If you haven't been keeping up with the Stanley Cup Playoffs, shame on you! You've missed quite possibly some of the best hockey the Conference Quarterfinals have ever seen. For starters, there has been overtime hockey nine straight nights in a row. There's nothing better than overtime hockey, it keeps you on the edge because one mistake leads to the demise of a team, one odd man rush save can deflate a team there's nothing like it. On top of the overtime streak, we had four series go the full seven games including the Canucks-Blackhawks series which saw Chicago come back from 3-0 only to lose in a heartbreaking Game 7 and the Penguins-Lightning series which saw Tampa come back to win from down 3-1. And if I may brag here before the Law of Averages comes crashing down on me heavily, I went 8-0 in my Quarterfinal predictions and called four of the series down to the games it would go which means my Sharks over Bruins Stanley Cup Finals is still intact. Let's get to the Conference Semis matchups:
Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals v 5. Tampa Bay Lightning - The Capitals went 4-1-1 this season against the team that almost dethroned them from their division title. In their last series the Caps had showed us that they were no longer the choke artists they had been in years past by playing great defense and getting even better goaltending. They allowed eight goals in their five game series with the Rangers and rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth had a 1.38 GAA and a .946 save percentage while posting one shutout. In his career Neuvirth has never lost a series, winning back-to-back Calder Cups in the AHL and now winning his first NHL series. The Caps definitely have the skill and goaltending to matchup well with the Lightning.
The Lightning fell behind 3-1 in the Quarterfinal matchup with the Penguins then they came striking back winning 8-2 and 4-2 to force Game 7 which they won 1-0 in Pittsburgh. The Lightning have some great skill and scorers on this team but those guys need to show up as Martin St. Louis had 4 goals and 4 assists in the series. Steven Stamkos can't wait for Game 5 to show up in this series because if he does, he might be the only one showing up to it. The line of Sean Bergenheim-Dominic Moore-Steve Downie was a great third line down the final games for the Bolts. If they want to win they'll need to be effective on the penalty kill (34 for 35 in the series with Pittsburgh) but they'll also need to stay out of it too. They can't afford to give the Caps 35 power plays and win this series. One has to wonder how much the seven game series took out of the 41-year old Dwayne Roloson? One stat to remember, Rollie the goalie is now 6-0 when starting in elimination games for his team.
Ultimately the Caps are too much for the Bolts and win in 5.
2. Philadelphia Flyers v 3. Boston Bruins - The Flyers got all they could handle from Ryan Miller and the Sabres but advanced in 7. One glaring question for the Flyers is how confident are they in their goalies? Philly used three different goalies in this series and they all made at least one start while Brian Boucher eventually started and won Game 7. The Flyers went 1-3-0 against the B's in the regular season but they have to be happy to see Boston the way their power play is performing as the Flyers killed only 75% good for 12th in the playoffs. Getting Chris Pronger back is huge for the Flyers and Jeff Carter is questionable for Round 2 with a knee injury.
The Boston Bruins became the first team in history to win a 7 game series without scoring a power play goal going 0 for 21 in their series with Montreal. If the B's hope to advance they're going to have to figure the power play out and take advantage because Philly's forwards are a bit more talented than Boston's. Tim Thomas appears to be back on his game after a rough start to the series for Boston but the bad news is the team could start the series without defenseman Andrew Ference for his questionable hit he put on Jeff Halpern in Game 7. Boston is 3-0 in overtime games this post season.
In a tough, gritty series Boston wins in 7.
Western Conference
1. Vancouver Canucks v 5. Nashville Predators - The Vancouver Canucks were one goal away from blowing a 3-0 series lead and becoming the fourth team to do so. Alex Burrows made sure that didn't happen as the Canucks recovered to win Game 7 2-1 in overtime. Not only that but after a horrible three game spell, Roberto Luongo seemed to return to form as he made a big save early in the overtime when the team was shorthanded. One thing the Canucks need to do is to get Ryan Kesler going as he was held without a goal and only had 4 assists, they'll also need him to shutdown Mike Fisher the way he shutdown Jonathan Toews. The Canucks finally beat the Hawks in the playoffs as the last two years the Hawks were the team to bounce Vancouver from the playoffs.
For the first time in their 12 years of existence, the Nashville Predators finally advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Now they have the task of beating the NHL's top team in Vancouver to make their first Western Conference Finals. For that to happen, the Preds are going to need goalie Pekka Rinne to steal them a couple of games. Rinne who was outstanding in the regular season was hardly ordinary in the first round posting a 3.29 GAA with a .876 save percentage. Shea Weber and Ryan Suter draw the task of shutting down the Sedin twins which is no easy task. Good news for the Preds, they went 2-2-0 in the regular season with the Canucks.
Canucks take this in 6.
2. San Jose Sharks v 3. Detroit Red Wings - In their series with LA, the Sharks at times looked like a team that could win the Stanley Cup and looked like a team that still hasn't shed that choke artist label. Well they shed and in a big way. Joe Thornton who has been a big reason for past chokes scored the OT winner and series ender in Game 6 in Los Angeles. The Sharks might be the deepest team in the playoffs when it comes to forwards. Joe Pavelski, Dany Heatley and Ryan Clowe led the team through the series in goals but seven other guys scored for the Sharks as well. Goalie Antti Niemi showed he's not rock solid getting pulled twice but he did go 3-0-0 against the Wings with a .935 save percentage in the regular season. This matchup could come down to the Sharks power play vs the Wings penalty kill. The Sharks went 2 for 23 in the first round while the Wings PK was torched for 6 goals in 18 kills.
The Wings came into the playoffs battered and facing a tough challenge in Phoenix but quickly disposed of them in 4 games hardly trailing at all in the series. With 8 days off between games the Wings have gotten healthy and should have both Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen for the start of this series. 13 different guys scored in the 4 game series against Phoenix which is good news because the Wings can't rely on Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to carry this team alone if they want to advance. Another thing they'll need to do is stay physical, last year the Sharks took the fight to the Wings and eventually knocked them out in 5 games. Guys like Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader and Todd Bertuzzi have to lead the Wings in a battle to win the tough pucks in corners. One last thing is stay out of the box and improve the PK, killing only 66.7% of the penalties they took in round one was bad. Penalties last year help lead to the Wings downfall. Jimmy Howard posted a 2.50 GAA with a .920 save percentage, he allowed only 4 goals in full strength situations in round one.
The homer in me wants to say Wings in 6 after round one but I have to stick with the team I took to win it all and say Sharks in 7.
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