Thursday, April 30, 2009

2nd Round Playoff Predictions

Greetings one and all to the predictions for the 2nd round of the NHL's playoffs. This time Jeff, the Coin, and I will be joined by Troy, who has been seamlessly added to the logo...



New to this prediction this round is this blogs frequent prognosticator, Troy.

Troy Says: Well, I must say that after my very long sabbatical it is great to be back in the greatest blog on the internet. I like to thank both of my fans for all their support while I was away. Now lets get to the picks...

With a total score of 4, for getting 3 series right and one at the correct length is this blog's namesake...

Glen Says: Well, it was a bit of a rough first round for me. While I knew that there would be some upsets, I called the wrong ones, as my gamble picks of St. Louis, Montreal, and Columbus failed to come through for me, while my top ranked predictions of San Jose and New Jersey failed me. That's right, after the first round I was a dismal 3-5, with only Pittsburgh, Washington, and Chicago coming through for me.

Ahh well, there is always next round, which poses some VERY interesting match-ups, as we have the last two Stanley Cup champions coming toe-to-toe (which hasn't happened since 1991), two tough teams that ended their regular season contests with an intense brawl, a team of destiny going up against a giant, and of course the first Crosby-Ovechkin playoff meeting. The first round did not disappoint, and the second round looks to be even more intriguing.

Going 4-4, which included a perfect Eastern Conference prediction, and 0-4 in the West is the 1RMB Coin, which had to be silenced for obvious political reasons.

Fairing much better was an actual human, Jeff, who went 5-3 on predictions, and correctly guessed the amount of time it would take both Detroit and Chicago to win, bringing his total points to 7.

Jeff Says: So the first round did not go as planned....seems every year is supposed to be San Jose's year, and yet again they exit early. Maybe we will all learn our lesson and never pick them to win again....probably not. They did run into Anaheim that is well, a really good team with a terrible regular season record. Lets be honest, Anaheim is a power house, they slept all year and are waking up at just the right time. Poor SJ. Remember when I picked Joe Thornton to be MVP........As for my Blues, I expected more of a fight from them. Although the series was not a blow out, I wish they could have at least won one game. Young team, they'll be back. Philly, such a dissapointment. Last year they did wonders for me, this year, not so much. Everything else went as planned however....even if it was tight.

As for round two, there are some interesting match-ups that will have me glued to the tv for sure i think. Lets get started.....

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#2. Detroit Red Wings vs. #8. Anaheim Ducks

Troy Says:
Well well well Detroit....time to face the music. How great would it be to see the 8th place Ducks knock out the defending champs....again? It would be fantastic. And the truly great thing about this is that I actually believe they have a decent shot of doing it. The play of super-rook Bobby Ryan has been great and one of Detroit's greatest strengths (besides an insanely good offense) is playoff experience and knowing how to win the big games but that strength is shared by Anaheim as well.

Anaheim may be an 8th place team but they definitely don't play like one.

Prediction: Anaheim in 7.


Glen Says:
Well last round I was totally convinced that the Wings would screw up, and I want to pick against them so badly. The Ducks are good, don't let that #8 in front of them cloud your view, they have a ton of talent, however so do the Wings. The last two times that these teams have met the Ducks have won, and moved onto the finals as a result. Even though it pains me to say so, I see the 2008 Champion defeating the 2007 Champion, in what should be a hell of a series.

Prediction: Detroit in 6

Coin Says:
Detroit in 7

Jeff Says:
Anaheim is a monster this year just like Dallas was last year. A sleeping giant that nobody really thought much of because of a lackluster series. They have all the tools to win the cup just like they did years ago. I think that they could go very far in these playoffs.....however they are facibng Detroit and will not go any farther....sorry guys......Detroit wins this one......and eventually probably the Cup again.......nuff said....

Prediction: Detroit wins in 5

#3. Vancouver Canucks vs. #4. Chicago Blackhawks

Troy Says: Well since two of my favourite teams (Montreal and Calgary) both decided that they'd rather play golf than hockey I've now fully jumped on the Canucks' bandwagon. Luongo is one of those goalies that can not only steal a game, but he can outright steal a series. Vancouver had no business sweeping St. Louis in the first round but thanks to Luongo that's exactly what happened. This is going to be a very tough series though because Chicago's young talent is incredible and up to this point they don't seem to be shaken by the pressure that comes along with being under the playoff spotlight.

I think Chicago is the better team here but not by a huge margin so I'm going to take Vancouver on the strength of their captain, Luongo.

Prediction: Vancouver in 6.

Glen Says:
How much does the league want Chicago to be in the finals against either Pittsburgh or Washington? I am really torn on how to asses the Hawks performance in the first round, did they play well, or did Calgary just play bad? While it's impressive that the Hawks came back so many times to win, the Flames were almost out of defensemen by the end of the series. And with all due respect to the Flames goalie, he's no Roberto Luongo. The real test for the Hawks is how they can perform when they are down in a series, which never happened against the Flames. I just don't see them being able to rally back after Luongo steals a game, which is bound to happen a few times.

Prediction: Vancouver in 6

Coin Says: Chicago in 7

Jeff Says:
This is a tough series to call. Both teams are fast and physical and have great goaltending. They both beat teams rather easily, well, Calgary put up more of a fight, but Vancouver played well and weathered a couple St.Louis storms. Luongo seems to be hot right now so look out. I am really not sure who is going to win this one. I can only expect that each team will win their share of games. I wanna say this will go to 7 however I think one goalie will make sure that does not happen.....and I think that goalie is going to be Luongo.

Prediction: Vancouver wins in 6

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#1. Boston Bruins vs. #6. Carolina Hurricanes

Troy Says: Before I talk about this series I would like to say something to Carolina's last opponent, New Jersey, about what it feels like to lose a game 7 with very little time left in the game .....ahem.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... now you know what the 2003 Ottawa Senators feel like suckers!! New Jersey was actually WINNING with 80 seconds left! BAHAHAHAHAHA!!! But I digress...time to talk about Boston vs Carolina. I think this will be a tough series and I'm almost not sure who to go with but since Glen pays me....well....let's face it...A LOT of money to make predictions I will do just that. I will take Carolina for two reasons...Firstly....Boston sucks and nobody likes them and Two....Cam Ward is 3-0 in game 7s and I think

Carolina is strong enough to push this series to the limit.

Prediction: Carolina in 7.


Glen Says: Easily the most difficult series to predict. Boston looked completely dominant against Montreal, while Carolina looked to be as much of a "Team of Destiny" in the first round as imaginable, seriously, who scores a goal with 0.2 seconds left, what is this basketball? Also, down by 1 with 80 seconds to play against the greatest goalie of all time, only to come back and win. That happens? Carolina's emotional high, coupled with Boston's lull, should propel the Canes to an early charge, which should give them at least a split in the first two games in Boston. Then, at the end of the day, it's all up in the air from there. Both teams match up very well, with a strong work ethic, a balanced attack, and phenomenal goaltending. I think that the Bruins are going to be realyl special in no time, but I'm going to give it to the team of destiny on this one.

Prediction: Carolina in 7.

Coin Says: Carolina in 7.

Jeff Says: One of the hottest teams of the second half won game 7 in a minute and a half....what a game that was. Now they face the Bruins who are rested and well prepared. Carolina has a great team, they are playing well, and they are fast. Boston has a solid all round team that can beat you up and make you pay on the score board. I like Carolina, and hope they do well, however, I think Boston will take this series. Their goaltending is top notch and they have the scoring and defence to shut down Staal and Whitney. It could be a good series, and I hope it is, but oston takes this on. (Remember when Paul Maurice was fired as head coach by a certain team not to be named.....shucks.....he must really look back and complain about that)

Prediction: Boston wins in 6


#2. Washington Capitals vs. #4. Pittsburgh Penguins


Troy Says: This will be an AMAZING series and you know the NHL is lovin' this! My gut is telling me that Pittsburgh will pull out to a 3-1 series lead and then blow it but these are definitely not the same teams that met frequently in the early to mid 90s. If you look overall I think you'd have to say Pittsburgh is the better team here. They have a better offense, a deeper defense and stronger goaltending. Simeon Varlomov is still an unknown at this point and although we've seen Fleury be shaky at times we've also seem him stand on his head and steal games that Pittsburgh had no business winning. In this edition of the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry (the best player rivalry in a long time) I'm taking Crosby. I think last year's run to the finals will really pay off this year for the Penguins.

Prediction: Pittsburgh in 6.

Glen Says: Here we have the main event of main events. Crosby and Ovechkin are going to do something that Gretzky and Lemieux never did, meet in the playoffs. Needless to say, the entire hockey world is drooling over this one. This is going to be a wide open, end to end series, and at the end of the day, it's sad that only one of these teams can move on. All that being said, I don't expect this series to last seven games, because quite frankly, the Penguins are too good here. Sure the Caps won three straight, and rookie sensation Simeon Varlamov has been playing great, allowing only 7 goals in his 6 games, but he never had to face Crosby or Malkin in the last round. The Rangers offense is really quite weak, and I just don't think that he can match those numbers against the Pens. This should be a very high scoring series, but I think that Fleury has more in him to shut the door, and the Pens should be able to move on here.

Prediction: Pittsburgh in 5


Coin Says: Pittsbugh in 5

Jeff Says: This is going to be a great series to watch. Three maybe 4 or 5 of the bestplayers in the league this year are in this series with Wshington owning 3 of them. I think these two teams match up well. They both have scoring from both the forwards and the defence. Pitt is deeper but Washington didn't finish as hig in the standings as they did because they suck. Ovie will e fired up in this series as his rivalry with Sid the Kid and Malkin will make him want to one up them. I picked Washington to make it to the finals and I am sticking with that prediction. Hoping the goaltending stands up.....

Prediction: Washington in 6.

Let's see how this one unfolds...

Until next time,

G

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