After the grueling regular season of 82 games, and with the last month seemingly dragging along, we have reached the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is what all hockey players long to hoist above their heads in June, the nearly 3 foot long trophy and nearly 35 pound trophy which is coveted by all players to hold at least once in their lives. There are again 16 teams vying for the chance to be the champions of the NHL, including the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. There is also their opponent from the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, the Philadelphia Flyers. There are really no shocking teams in this year's playoff field except for perhaps the Tampa Bay Lightning, who failed to make the playoffs last season. But, the Lightning are a very dangerous team in the playoffs. Finally, there will be two people previewing the playoffs, myself and Bryan Miller, my friend from all the way back in middle school who absolutely adores the sport. I will be previewing and breaking down the Eastern Conference matchups while Bryan will be previewing the Western Conference. Allow the excitement and tension to begin!
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Washington Capitals vs. No. 8 New York Rangers
This is a rematch of the 2009 first round where the Rangers let a 3-1 lead slip away and the Caps won their only series with Alex Ovechkin thus far. Ovechkin, Mike Knuble, Alexander Semin and the rest of the Caps offense will have a tough task trying to score on Henrik Lunqvist, who is one of the top five goalies in the league right now. Washington also does not want to be known as the San Jose Sharks of the Eastern Conference. A team where they are consistently good in the regular season, but continually bomb out in the playoffs. Washington also is trusting a very young, but talented goalie in Michal Neuvirth. Neuvirth is in the rookie of the year discussion, as he posted 27 wins, tied for third among all rookies. Washington is also very hot, capturing 33 out of a possible 40 since a 6-0 drubbing from the same Rangers in February. New York is coming in rocky, and is looking for Lundqvist to keep up a pace which just seems unreasonable. Lundqvist has had to start the Rangers last 26 games, as backup Marty Biron has a broken collarbone. While this will be a tough back and forth series, I think Lundqvist and the Rangers will start to see fatigue settle in, with the Caps winning.
Pick: Caps in 6.
No. 2 Philadelphia Flyers vs. No. 7 Buffalo Sabres
Philly has really been scuffling, as they lost the number one seed to the Capitals, and have not been able to hold a lead in any game they have played recently. Philadelphia has not won back to back games since March 8 and 10, and those weren't even against playoff teams. Their last win over a playoff team came March 29 against the Penguins, in which they almost had to win to control their own destiny in the Atlantic Division. Buffalo meanwhile has been on fire since the calendar turned to 2011, going 28-11-6 since January 1.
These two teams certainly have a history with one another in the playoffs, as they have met eight times previously, with Philly holding a 5-3 overall lead in the playoffs. These two teams are rivals, and it will be a hard fought series, but it will not even come close to a seventh game, as Buffalo will control the game and have Ryan Miller in net. Miller is the guy who put the United States on his back in the 2010 Olympics and lead them to a Silver medal, a team which most considered longshots to even medal. Miller will definitely slow down the Flyers to less than two goals a game in the series. Philadelphia fans, suffice to say, will have to wait until next year...again.
Pick: Sabres in 5.
No. 3 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 Montreal Canadiens
This is the best rivalry in the NHL. These are two original six franchises who just plain despise one another. This is the third time in the last four seasons in which these two teams have met in the first round of the playoffs. The teams split the first two series, and this seems to be the rubber match. This series also has the extra incentive because of the memorable hit earlier this season Zdeno Chara put on Max Pacioretty. Chara intentionally put Pacioretty into a pole, breaking Pacioretty's neck and giving him a severe concussion. So, needless to say, this is going to be a very hard hitting, violent series. The team which eventually comes out of this will certainly be feeling some after effects heading into the second round.
Although Boston is very physical and can hit with the best of them, and Montreal is very much one to avoid hits, they'd rather play the game with speed and finesse, it will be which one of these wins out in the end. Montreal will also try and keep Tim Thomas, who is probably the lead candidate for the Vezina trophy (top goalie) off balance at least a little bit. In the end though, gotta go with the more physical and better goaltending team and go with the Bruins.
Pick: Bruins in 7.
No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning
This is probably the most difficult series to predict, especially when nobody outside the Penguin organization knows anything about the status of the best player in the league, Sidney Crosby. Crosby has been out for the better part of the year, as he has suffered a concussion, and the Penguins do not want to risk losing the best player in the league forever, so it is right to be taking baby steps with Crosby. But, the Pens have been playing remarkably well without him, only losing to the Flyers because the Pens lost the season series. Pittsburgh has been playing offense, mainly with puck possession, holding the puck in their own offensive zone for as long as they possibly can. Meanwhile, Tampa has a ton of offensive firepower, with two of the top five scorers in all of the NHL this season with Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis.
These two teams offer two very different goalies as well. Tampa has rugged journeyman veteran Dwayne Roloson, who led the Edmonton Oilers to an improbable Stanley Cup Final run in 2006. Roloson was acquired from the Isles in January, and it sure has paid off, as Roloson has gone 18-13-1 since he came down south. Pittsburgh has Marc-Andre Fleury, who is again, a top of the line goalie, who is only 26. It'll be interesting to see how Roloson compares to Fleury between the pipes. Pittsburgh has played exceedingly well, and I think they'll be able to sneak by the inexperienced Lightning.
Pick: Pittsburgh in 7.
Western Conference
#1 Vancouver Canucks Vs. #8 Chicago Blackhawks
Daniel Sendin was crowned the Art Ross Trophy and Roberto Luongo and Cory Schnieder won the William S. Jennings Trophy. So on paper it looks like the Canucks have the upper hand. I believe this will be a hard fought battle back and forth. In the long run though Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks will win this series. They seems to know the way to beat the Canucks year in and year out. I feel the defending Stanley Cup Champs will once again be a thorn in the sides of the Canucks.
Pick: Chicago Blackhawks in 7
#2 San Jose Sharks Vs. #7 Los Angles Kings
With the addition of Ante Niemi and the surge of Logan Couture the San Jose Sharks look to be going strong and are getting contributions from all over. Los Angeles is looking for Drew Doughty and the return of Anze Kopitar to help them jump into the 2nd round of the playoffs for conseutive years. I feel that LA will pull it in the end and San Jose will stuggle with the bad playoff preformances.
Pick: Los Angles Kings in 7
#3 Detroit Red Wings Vs. Phoenix Coyotes
Rematch of last year's first round battle that took 7 games for Detroit to be Detroit again. Phoenix has had another year full of surprises. Great young talent in Keith Yandel and lead by veteran Shane Doan. Detroit always led by crafty veteran Nickolas Lindstrom and talents like Henrik Zetterberg. Proves to be a great battle once again. I still feel Detroit has the upper hand.
Pick: Detroit Red Wings in 6
#4 Anaheim Ducks Vs. #5 Nashville Predators
This one is a very interesting matchup since both teams were battling for the 7th and 8th spots not even 2 weeks ago. Anaheim surprised a lot of people with great play without star goaltender Jonas Hiller. Without Hiller, everyone counted them out. The outstanding play of Corey Perry reaching the 50 goal mark and winning the Richard scoring trophy put the critics to rest. Nashville just went under the rader all year long ,but seems to just take it one game at a time led by star defenseman Shae Weber. Anaheim has the upper hand by far in my books.
Pick: Anaheim Ducks in 5
Note from Bryan: Thank you all for reading and hope you enjoy my little input On Pete's Blog and thank you Pete for letting me write this.
Coming up on Thursday, I will write incredibly short previews and give predictions in the NBA playoffs.
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