The first round is always very exciting hockey and this year was no different. There were no bad games and al the series were very entertaining to watch. But the biggest surprise, for me anyway, was how many upsets there were. My predictions from a couple weeks ago were way off. I wasn't expecting to get the games played right, but I was expecting to pick the right teams. Now Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Boston are already out, all teams I picked to advance. The biggest reason for all the upsets has been goaltending with John Quick, Mike Smith and Braden Holtby stealing games for their teams and allowing them to advance. Their stellar play though makes choosing winners in round two (especially in the west) very difficult. Still I will try my best below now.
Western Conference
St. Louis Blues (2) vs LA Kings (8)
I had picked the Blues to win last round but seeing LA here is a big surprise. The Kings struggled scoring goals all year but the stellar play of John Quick in goal gave them a chance to win every night against the Canucks. They will need Quick to play great again though because the Blues are a tough team. St. Louis has a bunch of big bodies who can score on forward and their defence love to jump into the rush to help with the offence. Plus the Blues have arguably the best goaltending tandem in the NHL with Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak both playing spectacular. I liked watching LA play against Vancouver but the Blues are just to strong to lose this early.
Winner- St. Louis in 7.
Phoenix Coyotes (3) vs Nashville Predators (4)
Nashville easily dismantled the Red Wings in round one. I had predicted their victory but I did not expect them to dominate as much as they did. Phoenix won their first playoff series since moving from Winnipeg by beating Chicago in an upset. Like LA, Phoenix has to thank their goalie Mike Smith for getting them through. He shut down Chicago multiple times and kept his team in games that they were greatly out shot in. Nashville had similar play from Pekka Rinne but I had picked them before because of their deep position players. Watching their series allowed me to see rookie Roman Josi more. His strong play was just another weapon to go along with Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Alex Radulov and the Kostitsyn brothers. Though the Coyotes were impressive against the 2010 champions, Nashville is so deep and talented that I have to pick them.
Winner- Nashville in 6.
Eastern Conference
New York Rangers (1) vs Washington Capitals (7)
All the series in the Eastern Conference were close but the two series these teams won were really close. New York saw a scare when the eighth seeded Ottawa Senators took them to seven games and dominated the third period of that game. Washington and Boston played in seven, one goal games and Washington advanced on an overtime goal in the last game. This matchup, like the ones in the west will not be very high scoring because both teams play strong defensive games and have very good goalies. King Henrik for the Rangers kept his team alive against Ottawa and has all season, while Braden Holtby emerged from being the Capitals third string goalie to their new number. New York has an advantage when it comes to offensive depth, but with players like Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin on their roster, Washington has the potential to score too. I see the New York depth being to much for Holtby and the Caps and the Rangers moving on to round three.
Winner: New York in 5
Philadelphia Flyers (5) vs New Jersey Devils (6)
The Flyers came out flying (pun intended) against cross state rivals Pittsburgh and upset them in six games. The Devils were given a tough battle from the Florida Panthers and had to go to a double overtime game seven before advancing. Martin Brodeur is playing like his old self for the Devils and will need to play just as good moving forward. Ilya Bryzgalov started off slow against the Pens but shut them down in the last game to secure the series win. Claude Giroux emerged for the Flyers are a playoff performer recording 14 points while Daniel Briere also dominated with 5 goals and 8 points. After watching both of these teams play last round, it is clear Philly is more ready to go all the way. After easily upending a team in Pittsburgh that many had picked to win the Cup, Philly has proven they were underestimated.
Winner: Philadelphia in 5
The second round starts tonight with Nashville visiting Phoenix. I am extra curious to see which goalies keep playing so well, because some of them will eventually have to break. The West will also have an odd factor in their games: none of them have played since Monday. This rest could have positive or negative impacts on the West second round match ups and will be an interesting thing to watch for.
As always please comment below with your thoughts on these picks or by emailing josh@jbenny.com. If you want to read more of my writing you can visit my website, www.jbenny.com and follow me on twitter at @jbenny15. Thanks for reading.
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