NHL Stanley Cup
Playoffs-Round 2 (Conference Semifinals)
Round 2 is already begun and now it's time for thoughts on
what happened in round 1 and what to expect in round 2.
First of all, how did I do?
Well, not very well. I got the
monkey score, 4-8 (for those of you who did not have Saul Ploplys for high
school physics, the monkey is the score a monkey would get on a test if he
randomly guessed the answers).
Fortunately for me, the experts
didn't fare much better. Only 4 did better, 4 the same
and 4 even did worse. To put that into
perspective, a monkey did as well or better than eight out of the twelve
experts (and me).
Things of note in the first round: There were a lot of overtime games, including
5 straight between the Blackhawks and the Coyotes, three of them ending in pain
for Hawks fans. There were a million suspensions,
dirty hits and dumb plays and it was getting hard to stomach at times. I f Shea Weber just would have gotten more
than the meager $2,500 fine he received for slamming Henrik Zetterberg's head
into the glass after the game had ended, maybe things wouldn't have gotten out
of hand. And maybe the referees need a
suspension or two, especially after the missed not one, not two, but
THREE SEPARATE PENALTIES on
Raffi Torres's hit to Marian Hossa. Here's how you know the rules are messed up:
Shea Weber gets just a $2,500 fine for
his act against Zetterberg and Joel Quinnville earns at $10,000 fine for saying
the officiating was "horrendous."
Words stronger than actions?
Let's get this ironed out, NHL.
For the second straight year the Hawks get knocked out in
the first round, so I went on hockey hiatus for a week. But now I am back for my round 2 predictions,
again, trying to top the
ESPN experts.
Western Conference
Semifinals
St. Louis Blues vs.
Los Angeles Kings
My friends in St. Louis are probably going to be upset with
me, but there is something about the Kings right now that makes it hard to pick
against them. If you would have asked me
this question ten days ago, I might have picked the Blues. The Blues dominated the Sharks, who were an
average team this year, and the Kings destroyed the Canucks, limiting them to a
handful of goals over their five game series.
Jonathan Quick has been incredible.
Overall the teams are very similar, great goaltending, strong defense
and just enough scoring to win. I think
the Kings are just a little bit better right now. Kings
in 7
Phoenix Coyotes vs. Nashville Predators
Mike Smith is the main reason the Coyotes ousted the
Blackhawks in the first round, but there were a lot of other reasons, too. They won the puck battles, they blocked shots,
and they played well short-handed. The
Preds looked good against the Wings (a team that clearly needs some changes in
the off season) and I still think they have what it takes. This is Nashville's best chance, and with
their slew of impending free agents, it might be their only chance. If they can score early and hold the lead, they
can hold off Phoenix. The Coyotes barely
trailed at all in the first round and were able to bounce back three times
after giving up late game leads to win, so you don't want to be trailing them
late in the game. Nashville in 7.
Eastern Conference Semifinals
New York Rangers vs.
Washington Capitals
I still can't figure out how the Caps came back to knock of
the Bruins, but they did, with Ovechkin's minutes down. The Bruins got spotty play from Tim Thomas
and Braden Holtby played well for the Caps.
Holtby has now played more games in the playoffs than he did during the
regular season. The Rangers were pushed to a seventh game before
taking out the scrappy Ottawa Senators. My
money is on the Blue shirts. Rangers in 7.
Philadelphia Flyers vs.
New Jersey Devils
It took back to back overtime wins for New Jersey to KO the
Panthers in the first round (Panthers fans got used to seeing their team lose
in overtime/shootouts late in the season), while Philadelphia was on fire in
the first round against the heavily favored Penguins in a wild series. Pittsburgh played dumb, couldn't stay out of
the box, couldn't keep the puck out of the net when they were shorthanded and
now their season is over (PHI was 12/25 on the power play). Some of the Flyers who had average regular
seasons have come alive in the playoffs (Danny Briere I am looking at
you). It's not often you give up four
and a half goals a game in the playoffs and win the series but the Flyers did
that in the first round . Unless Marty
Brodeur jumps into the way back machine and channels his 1995 self, Flyers in 7.
Thanks for reading. See you for the Conference finals.
It's finally here! if you remember back to my post from January 1, 2011, one of my short stories, "Moose and the Virgin Mary," was accepted for publication. And that day is finally here.
