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| You obviously have not seen what is done with that cup! |
For me, nothing beats what started last night it's the NHL Playoffs! While football is my favorite sport in general it is the NHL Playoffs that I just cannot get enough of. You combine the story lines of a baseball series with the toughness that football is. Make no mistake, these match-ups are a seven game war! And unlike basketball, every team has a chance, well maybe not the Panthers (Blackhawks South). Not to mention is there really any trophy cooler than the Stanley Cup?? Not a chance! Well lets get to the games and the predictions.
#5 Philadelphia Flyers vs #4 Pittsburgh Penguins
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| Shall we dance? |
I know you have heard it before "These teams do not like each other". Well in this case it is certainly true. The Battle of Pennsylvania features two very talented teams. Sid the Kid recently returned to the Penguins from his year long battle with a concussion and bolstered an already strong lineup. A team that already featured likely league MVP Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and rock solid goalie Marc-Andre Fleury did not need the additional help from Crosby's return but they got it. They are the favorites to come out of the East right now.
Hold the horses though, Philly is no slouch. Scott Hartnell had a career year with 37 goals. Add in offensive weapons like Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, you have to feel pretty good about this team. However I think the power of the Penguins is just too much for the Flyers to overcome.
Penguins in 6
#5 Detroit Red Wings vs #4 Nashville Predators
I really wonder if this is the year that Nashville breaks out in the playoffs. Their defense and goal tending is impressive but where is their offense going to come from? The Predators are hoping it comes from Russian standout Alexander Radulov.
The Red Wings had a record setting run at home this year. Unfortunately for them they did not secure home ice in the first round. Furthermore their road struggles seem to be showing up at home. I will never doubt what the Red Wings can do. Every time that I think they are going to have a down year, they just keep on rolling. A big indicator on how far they can go in the playoffs will depend on the health of veterans Datsyuk, Lindstrom and Howard.
Pekka Rinne will be the difference against the Red Wings in this series, though I do expect them to put up a fight.
Predators in 7
#8 Los Angeles Kings vs #1 Vancouver Canucks
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| I give up! |
The Canucks have a statue outside their stadium of Roger Neilson whining about officiating. Pretty appropriate considering how mentally weak this team is. It all starts with Borat look-a-like Roberto Luongo. Out of all the goalies in the playoffs, Luongo is on the shortest leash. This is really saying something about the President Trophy winning Canucks. Expect Cory Schneider to show up in this series at some point.
Meanwhile the Kings have underachieved. Goalie Jonathan Quick is a Venezia Trophy candidate with a solid defense in front of him. The Kings problems have been scoring. With players like Mike Richards and Dustin Brown the should be better offensively. Add in Jeff Carter (when he is healthy) and this should be a pretty good team.
This pick does have a lot of bias in it, but I think the Kings can get to Luongo.
Kings in 7
#8 Ottawa Senators vs #1 New York Rangers
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| Lunsanity!!! |
Henirk Lundqvist has been impressive this year and will win the Venezia Trophy as the league's best goalie. This team is a very good team and frankly I wasn't even aware that the Senators had made the playoffs. While it would be nice to see Captain Alfredsson make another long run into the playoffs, I don't see it happening. In fact I think this series will be over fairly quickly so let's move on to some more interesting match ups.
Rangers in 5
#7 Washington Capitals vs #2 Boston Bruins
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| Yup, I'm ready for vacation! |
It's not often that the Stanley Cup Champion is able to repeat but that is exactly what the Boston Bruins are trying to do. And they look like they are in a good position to do it. When Tim Thomas isn't using his freedoms to complain that his freedoms are being taken away he is still a solid goaltender. Big Z, Zdeno Chara is still here leading this team on defense. With the emergence of Tyler Seguin this is a very solid strong team and have to be one of the favorites to come out of the East. My only question with them is if they can make it through another long playoff run.
Ovi! Ovi! Ovi! Ovechkin is still here and that's the good news. The bad news is that he is not the Ovechkin of old who was leading the league in goals. While he is still a great player, I am not sure that he is the elite player he once was. He has been playing well as of late however and is the type of player that could carry a team on his back or at least he used to be. The biggest issue in Washington is that starting goaltender Michal Neuvirth was injured in the games leading up to the playoffs and Tomas Vokoun was already injured. That means the backstop is going to be manned by the rookie Braden Holtby and I'm just not sure this will be enough for Washington.
Bruins in 5
#7 San Jose Sharks vs #2 St Louis Blues
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| Sharks are so much cooler than Blues! |
Most teams wish they had one stellar goaltender, the Blues have two! Brian Elliott is coming into these playoffs with a bit of an injury but it doesn't look like it should be much of an issue. Even if it is, Jaroslav Halek is there to step in and I really don't see much drop off either way they go. My biggest question with the Blues is the same I have with Nashville - Is this team good enough for a long playoff run? They played extremely well in the regular season contending for the Presidents Cup right up to the final days of the season. But they do not have the playoff experience of some of the other teams in the West. Other teams like their opponent....
The Blues may have two great goalies but the Sharks have a Stanley Cup winning goalie in Antti Niemi. You also have playoff veterans in Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau which means the Sharks should breeze through this series. Yeah, probably not! The Sharks are usually one of the worst playoff teams no matter how they do during the season. This year is no different, they will not make it out of the first round.
Blues in 6
#6 Chicago Blackhawks vs #3 Phoenix Coyotes
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| Hopefully Toews can be the Hawks superhero!! |
Blackhawks will win the Cup!! Okay that may be a little bias! At one point during this season I thought that the Blackhawks were the best team in the NHL. At this point I'm not so sure! Corey Crawford has started to come on as of late but besides Bobby Luo, he probably has the shortest leash in the NHL. Probably a good chance you will see Ray Emery at some point in the playoffs if not in this series. The best thing the Hawks have going for them? The return of Captain Serious Jonathan Toews. In other cases I would be worried about a player just coming back after missing 22 games but Toews is not the type of player that I think will have much of a problem. Patrick Kane has been stepping up in Toews return, so if he can keep up the same play the Hawks will have a pretty strong playoff run.
While the Coyotes had a worse record than the Blackhawks they get home ice advantage by virtue of winning their division. This is the match up I wanted for Chicago (well really any of the teams that won this crappy division). Mike Smith does scare me and the Coyotes outplayed the Hawks in 3 of the 4 games between these two teams. But this is the playoffs, the regular season doesn't matter anymore. Hawks win this series but it will be a struggle. After this round, I'm not so sure....
Blackhawks in 6
#6 New Jersey Devils vs #3 Florida Panthers
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| I'll take the Jersey Devil over a Florida Panther any day. |
Another match up where the better team is the lower seed. And I don't even want to waste my time or your time with this match up. Florida backed into the playoffs, look for the Devils to win this one fairly easily.
Devils in 5
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