Eastern Conference
Boston Bruins (1) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6)
The Hurricanes needed 7 games to beat the playoff experienced New Jersey Devils. The line of Chad LaRose/Eric Staal/Ryan Whitney are firing on all cylinders. Can they keep it up? Facing Martin Brodeur is no easy task and they got to him. The way the Hurricanes won game 7 was impressive but so disappointing for the Devils.
The Bruins on the other hand had full control over the struggling Habs. Backed by Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara these Bruins are tough to beat. Offensively, they look good. But let’s not forget that these Hurric
anes have Stanley Cup experience. Cam Ward can take over and win games. I am banking on the Cup experienced team to win these series. There will be two ways the Hurricanes will come into this series: 1. Exhausted, battered and bruised from New Jersey. 2. Just getting warmed up and ready to battle.
I believe the rest will be a set back for the Bruins.
Prediction: Carolina wins in 6
Washington Capitals (2) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (4)
This series will have the most hype, excitement and battles. What else would you want? Crosby vs Ovechkin. All the yapping about celebrating after a goal means nothing now. Either one will be celebrating exuberantly when they score in the playoffs. The Caps showed a lot of confidence and resilience coming back from down 3-1 vs the Rangers. But they will need to play better to beat the former Stanley Cup finalists. Semin looked incredible and will need to be incredible to help support Alexander. The guy people seem to be forgetting is Malkin. He led th
e league in scoring and will be causing the Caps major match-up problems. This hard fought battle will result some great games. But I think it will come down to goaltending and Fluery has the nod over the rookie Varlamov. I still believe Pittsburgh is winning the Cup and the Caps aren’t looking the greatest.
Prediction: Pitts wins in 6
Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Anaheim Ducks (8)
The Red Wings look great making the Blue Jackets look inexperienced. The Ducks on the other hand, surprised us all as they quite handedly took out the President Trophy Sharks. This series starts with many questions. Will the Ducks come hitting hard and throw the Red Wings a monkey wrench in their plans? Is t
his just going to be another day in the office for Detroit? Who’s going to have the better goaltending? Can Hiller handle the amount of shots the Wings are going to throw at him? Both these teams are loaded with Stanley Cup experience. What’s exciting is the amount of young guns involved as key players in this series. The defensemen in this battle alone will be hall of famers. Remember this is Brian Burke’s old team. He did wonders by signing Scott Niedermayer I think the Ducks will give the Red Wings a run for their money but Osgood isn’t a 2 time champ for nothing.
Prediction: Detroit in 7
Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (4)
The last time these guys met Vancouver won 4-0 but the third period had a line brawl. It should be explosive with Burish and Byfuglien as Burrows, Bieska and Mitchell cause problems as well. Coach Vigneault and coach Quenneville don’t get along either.
The Sedin twins need to keep producing and the RPM line needs to score a few goals as well. The line that is flying but needs to chip in a goal or two is the Berrnier/Raymond/Wellwood line. With the Blackhawks, Toews is on fire winning games with his goal scoring. Kane and Sharp need to step it up with some goals in order to win this series. They have good goaltending that will keep them in games as Khabibulin has one a Cup already. Luongo is playing really well and I could see a low scoring affair. Vancouver looks to get Salo, Sundin and Mitchell back healthy. The rest seems to have been in their advantage this time but we will see tonight how they come out to play.
The Canucks are blessed to have home ice as the Canucks are now on a 15-1-1 streak at home including the playoffs.
Prediction: Vancouver in 5
No comments:
Post a Comment