively. It's been remarkable the transition they've made from a run-and-gun team to a defensive team.
I admire the work that Bruce Boudreau has put into this, and there have been a lot of hard sells going into it. They've lost three straight Game 7s on home ice. They lost to Philadelphia in a Game 7, and they lost to Pittsburgh in a Game 7, and last year they lost to Montreal in a Game 7 as a number 1 seed. That is not very digestible.
If they can't get out of this series, there will be a lot of questions about what's going on with the group. But I do think they have a good opportunity to get out of this thing.
What's remarkable to me is the fact that they only gave up 197 goals this year, less than 200. That is one of the better defensive records in the Eastern Conference. That speaks to the commitment they've had.
I wish all their defensemen were healthy in Dennis Wideman, and Tom Poti and Mike Green, at 100%, would be a difference maker. But this is an opportunity that I think they've been crying out for for a long time in Washington. I hope they can get through.

Bruins-Canadiens
Bruins-
1) Can Zdeno Chara shut down the Habs offense when he’s on the ice?
2) Can Tim Thomas keep his cool and play like a Vezina finalist?
3) Will Tomas Kaberle improve the Bruins power play making them a true Stanley Cup contender?
Canadiens –
1) Can Cary Price finally perform like a true #1 in the playoffs?
2) Can Thomas Plekanec produce more than the 11 points in 19 games last year?
3) Can Scott Gomez get his 2009-10 playoff form back when he had 14 points in 19 games?

Bruins in 5. The Canadiens offense won’t be that potent and the pressure will be on Price to provide stellar goaltending which he has yet to do in the NHL playoffs. This series will yield some fun headlines.

DON CHERRY: Well, Boston hammered them the last time 7-0. But Montreal holds the series 4-2. But they're not the same team without Josh Gorges and Markov. That is the big killer to them right off the bat.
Timmy Thomas in with Boston, the best goalie - if you look at the record - the best goalie of all time. And Price has got to live up to Halak. He's had a great season, but he's got to do what Halak did last year. Everybody will be eyes on him.
Should be a dandy season. I don't think there will be any trouble, as they say, unless there is a blowout. So it should be another good, tough one, and I'm picking the B's to win.

Penguins – Lightning
1) Will Sidney Crosby play in this series?
2) Will the Penguins defense be able to hold off the high-flying Lightning offense.
3) Can Marc-Andre Fleury steal a game or two if his offense goes south?
Lightning –
1) Will Steven Stamkos get out of that late season funk with his first-ever NHL playoff appearance?
2) Will goaltender Dwayne Roloson be able to play like he did when he made a Cup run back in 2006 with Edmonton?
3) Will Simon Gagne be able to be a force on the power play and become a playoff star like last season? He had nine playoff goals with Philly.

Lightning in 7. I have to pick Tampa since Crosby may miss the series and Malkin was never in the equation. Tampa has a chance to surprise a few teams in the 2011 playoffs.

EDDIE OLCZYK: I think from the Pittsburgh-Tampa series, I don't think that if you're not talking about Marc-Andre Fleury as a Vezina Trophy winner, you better be talking about him as an MVP.
What he's done considering all the injuries and impact, and Don was making mention of all the injuries going on, but you talk about the regular season. Ray Shero made two great acquisitions last summer. He got Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin. And they needed to get better defending defensemen in there, and they did that.
But Marc-Andre Fleury has proven to be a top-notch goaltender. He had a terrific year. He's going to see a lot of pucks. The Tampa Bay Lightning can bring it with Stamkos and Lecavalier, and Marty St. Louis had an unbelievable season. This will be a long series.
Not knowing the situation of Sidney Crosby, but I give the Tampa Bay Lightning a real big shot in this series. It might come down to that guy in goal. Steve Yzerman went out and got Dwayne Roloson and had to upgrade the goaltending. I think he's done that. This is a confident team in Tampa.
We know what the Penguins have been able to do over the last couple years. But I think Fleury is sensational. I expect the Penguins to win the series, but I think this thing is going the distance. Tampa Bay has the type of players that can win games in a small area.