NHL Western Conference Semifinals

This again is a guest written post by my old friend Bryan Miller, who really knows his stuff on the NHL and really the Western Conference. He follows it a lot more closely than I. But, first allow us to look back and see how both Bryan and I fared in our picks for the NHL Quarterfinal round.  Bryan got half of his picks right, with the Blues and Preds moving on to the Semifinals. He did get the number of games wrong however in the  Nashville/Detroit series. As he predicted seven, and it only took five for the Preds to get their first ever series win in the playoffs. But, in the St. Louis/San Jose series, he hit the nail right on the head with St. Louis easily outlasting San Jose for their first trip to the Western Conference Semifinals since the 2002 season when they lost to the Red Wings. Then, he got the Vancouver/Los Angeles series wrong, predicting Vancouver should move on in six games, while he got the number of games correct with six, the Kings prevailed, and rather easily as a matter of fact. Vancouver is definitely more of a regular season team rather than a playoff team. So, they are essentially the Philadelphia Eagles of hockey, do pretty well in Regular season, but fail in postseason. He also got the Phoenix/Chicago series all wrong, as the Coyotes move on in the playoffs for the first time since 1987, when the team was known as the original Winnipeg Jets. Chicago suffered their second consecutive losing effort in the playoffs after winning the cup in 2010.
Now, as far as I fared, well, I fared pretty much the same, going 2-2, with getting the Devils and Rangers correct, but going way off in the number of games, as I had the Rangers in five, and the Devils sweeping. Both of those series went seven games. But, nobody had any clue that the Flyers would pretty much dominate the team most considered to be the favorite in the East the Penguins the way they did. Philadelphia really showed up and completely annihilated the Penguins in three of their four victories. It also didn't help the Penguins cause that they failed to play defense most of the time as well. Finally, the Bruins just seemed very sluggish and thinking they could cruise through the Capitals and try to become the first back to back champions of the NHL since the 97-98 Red Wings. But, also give Washington credit, as they have been playing a lot better since the All-Star break and have been playing much better defense all around. But, as far as the picks for the East are concerned, those will have to wait until later tonight or early tomorrow. Here are the Western Conference previews!

Now, NBC I'm sure isn't too pleased with how the West has turned out, having most of the teams below the Mason-Dixon line, with the exception of the Blues. But, they do have one big market left in Los Angeles, and they are really pulling for them to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since they had Wayne Gretzky in 1993.

Western Conference Semifinals

#2 St. Louis Blues Vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings
The blues and kings both ousted their opponents in 5 games. In the regular season the kings won the series 3-1, but 2 of those win were before Ken Hitchcock took over and made the blues who they are now. This one comes down to how well Jonathan Quick plays in this series. I think he will steal at least 2 games for the kings. 

Prediction: #2 St. Louis Blues in 7

#3 Phoenix Coyotes Vs. #4 Nashville Predators

Mike Smith proved how valuable he is last series against the blackhawks. He will be a big part of the coyotes success in the series with Nashville. Nashville got over the hump and finally defeated the Red Wings in the playoffs. They have so many weapons of their team that people wouldn't know too much about. Getting Radulov back from russia put a huge boost on the team and they haven't slowed down since.

Prediction: #4 Nashville Predators in 6

Just a side note that none of these four teams never won a Stanley Cup which is nice to see. I wouldn't mind seeing any of these 4 teams in the finals. Thanks Pete again for letting me write this and looking forward to writing again for him soon.