Buffalo and Boston both went to seven games to win their respective series, though Boston won as the underdogs while Buffalo won as heavy favourites. While Boston did win the season series between the two teams, they no longer have their star goalie in Mikka Kiprusoff.

While Boston poses a different threat than the heavily defensive Montreal, with offensive stars on the Boston roster, it will be an interesting side note to see the Higgins vs Radulov battle as they battle their former teams. Boston GM Shuck was vocal before the matchups were set and after completing an upset over Philly, morale must be high amongst the team.

The Offense:

Ryan Getzlaf was the story for the Bruins, another early Conn Smythe candidate for consideration if the Bruins can win the cup. His 6 goals is second to recently eliminated Rick Nash of the Leafs, but his 4 game winners means he's a big game player. He'll have to continue that if Boston want to overcome Buffalo. While Radulov has struggled in Buffalo, Higgins has flourished in Boston posting 6 points in the 7 games against Philly.

Buffalo were led by a trio of players with 7 points, but Jarome Iginla has followed his runner-up Rocket Richard season with 4 goals including two game winners. Sidney Crosby and surprising winger Jere Lehtinen also posted 7 points. However, if Buffalo want to improve, Zetterberg, Carter and Kopitar must improve on the three points they posted throughout the series.

The Defense:

Brent Burns has followed a weird season, which saw him move from Detroit to St Louis to Carolina and finally to Boston, with a solid post-season. His 4 points aren't much to brag about but he's provided consistent defensive work shutting down the Forsberg-Kovalev line of Philly's. He will have his work cut out for him as he goes up against Iginla and Crosby, and will need fellow defenseman Dion Phaneuf to concentrate more upon staying out of the box (as he had 34 PIM in the first round) and more upon defensive play.

Smooth skating defenseman Scott Niedermayer was Buffalo's top scoring defenseman through the first round, but his 4 points are a disappointment for this heavily stacked team. While Erik Johnson and Derian Hatcher have been pleasant surprises with their production, Jay Bouwmeester, Shea Weber and Dennis Wideman have been greater disappointments.

The Goaltending:

Boston depended heavily on Ryan Miller in the first round and he showed his inexperience by struggling with a GAA over 3 and a save percentage well under .900. Against a more powerful Buffalo team, Miller must be better or even though Boston can score with the best of them, they'll be quickly swept away.

Buffalo have their own problems, Brodeur's poor play meant he was actually benched in favour of Josh Harding. Although Harding provided a win for the Sabres, it was hardly convincing. While Buffalo will continue to show faith in both their goalies, there must be a worry amongst the coaching staff about the reliability of Brodeur.

Who will win?

While Boston did win the season series between the two, the poor play of Miller will be there downfall as although the Boston offense will be able to pull out one, possibly two games, I predict a short series between the two. Buffalo in 5.