Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Predictions 2014

Wow.

That was a wild first round with three game 7s played on the same night.  If you are a San Jose Sharks fan, I feel for you.  Being up 3-0 then losing four straight has to hurt.  Let’s quickly recap, see how our experts did in round one, then move on to round 2.

Experts Standings                                                                        

Clarence “Screaming Buffalo” Swampton                               7

Tim “Dr. Hoo” McCraken                                                            6

Me                                                                                                   6

Throb Longpenis                                                                           5

The good news is we all beat the monkey score (for those of you who did not have Mr. Ploplys for high school physics, the money score is the score a monkey would get by randomly choosing an answer).  Swampton also picked the correct number of games in 6 of the 7 series he correctly called, McCraken got 3, Longpenis 2 and I correctly got 3.

The NHL’s new playoff format was intended to foster rivalries in the playoffs, and did just that for three of the four series.  Let’s start in the East

Eastern Conference

Montreal Canadians vs. Boston Bruins

Montreal eased their way to a four game sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, although 3 of 4 were decided by a single goal.  They will have a much tougher matchup in round 2 against Boston, who spanked the Detroit (sucks) Red Wings.  The Wings gave their fans hope by winning game one, but that’s all they could muster.   It’s great to see two Original Six teams match up against each other. Tukka Raask was magnificent in the first round and Boston is still the best of the East.  Boston in 6.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers

Wait, Crosby hasn’t scored a goal yet and the Penguins advanced past the first round?  Oh yeah, they’ve got plenty of scorers.  The Rangers survived against Philly even though they were maddeningly inconsistent.  The team who plays better defense will most likely win the series.  Fortunately for Pittsburgh, they have a larger margin of error.  A lot rides on the stick of Rick Nash for New York but Sid and the rest of the Penguins should win out.  Pittsburgh in 6

Western Conference

Minnesota Wild vs.  Chicago Blackhawks

Well, so much for seeding.  I’m still trying to figure out how Minnesota improbably rallied down 3-2 to beat Colorado in overtime last night.  So much for being cannon fodder.  Wait, I take that back.  They will be second round cannon fodder this year against the Blackhawks, instead of first round cannon fodder.  The Hawks rallied back from a 2-0 hole and beat the Blues four straight to move on and in this round they have home ice.  Anyone know who has been the best goaltender in the playoffs so far?  Well, its Rask, but Corey Crawford is a close second.  He stole game 3 for the Hawks and it looks like the Hawks forwards remembered how to put the puck in the net in game six.  Hawks in 5.

Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. Los Angeles Kings

The series will the least amount of travel.  I never wavered in my belief that the Kings were going to beat San Jose, not even while down in a 3-0 hole.  The Ducks were trailing by two goals with less than three minutes left when they stunned the Dallas Starts by scoring twice to send the game to OT then winning early in the OT.  It’s going to be a long off season if you are a Sharks fan or a Stars fan.  This is the first post-season meeting between these two teams.  Two deep teams who are good on both offense and defense.  This will be a great series, but it will come down to goaltending and Jonathan Quick is the man.  Kings in 7.

Here are the expert's predictions.

Series	Clarence "Screaming Buffalo" Swamptown	Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken	Throb Longpenis	Mike Smolarek
Round 2
Eastern Conf
NYR vs Pittsburgh	Rangers in 7	Pittsburgh in 7	Pittsburgh in 6	Pittsburgh in 6
Boston vs. Montreal	Boston in 6	Boston in 6	Boston in 6	Boston in 7
West Conf
Anaheim vs. Los Angeles	Anaheim in 7	Anaheim in 7	Anaheim in 6	Los Angeles in 7
Chicago vs. Minnesota	Chicago in 5	Chicago in 5	Chicago in 5	Chicago in 6

 

 

NHL Playoffs Conference Finals Preview and Predictions

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 3

Wow.  Western Conference fans got to watch back to back game sevens, both which game down to the last moments.  Sharks fans were disappointed again as the defending champion Los Angeles Kings knocked them out by holding on 2-1 in a furious game seven finish where goalie Jonathan Quick was the difference.  The other series saw an epic end to the Chicago-Detroit divisional rivalry as the Blackhawks crawled their way back down 3 games to 1 to win game seven when Niklas Hjalmarsson scored in the closing minutes of the third period, er, I mean Brett Seabrook scored early in overtime to send some happy humans home at the Hangar.  The Eastern Conference wasn’t as fun to watch, as Boston and Pittsburgh rolled to the conference finals.

So how did I do?  Much better this round as I picked all four series.  Now, for the conference finals

Eastern Conference Finals

Pittsburgh Penguins (1) vs. Boston Bruins

Both team dominated in their previous series.  Sidney Crosby is back, netting 15 points in only 10 games.  Evgeni Malkin said he needs to step up his game, although he has 16 points in 11 games.  The only thing holding Pittsburgh back is their goaltending, although Tomas Vokoun  played very well against Ottawa.  Boston made beating the Rangers look easy and it cost Rangers coach John Tortorella his job  Both of these teams have been scoring a lot so this could be a wide open series which bodes well for Pittsburgh.  On the other hand, Boston knows how to clamp down defensively, which bodes well for them.  Zdeno Chara is playing almost 30 minutes a game, David Krejci is leading the playoffs in scoring and Tuukka Rask is playing well in the net.  The top five scores in the postseason are playing in this series.  As long as the goaltending holds, this is Pittsburgh’s series to win.  Penguins in 7.

 

(Okay, quick recap. On the top is Zdeno Chara.  He is 6'9", 255 lbs. and is 36 years old.  He is Slovakian. 

On the bottom it Charo, aka Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Moline Baeza.  Her age is, well, in dispute.  According to Wikipedia, her birth records in Spain say she was born in 1931, in the US 1941 but somehow she got a US court to decree 1951 as her birth year.  So she is 82,72 or 62, depending on who you believe.  No indications on height and weight but I'm pretty sure those are double Ds.)

Western Conference

Chicago Blackhawks (1) vs. Los Angeles Kings

The Hawks are still not playing their best hockey although they played very well in long stretches in the last three wins over Detroit (sucks).  The Kings used home ice to their advantage (note: the Kings passed the Sharks for the 5^th seed the last weekend of the regular season) and have yet to lose at the Staples Center.  Did I mention they have just about the same team as last year’s Cup hoisters?  Did you see Jonathan Quick in the 3^rd period of game seven against the Sharks?  Did you know his GAA this post season is 1.50?  Did you know Corey Crawford is second in GAA with 1.70?  For the Hawks to win this, Kane and Toews need to pot some goals.  Patrick Sharp has already scored more post-season goals than regular season goals and Bryan Bickell has been a beast, netting 5 goals of his own.  Chicago’s D has been up and down, with too many turnovers against Detroit but overall they are the deeper team.  If they can get a few past quick and keep the Kings top line in check, Chicago can advance.  There will be a lot of 2-1 games in this series.  Hawks in 7.