They said, watch out when the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres get together - it's goals galore. Firewagon hockey. End-to-end action.
Monday night, the Senators beat the Sabres 1-0 to take a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Buffalo managed 15 shots. Ottawa scored on a wacky bounce.
Gee, batten down the hatches.
To be fair, an astounding 14 combined goals were scored in Games 1 and 2. Both Ottawa wins, 5-2 and 4-3, flew over the total of 5.5 set by oddsmakers.
But you know what? That's just sad.
Not the games - the games have been fine. But has it really come to using words like "astounding" to describe seven-goal hockey games?
Unfortunately, it has.
"We play with a bit of looseness, we give up chances to get them," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said before the series started.
Hey, what a wild and crazy guy.
Of course, relatively speaking, Ruff is telling the truth.
Relative to the Ottawa Senators, whose coach Bryan Murray said of his team's matchup with the Sabres, "It will be defense first, no matter who we play."
And certainly relative to the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings, who have hit the over in just seven of their 26 combined postseason games.
This is the "new NHL"? Sure smells a lot like the old one, the same one that infected the 1990s and replaced Masterpiece Theatre as the prevailing non-medicinal cure for insomnia.
So before NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman calls another press conference to peddle his liberation of the game, let's take a look back at one of the most prolific moments in league history and remember what hockey fans used to enjoy - because it's been a while.
The Miracle on Manchester
It's been just over 25 years since the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers hooked up for the highest scoring series in NHL playoff history.
It was the best-of-five Smythe Division semifinals between the Oilers, who finished first in the division and second overall with a 48-17-15 record, and the Kings (24-41-13), who finished fourth in the division and were the worst regular-season team to qualify for the postseason. Fortunately for Los Angeles, its Smythe brethren, the Colorado Rockies, finished dead last in the NHL at 18-49-13.
While the "miracle" part of the "Miracle on Manchester" actually refers to only Game 3, when the wide-open nature of the entire series is compared with the quagmire of the present, today's NHL fan will no doubt find the five-game free-for-all a phenomenon.
Game 1 at Edmonton set the tone.
Wayne Gretzky, who was coming off a regular season in which he potted 92 goals, a record that still stands, led the young Oilers. With 212 points (120 assists), he became the first and only player in NHL history to break the 200-point mark. (He would rack up 215 in 1985-86.)
Youngsters Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, and Kevin Lowe also featured prominently in Edmonton and would go on to form the nucleus of one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.
But they'd have to wait for greatness because the Kings came out flying on Alberta ice. The two teams combined for the most goals ever scored in an NHL playoff game, 18, as Los Angeles won 10-8.
In Game 2, things tightened up a bit. Gretzky scored in overtime to give the Oilers a 3-2 win.
Next up, a miracle.
The Oilers hit the scoreboard first in Game 3 on April 10.
Then second.
Then third.
The onslaught continued and at the end of the second period it was 5-0 for Edmonton.
In 2007, the word "insurmountable" doesn't even begin to describe such a lead. But the 1980's were a different era in hockey. In 1982, the Oilers led the league with 417 goals in 80 games. Only five of the 21 teams scored less than 300. This year, only one team scored more than 300. That was the Sabres, who notched 308 in 82 games.
Still, wide-open era or no wide-open era, this game should have been over. Even when the Kings struck twice in the early stages of the third, nobody thought they could pull it off.
But then came a third Los Angeles tally. The crowd at the Forum was starting to believe. More importantly, the young Oilers were starting to panic.
With five minutes left, Edmonton's Garry Unger took a five-minute high-sticking penalty. Dave Lewis, the victim of Unger's stick, also took a roughing penalty so the teams would play four-on-four for two minutes after which the Kings would have a three-minute power play.
Even strength, the Kings cut the lead to one as defender Mark Hardy was able to snap a wrist-shot past Fuhr.
The comeback was completed with the Kings on the power play and seconds ticking down. Gretzky had a chance to clear the puck out of the Oilers' zone but was checked. The puck found its way to the point with ten seconds left and Hardy shot. Fuhr made the save but the rebound went straight to Los Angeles rookie Steve Bozek. A quick backhand and the game was tied. Five seconds remained on the clock.
In overtime, another rookie, defenseman Daryl Evans, would play the ultimate hero for the Kings as he took the puck off a face-off and slapped a perfect shot over Fuhr's glove. Just over two minutes into extra time and the underdog Kings had won one of the greatest games in NHL playoff history.
The Oilers managed to win Game 4 by a score of 3-2 but, in another huge upset, the Kings won Game 5 in Edmonton, 7-4.
In all, 50 goals were scored in the five games, an average of ten per contest.
On Wednesday, the Senators will look to close out the Sabres and advance to their first Stanley Cup final in the modern history of the franchise. It should be exciting. Relatively speaking.
These are the contenders of 
reyes