The first round came to an emphatic end last night with yet another game 7 overtime goal in Boston and a 1 - 0 nail biter in Pittsburgh. The past two weeks have epitomized the excellence of playoff hockey as we may have just witnessed the greatest and most exciting first round in NHL history. The 49 total games played in the first round as well as 9 straight days with an overtime game were both NHL records. Half of the series were pushed to a game 7, with 2 of those game 7's going into overtime, and 7 of the 8 series went at least 5 games with only the Detroit - Phoenix series finishing in a sweep. There is really no more fans could have asked for short of actually having some playoff hockey in Toronto, but that is a whole different story isn't it. Regardless, when the horn sounded on the Pittsburgh Penguins 1 - 0 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the hockey world had officially set its Conference semi-finals. The four series bring with it some intriguing matchups as the East and West both have rematches of last years Conference semi-finals. I went 5 - 3 in the first round losing out on 2 game 7's and laying an egg on the Coyotes. Here is the way I see the second round shaping up.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1 Vancouver Canucks VS 5 Nashville Predators (Winner - Vancouver Canucks)
If you were a hockey fan you were watching the Hawks-Canucks game 7. If you were a hockey fan with no affiliation to either team you were watching the Hawks-Canucks game 7. If you were not a hockey fan and you didn't have much to do on Tuesday, you were watching the Hawks-Canucks game 7. When Alex Burrows brought down Chris Campoli's horrible clearing attempt and slapped a rolling puck over the right shoulder of Corey Crawford you could literally feel a weight lift from wherever you were sitting, standing or jumping. The Vancouver Canucks had exorcised their Chicago demons and had avoided the most historic collapse of all time. Roberto Luongo had avoided, for now, the title of biggest choke artist and most overrated goaltender in the NHL. The Sedin twins were saved from an offseason of questions and concerns regarding how soft they play and their true leadership capabilities. Alain Vigneault's job itself was saved for at least one more series. Quite a lot was riding on that one fateful goal as you can see.
The reason I have gone on and on about the last series is because it fuels the reasoning for my pick in this series. The Canucks may be the loosest team coming into the 2nd round now. They have officially beaten their nemesis. I can sit here and shoot numbers out at you all day as to why the Canucks should win this series against Nashville now, but I won't because you already know they are far superior on paper. The simple fact is the Predators came into these playoffs with 1 thing on their mind: win a series. The Canucks came in also with 1 goal in mind: win the Stanley Cup. The Predators have accomplished their goal, the Canucks haven't yet. I believe we see the full coming of age of these Vancouver Canucks in this series. The Canucks win this series handily and await their opponent with their eyes fixed on the prize; Lord Stanley's mug.
2 San Jose Sharks VS 3 Detroit Red Wings (Winner - San Jose Sharks)
Our first rematch of the 2010 Conference semi-finals features 2 very different superpowers in the Sharks and Red Wings. The Sharks regular season success over the past several years has been overshadowed dramatically by their post-season failures. On the other hand, the Red Wings are 2 years off of a Stanley Cup win and have a long track record of knowing when to turn their game up a notch. However, this matchup doesn't seem to bode well for this particular Red Wing team. Last years 2nd round matchup saw the Sharks easily dispose of the Wings in 5 games and the Sharks followed that up by taking 3 of the 4 regular season games from the Wings this year. The Sharks clearly have the mental edge going into this series, but does that mean much against a veteran laden team like the Wings?
Both teams will be fairly well rested with the Sharks having 3 days rest and the Wings having a whopping 8 days off before the start of round 2. This could actually work in favor of the Sharks coming off a dramatic overtime game 6 win in Los Angeles on Monday to close out the Kings. The 8 days between games could allow the Wings to have a slight mental lapse which may end up costing them game 1 in San Jose. The Sharks are going to have to make sure their lacklustre power play from the first round, which was so good in the regular season, is firing on all cylinders against the Red Wings who allowed 6 power play goals in 4 games to the Coyotes. The goaltending battle should be fairly even with Niemi and Howard, so I look for this series to be high scoring and high intensity. We could be in for a 'whoever scores last wins' kind of series which should ultimately favor the Sharks. The slight edge in firepower and home ice advantage should carry the Sharks to the Conference final for a second year in a row.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1 Washington Capitals VS 5 Tampa Bay Lightning (Winner - Washington Capitals)
The Caps - Lightning series seems to be flying under the radar slightly with the storylines coming out of the other 3 series. However, these two high octane offenses could prove to be one of the most exciting 2nd round matchups. The Lightning asserted themselves against the Penguins coming back from a 3 - 1 deficit to win the series in 7 games. Veteran Dwayne Roloson showed the hockey world why Steve Yzerman made the move to snag him from Long Island early in the season as he had the most saves of any goalie in the first round and had the best goals against average of any goalie that started every game for his team. This rock solid play in net combined with the stellar play of Hart trophy nominee Martin St. Louis and emergence of young superstar Steven Stamkos vaulted the Lightning past an injury depleted Penguins team. They are able to put up goals in a hurry and Roloson is a steadying force in net giving the Lightning a chance to win night in and night out.
The Capitals will pose quite a different threat to the Lightning than the Penguins. Without Crosby and Malkin in the linuep, the Pens relied heavily on positioning, defense and goaltending to win their series and the Lightning were able to exploit their offensive weaknesses. The Caps don't have the same weakness. Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and even Mike Green's head seem to be just fine heading into the second round. The Caps easily disposed of the Rangers giving them ample rest before their clash with the Lightning whereas it took Tampa 7 gruelling games to get by Pittsburgh. I think the fatigue factor will come in to play in this series as it rolls along and favor Washington. Furthermore, the new look Caps attention to defense and ability to score should overwhelm Tampa Bay and give the Capitals the edge as they progress to the third round.
2 Philadelphia Flyers VS 3 Boston Bruins (Winner - Boston Bruins)
Well I'm going to use a quote by journalist Steve Rushin that I used when describing the Montreal - Boston series in the first round: "By the age of 18, the average American has witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, most of them occurring during Game One of the NHL playoff series". I don't like re-using material but this quote just seems so fitting once again to describe this series between 2 teams who are big, strong, physical and for all intense and purposes, mean. The Flyers made history last year and came back from a 3 - 0 deficit to beat the Bruins in 7 games. These two teams don't like each other and that will be very evident throughout this series. Chris Pronger is officially back for the Flyers which is great for Flyers fans especially with the problems they have in net. The three headed circus Philadelphia brought to the table in round one featuring Bobrovsky, Leighton and eventual game 7 winner Boucher will not fly against a much better Boston Bruin team. Pronger will definitely help out in the defensive end, but if their problems in goal continue the Flyers will have a tough time advancing.
On the other side, the Bruins came in as heavy favorites in round 1 against the Montreal Canadiens. Well, they didn't quite live up to the billing. The Bruins needed to comeback from a 2 - 0 series deficit and get an overtime goal from Nathan Horton in game 7 to advance to round two. Their power play was an abomination finishing without a goal in the first round, while Tim Thomas looked average at times. If the Bruins are going to win this series they will need to get leading scorer Milan Lucic going after Lucic was virtually non-existent against Montreal. They have the clear cut advantage in net with Thomas and I believe this is where the series will ultimately be won or lost. Thomas shows his Vezina form in round 2 and Chara wins the battle of the defensive beasts over Pronger as the Bruins get revenge for last years meltdown and move on to round three.
We are about half an hour away the start of round 2 and I think it should be a doozy. To recap I like the Canucks to assert their dominance against Nashville, the Sharks to continue their mastery over Detroit, the Caps to beat the Lightning and the Bruins to sneak by the Flyers. If the first round is indicative of how the rest of these playoffs are going to go, I can't wait! Let's do it now, turn on the TV's and let's watch some puck!
No comments:
Post a Comment