Round 1 started with a roar, lots of great hits but I would assume the league cracked down on the ’shenanigans’ which is why most of the series that went past 4 games were pretty tame.  Calgary/Chicago was a beauty all the way through, but the rest that started out with a bang seemed to fizzle near the end.  So I’m 50/50 through the first round.  I knew it would be risky picking Calgary and Columbus but I really expected the Flames experience to pay off and didn’t expect Chris Osgood to actually be any good.

Oh well, on to round 2.Vancouver/Chicago (Canucks in 6):

Oh, this is going to be a beauty. Vancouver didn’t roll over the Blues like you would think being it was a sweep, that series was decided on bounces and was very tight.  I think Chicago had a much easier time with the Flames even though it went 6 games, but Vancouver will be tougher to play against.  Luongo won’t allow those 3 goal outbursts like Kipper did.   Tons of speed and skill will be on display during this round and in the end I think Vancouver has more depth and better goaltending.  Vancouvers downfall will be if they take the young Chicago team lightly.  The Hawks D is substantially better than the Blues and they have guys who can jump into the rush (Campell, Keith) so I think the Sedins and Wellwood will have less room to be creative this time around.  Both teams were fairly close in goals for and goals against this year, but I think the Canucks will come out on top.

Detroit/Anaheim (Ducks in 6):

I think the big forwards on the Ducks are going to give the Wings much more to handle compared to the Blue Jackets.  I was really surprised to see how well Hillar played and think he can out-duel Osgood, but the key factor will be that the Ducks will be crashing the crease whereas the Jackets played more of a defensive style.  Detroit’s forwards won’t be intimidated by the size, but if the Ducks can pound on them like they did against the Sharks, the Ducks will prevail.  This pick makes me nervous because Detroit is such a great team, but I still think Ozzy is going to falter somewhere along the line and Anaheim had a tough go around with the Sharks so I think that is a huge confidence booster for them, plus Pronger was outstanding against the Sharks.

Pittsburg/Washington (Pens in 6)

And so the circus starts, the media is already stirring up the Crosby vs Ovechkin hype.  The difference in this series will be goaltending.  Varlamov played great, but he played against a team that didn’t have a whole lot of skill.   Washington was lucky to win game 7 against the Rangers with the amount of giveaways and turnovers they had, it looked like they were skating in sand for most of the game.  Outside that one afternoon game route, the Pens have played extremely well and can roll more offensive lines than the Caps plus the one-two punch of Crosby/Malkin (both of which who are playing very well I might add).   The biggest mistake the Caps made is tyring to do too much one-on-one, I can’t remember how many times Semin, Ovechkin or Green tried to break the Rangers trap on a one-on-three or one-on-four rush.  It was crazy!  Playoff hockey is very simple, dump it in, get the puck, get in front of the next and shoot from the point.  I think the Pens have a better chance of doing that.  As for the hype, I hope it lives up, but I doubt it will.  If there are any ’shenanigans’ the league will clamp down and we’ll be stuck with no hitting again.

Boston/Carolina (Bruins in 7)

This is another one that makes me nervous only because Ward was amazing against New Jersey (and Brodeur was rather ordinary, that’s 2 years in a row he’s burned me).  I still think Boston has the perfect playoff team, great mix of size and skill along with Chara on defence and Thomas in goal, I just don’t see the Canes pulling this one off.   Outside a few big hits, the Devils didn’t really pound the Canes very much and that’ll be a different story with the Bruins.   Hopefully the long layoff isn’t a problem for the Bruins and Montreal did play very poorly so the Canes will be a better test.  I think the Canes will jump out to an early series lead, but the B’s will storm back and take it in 7.

Best Series:  Canucks/Hawks hands down.

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