@ZackMorris82
@bobbles412
We're gonna start with the East and with two teams that hate each other. Montreal and Boston.
Both of these teams made quick work of their opponents in the first round and have been waiting for a long time to play. Boston took Detroit out in 5 games and Montreal swept Tampa Bay. So far in the playoffs, Boston's power play is 37.5% and killed 90% of penalties. Montreal scored on 15.4% of power plays and killed just 71.4% of penalties. One of the biggest storylines of this series will be which goalie will out play the other one. Carey Price vs. Tuukka Rask might be the best goalie dual in these playoffs. Rask's save % in Round 1 .961 and his GAA was 1.16. Carey Price Save % was .904 and his GAA was 2.33. One would think this series would favor Boston, but as you know, with rivals, anything can happen. Prepare for a lot of blood and hatrid in this series and don't be surprised if it goes 6 or 7 games. Montreal won season series 3-1.
Series Schedule :
Game 1 : Thursday May 1, 7:30 in Boston
Game 2 : Saturday May 3, 12:30 in Boston
Game 3 : Tuesday May 6, 7:00 in Montreal
Game 4 : Thursday May 8, 7:00 in Montreal
Game 5*: Saturday May 10, TBA in Boston
Game 6*: Monday May 12, TBA in Montreal
Game 7*: Wednesday May 14, TBA in Boston
Predictions:
Andrew : Canadiens in 7
Brandon : Canadiens in 6
Zack : Canadiens in 7
Nate : Bruins in 7
To start off, the Rangers have a short turn around after playing games 6 and 7 back to back against Philly by playing in Pittsburgh Friday. They'll eventually play 6 playoff games in 9 games including another back to back situation between Games 2 and 3 of this series. In Round 1, the Penguins converted on 20.7% of power plays and killed 74.1% of penalties. The Rangers converted on 10.3% of power plays and killed 71.4% of penalties. The Rangers haven't scored on the power play since Game 2. Henrik vs Fleury should be a key matchup in this series as well as who will try to shut down Sidney Crosby. Henrik had a .919 save % and a 2.11 GAA against Philly while MAF had a .908 save % and 2.81 GAA against Columbus, but as we noted before MAF had a .949 save % when play was 5 on 5. Both teams like to play fast and up and down so it should be a pretty entertaining series. This is the first postseason meeting between the two since 2007-08 and the Penguins are 4-0 lifetime against the Rangers in the playoffs. The teams split the season series 2-2 (each team won a game in the shootout).
Series Schedule:
Game 1 : Friday May 2, 7:30 in Pittsburgh
Game 2 : Sunday May 4, 7:30 in Pittsburgh
Game 3 : Monday May 5, 7:30 in New York
Game 4 : Wednesday May 7, 7:30 in New York
Game 5*: Friday May 9, TBA in Pittsburgh
Game 6*: Sunday May 11, TBA in New York
Game 7*: Tuesday May 13, TBA in Pittsburgh
Predictions :
Andrew : Pens in 6
Brandon : Pens in 7
Zack : Pens in 6
Nate : Pens in 6
As much as Brandon will hate this, the Kings are the hottest team right now in the playoffs. After falling down 3-0 in the series to the Sharks, the Kings won 4 straight becoming the 4th team in NHL history to rally from down 3-0 in a series to win that series. In the 6 games vs the Stars, the Ducks scored on 26.9% of Powerplays and killed 89.7% of penalties. In the 7 games vs the Sharks, the Kings scored on 23.8% of Power plays and killed 84.6% of penalties. The main reason the Kings got past the Sharks in the final 4 games was because of Jonathan Quick. After allowing 17 goals in the first 3 games, Quick only allowed 5 goals, including a shut out in game 5 to preserve the series for the Kings, his numbers will be inflated, but the Kings are here because of him. The Ducks aren't sure which goalie they're going with. Frederick Andersen played Games 1-5 and started Game 6 but was pulled after allowing 4 goals before the Ducks eventually came back to win in OT. Jonas Hiller shut the door so don't be surprised if he gets the start in Game 1. This is another great matchup and it easily could go 7 games. The Ducks won the season series 3-0-1.
Series Schedule:
Game 1 : Saturday May 3, 8:00 in Anaheim
Game 2 : Monday May 5, 10:00 in Anaheim
Game 3 : Thursday May 8, 10:00 in Los Angeles
Game 4 : Saturday May 10, TBA in Los Angeles
Game 5*: Monday May 12, TBA in Anaheim
Game 6*: Wednesday May 14, TBA in Los Angeles
Game 7*: Friday May 16, TBA in Anaheim
Predictions :
Andrew : Ducks in 7
Brandon : Ducks in 6
Zack : Ducks in 6
Nate : Ducks in 7
In one of the more shocking 2nd round series, and a repeat of last season, the Wild and Blackhawks meet once again. Minnesota pulled off the upset from the top seed in the Central Division, Colorado Avalanche and Chicago destroyed St. Louis after being down 2-0 in the series. The Blackhawks seem to be healthy and Corey Crawford is playing just like he did last spring. The Wild have used 23432432 different goalies and its hard to tell who they'll use. Ilya Bryzgalov got the win in Game 7 after making just 1 save because Darcy Kuempfer was hurt. Our old friend, John Curry (friend used lightly) is now the backup if Kuempfer can't go. Chicago scored on 15.0% of power plays vs St. Louis and killed 93.1% of penalties. Minnesota scored on 14.3% of power plays vs Colorado and killed 88.0% of penalties. These teams seem kind of even on paper, but we know Chicago has more skill. It likely will come down to goaltending and effort. Minnesota doesn't seem like they can be taken lightly after erasing 4 Colorado leads in Game 7 and also coming back from down 3-2 in the series. These teams split the regular season series (One of Chicago's wins was a shootout). Game 1 is Friday at 9:30 in Chicago.
Series Schedule :
Game 1 : Friday May 2, 9:30 in Chicago
Game 2 : Sunday May 4, 3:00 in Chicago
Game 3 : Tuesday May 6, 9:00 in Minnesota
Game 4 : Friday May 9, TBA in Minnesota
Game 5*: Sunday May 11, TBA in Chicago
Game 6*: Tuesday May 13, TBA in Minnesota
Game 7*: Thursday May 15, TBA in Chicago
Predictions :
Andrew : Blackhawks in 7
Brandon : Blackhawks in 6
Zack : Blackhawks in 5
Nate : Blackhawks in 6
We know you probably don't care about our predictions but we don't care. This is shaping up to be an incredible round of hockey with teams who don't like each other. To this point, the NHL has gotten realignment dead on and we're getting great playoff matchups out of it. Can't wait to see how this round goes. Sit back and relax because it's only gonna get better.
Go Pens.
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