NHL Quarterfinal Preview

The second season, literally, is about to begin. This second season goes from mid-April until mid-June and for those lucky two teams, it will all be worth it once they raise the most prestigious trophy in all of sports, Lord Stanley's Cup. Plus, these teams will have played at the minimum of 16 games and the maximum of 28 games in addition to preseason games and the grueling 82 game regular season, it's just amazing how these athletes are in that good of shape. But, there will be eight series starting between tonight and Thursday, and with the NHL's new television deal, every single game will be on one of four networks, NBC Sports Network, NBC, CNBC, and the NHL Network. So, there is no excuse for a true hockey fan that you could not watch your favorite team. And, like last year, my friend Bryan Miller will be previewing the Western Conference, while I, your humble blogger will be previewing the Eastern Conference.

Eastern Conference

No. 1 New York Rangers vs. No. 8 Ottawa Senators, Sens won season series, 3-1, with one win coming via shootout.

While Ottawa may have won the battle during the regular season, New York will win this "war" in the postseason, as the Rangers really have come into this season with the attitude of winning it all. New York really has everything going for it as well, with an amazing goalie in Henrik Lundqvist, and then scorers aplenty with Ryan Callahan, Brad Richards, Marion Gaborik, and Brandon Dubinsky to name a few.

Pick: Rangers in 5.

No. 2 Boston Bruins vs. No. 7 Washington Capitals, Caps won season series, 3-1

Washington has always been a stellar regular season team, winning the Southeast division, and even a Presidents' trophy within the past five years, but, when it comes to playoff time, the Caps cannot make a run. Whether it be their former coach in Bruce Boudreau, or their goaltending, or the fact that Alex Ovechkin cannot score worth his life, the Caps just cannot seem to pull through. Plus, why not go with the defending champs? They are back in the playoffs for a reason and the fact that they won their division makes it even more remarkable.

Pick: Bruins in 6.

No. 3 Florida Panthers vs. No. 6 New Jersey Devils, Teams split four game series, 2-2.

This series is the most ripe for a sweep in my mind, as Florida came up out of nowhere to win the southeast and is in the playoffs for the first time since before the lockout. For those of you not remembering, that's a really long time ago. Plus, Florida lost 8 of their last 10 games entering the playoffs. While New Jersey was the fourth place team in an incredibly tough division, and they've got plenty of firepower and experience.

Pick: New Jersey in a sweep.

No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers, Flyers won season series, 4-2, with one being in a SO.

Teams hate each other, will be plenty of fights, plenty of goals, and expect overtime aplenty as well as this series to go seven games. These two teams are very evenly matched, there are plot lines throughout the series, but these teams just have a rivalry which will just be escalated in the playoffs.

Pick: as much as I hate to do it, ugh, Pens in 7.

Western Conference

#1 Vancouver Canucks Vs. Los Angles Kings

I love this matchup. LA has to produce goals in this series if they are going to have a chance. Daniel Sedin is out for the first game battling injury so LA has to advantage of him not being there. Jonathan Quick is the key to this series. If he is on his game like he has been all year long the Kings have a serious chance to steal this series. I still think that the Canucks have too much chemistry and talent to blow this.

Result: Vancouver Canucks in 6

#2 St. Louis Blues Vs. #7 San Jose Sharks

Ken Hitchcock took this team that started 2-8 and turned them into one of the best teams in the league with his style of play. The Sharks are going to have to produce big numbers from their top line otherwise they will have no chance in this series. St. Louis has the best goaltending in the league right now with Billy Elliot having a gaa of 1.46 which is insane and Halak having a gaa of 1.97. I have a strong feeling that this series is over before it even started unfortunately for the San Jose Sharks. There is too much talent on St. Louis across the board.

Result: St. Louis Blues in 5


#3 Phoenix Coyotes Vs. #6 Chicago Blackhawks

Mike Smith carried the Coyotes all year long during the regular season and he will have to do the same in the playoffs for Phoenix to win this series. Chicago is still will need their captain Jonathan Toews to get lead his team on the ice. This series is going to go the distance and going to be an exciting series to watch. Watch out for the guys under the radar to make or break this series for each team. For Phoenix it is Radim Vrbata and for Chicago it is ViKtor Stalberg. Each will be key to their teams winning.

Result: Chicago in 7

#4 Nashville Predators Vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings

Nashville has had an impressive season with the best power play in the league, great goaltending, and getting back Alexander Radulov from Russia. Detroit set 2 nhl records this year making the playoffs for 21 straight years and winning 23 straight home games which are both incredible and didn't have their starting goalie and top players for some of that 23 game home win streak. This is going to be my favorite series of the playoffs two of the most talented teams in the league battling it out with great stars like Shea Weber and Ryan Suter for Nashville and Niclas Lindstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg for Detroit. This year I think Nashvile finally gets over the hump and gets their first playoff series win.


Result: Nashville Predators in 7


Note from Bryan: Thanks to Pete for letting me write again for him and hope you all enjoy what I had to say.


And, may all of you enjoy playoff hockey!