A few days ago I wrote about the changing of the guard and how we are now seeing the teams who have been the elite drop off in favor of younger and faster teams...Well, after last night, this changing of the guard may now be classified as a full out revolution.

Last night, the 8th seeded Avalanche knocked off the 1 seed Flames making history. These playoffs are now the first in Stanley Cup History where the top seeds in both conferences were knocked out. But not ONLY knocked out. Annihilated. The Avalanche won the series in 5 by sweeping the last 4 games against the Flames, while the Lightning were just swept. So the top seeds went 1-8 in round one.

Many will blame Mike Smith and goaltending for the Flames loss...Not really fair at all in my opinion...The Avalanche averaged 41 shots per game. He wasn't great last night, but Smith's save percentage for the series was .918. If you take out last night's game its close to .950.

The Avalanche, when they are good are just a great team. Plain and simple. If they can draft a stud D-man with Ottawa's pick next year they are going to be tough to stop. The Flames may feel embarrassed by this loss, but to be honest they shouldn't..the difference from 1-8 in the West is really more about who is playing well right now...

Tampa going down is still the much bigger upset of course...Tampa's 62 wins make that defeat a totally different scale...

more to come this afternoon... I am meeting with a source for lunch and I should have some solid rumors for you all....

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