Enough of the rif raff, lets get down to business. Here's what the opening round looks like for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We start with the Eastern Conference.
Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 14 Philadelphia Flyers 7:00 p.m Washington Capitals Verizon Center
April 16 Philadelphia Flyers 7:00 p.m Washington Capitals Verizon Center
April 18 Washington Capitals 7:00 p.m Philadelphia Flyers Wells Fargo Center
April 20 Washington Capitals 7:00 p.m Philadelphia Flyers Wells Fargo Center
April 22 Philadelphia Flyers TBD Washington Capitals Verizon Center
April 24 Washington Capitals TBD Philadelphia Flyers Wells Fargo Center
April 27 Philadelphia Flyers TBD Washington Capitals Verizon Center
This series should be good and their's quite a bit riding on it. For Washington, they have a few hurtles to get over in this years playoffs. As the Presidents Trophy winners, they were the best team in all of hockey, but they haven't gotten out of the 2nd round of the playoffs since 1998. And, the last time they won the Presidents Trophy, they were bounced by the Canadiens in the first round in seven, so they have that stigma hanging over their heads. The Caps have dominated all year, being the 2nd best scoring team in the league (behind only the Dallas Stars) and they have the 3rd best goals against per game during the season. Oh and they had the 4th best Powerplay and Penalty Kill during the year. Yes that is dominance beyond description when you can do that to other teams. you have the only 50 goal man in the league in Alex Ovechkin and when Braden Holtby posts 48 wins this year (tied for most in a single season) it means you have been really really good. And its not just those two guys, the entire team has been contributing from start to finish.
Philly on the other hand has had to claw and fight their way into the playoffs. Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux have been powering this offense in the city of brotherly love. Oh and some guy named Shayne Gostisbehere has been playing fantastic hockey since his call up in early November. Goaltending has been good in Philly, as Michal Neuvirth posted better numbers than starter Steve Mason. This team started the year off average at best and have turned it on ever since Gostisbehere has hit the scene. The big question here is can the Flyers keep this series close? If you look at it the Flyers gave up one more goals than they scored, while the Caps scored 57 more goals then they allowed. Washington has a deeper team than that of the Flyers. When you top defensive pair is Shayne Gostisbehere and Radko Gudas, and your going up against the top offensive team in all of the Eastern Conference, it could be a long series for the Flyers.
Pick: Capitals in 5
The other Metropolitan Division Matchup will have the 2nd seed Pittsburgh Penguins taking on the 3rd seed New York Rangers. The Pittsburgh Penguins finished second in the Metropolitan Division, earning 104 points. This marks the 10th year in a row that the Penguins have reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Pittsburgh is looking to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2013. As for the Rangers, they earned 101 points in the regular season to finish third in the Metropolitan. This now marks the 6th year in a row that the Rangers are playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, having reached at least the Eastern Conference Finals the last two years. This marks the 2nd year in a row the Rangers hit the 100 point mark, as they won the Presidents Trophy with 113 last year. Finishing 3rd this year was the lowest finish for the Rangers since 2011. This marks the seventh meeting between these teams, and the third meeting in three consecutive seasons, with Pittsburgh losing the last two but winning four of the six overall. They last met in last year's Eastern Conference First Round, which the Rangers won in five games. Pittsburgh won three of the four games during this year’s regular season series.
Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 13 New York Rangers 8:00 p.m Pittsburgh Penguins Consol Energy Center
April 16 New York Rangers 3:00 p.m Pittsburgh Penguins Consol Energy Center
April 19 Pittsburgh Penguins 7:00 p.m New York Rangers Madison Square Garden
April 21 Pittsburgh Penguins TBD New York Rangers Madison Square Garden
April 23 New York Rangers TBD Pittsburgh Penguins Consol Energy Center
April 25 Pittsburgh Penguins TBD New York Rangers Madison Square Garden
April 27 New York Rangers TBD Pittsburgh Penguins Consol Energy Center
The Penguins and Rangers usually play pretty spirited hockey each time they hook up. After a slow start, Pittsburgh finally woke up and started to turn around their season. All of this seemed to start when Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston behind the bench in December. Pittsburgh finished out the year as one of the NHL's hottest teams with an 8-2-0 record in its last 10 games, while captain Sidney Crosby climbed to third place in league scoring with 85 points. He was still able to do this without Evgeni Malkin, who is still out with his arm injury. No Marc-Andre Fleury to start the series could make things interesting for the Pens, even though when Fleury was healthy, he hasn't really performed very well in the playoffs the past couple of seasons. Both teams are dealing with injuries going into the series. Malkin, Fleury and goalie Matt Murray are all listed as questionable for this series, while the Rangers will be without their two best defenders in Ryan McDonagh and Dan Garadi.
New York will have a tall task ahead of it trying to cool down a Penguins team that went 19-92 in division this year. The Rangers did win six of their last seven games to close out the regular season. Yes this team has a lot of veteran experience, but outside of Henrik Lundqvist and Keith Yandle, they aren't really playing up to snuff. Rick Nash has been average at best, after coming off a fantastic year last year. Nash hasn't been able to really find a groove come playoff time the past two years (with all the money he got from the Rangers, you would hope he would be able to deliver when it matters most, right?), so they may have to rely on the young kids and the best goalie in the world to carry the load again. With that being said, this could be a short playoff year for the Rangers. They have proven people wrong in playoffs past so anything can happen. Still the Penguins have been red hot, as has the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby. Pittsburgh has a more balanced and deeper attack then the Rangers do at the moment and the Pens best players are really starting to play like it.
Pick: Penguins in 7
Here's the date and times for every game in this series:
April 14 New York Islanders 8:00 p.m Florida Panthers BB&T Center
April 15 New York Islanders 8:00 p.m Florida Panthers BB&T Center
April 17 Florida Panthers 7:30 p.m New York Islanders Barclays Center
April 20 Florida Panthers 8:00 p.m New York Islanders Barclays Center
April 22 New York Islanders TBD Florida Panthers BB&T Center
April 24 Florida Panthers TBD New York Islanders Barclays Center
April 26 New York Islanders TBD Florida Panthers BB&T Center
Its a battle of playoff futility in this series, both teams are trying to get out of playoff slumps. Florida hasn't won a round in the playoffs since their cup run in 1996, while the Islanders haven't won since 1993, so both teams are due for a win. Florida has a bit of cup experience on their roster, being lead by ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr, who at 44, continues to defy the odds and have a good career. He's won two cups and been in the post season many times. So to has goalie Roberto Luongo, who made an appearance in the finals in 2011, while playing with the Canucks. You can also throw in the experience of guys like Shawn Thornton and Jussi Jokinen. Combine that veteran leadership with a tremendous amount of young talent that includes guys like Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau makes this a tough team to beat. but the big question mark with Florida is that if the older, more veteran players aren't performing, can the young guys step up and handle the pressure of doing something they've never done before, and that's play in the playoffs.
As for the Islanders, they're looking to shake off last years performance in the loss to Washington in the opening round. The team came into the post season limping a little, missing a few of their key players. Travis Hamonic had missed last years series with Washington, but reports are that he'll be back on the blueline in time for game one of the series, which is a huge boost for New York. What helps make the Islanders go are transition and speed. If they can get solid goaltending and translate that into timely offense, there's a possibility they could win this series. But that's a big question mark. The team has been without their star netminder Jaroslav Halak since early March, and they won't get him back from injury until at least the 2nd round, if they make it that far. So a lot of the pressure falls on the shoulders of Thomas Greiss, who has played more games this season than in any other year of his career to this point. He's a little unproven this time of year, which may give Florida a bit of an edge. But all things considered, the Islanders have the more experienced and battle tested team come this time of year and I think that's what's going to push them over the edge.
Pick: Islanders in 6
Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 13 Detroit Red Wings 7:00 p.m Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 15 Detroit Red Wings 7:00 p.m Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 17 Tampa Bay Lightning 7:00 p.m Detroit Red Wings Joe Louis Arena
April 19 Tampa Bay Lightning 7:00 p.m Detroit Red Wings Joe Louis Arena
April 21 Detroit Red Wings TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 24 Tampa Bay Lightning TBD Detroit Red Wings Joe Louis Arena
April 26 Detroit Red Wings TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
What has to be a big surprise about this series is how low scoring both of these teams are. If you think about both Tampa and Detroit, you think of high scoring teams. Tampa's offensive numbers have been down this year. Steven Stamkos is going to be out for possibly the rest of the year with a blood clot in his arm. Tampa is really the walking wounded going into this series, as not only is Stamkos out, but Victor Hedman, Ryan Callahan, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson have all been sidelined with ailments that are being called day-to-day. One of the big things that's going to help Tampa out in this series is their goaltending. Ben Bishop has once again been a big contributor to the Lightning success, as they had the 5th best goals against average during the regular season.
When you think of the Red Wings, two things come to mind. The high powered offense and solid goaltending. Both have been on a bit of a slide this year. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk lead the wings in points this year, and Rookie Dylan Larkin was the teams leading goal scorer. Point production from all players has been down in the Motor City this year. Where the Red Wings have an advantage in this series is that they are much healthier than the Bolts are. But Detroit has bigger question marks. First has to be in goal. Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard have been average more often than not this year, with neither one being able to really lock down the starting job. So it does leave one to wonder how well the Wings are going to hold up. Even though Tampa is more injury riddled, they are still held together enough in net to give you confidence.
Pick: Lightning in 7
Now on to the Western Conference.
Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 14 Minnesota Wild 9:30 p.m Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 16 Minnesota Wild 8:00 p.m Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 18 Dallas Stars 8:30 p.m Minnesota Wild Xcel Energy Center
April 20 Dallas Stars 9:30 p.m Minnesota Wild Xcel Energy Center
April 22 Minnesota Wild TBD Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 24 Dallas Stars TBD Minnesota Wild Xcel Energy Center
April 26 Minnesota Wild TBD Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
This should be an interesting series. Dallas has been dominating teams in the West this year, as they were the highest scoring team in the entire league this year, scoring 265 goals this year (Washington was 2nd with 248). Yeah the Stars know how to put the puck in the back of the net. When you have Jamie Been, Tyler Seguin (who's dealing with an injury and no timetable on his return just yet), Jason Spezza and John Klingberg, just to name a few, you have yourself a solid hockey team. Benn finished with 41 goals, the first time a Star topped the 40-goal plateau since Hall of Famer Mike Modano scored 50 in 1993-94, which lets you know he was feeling it this year. As long as that offense doesn't dry up, which would mean more pressure has been put on Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi in goal, who have been average at best at times this year, the Stars should be able to control this series with its superior offense, special teams and puck possession.
Don't sleep on the Wild, they aren't a pushover. They are a good hockey team, with Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise leading the charge. If Minnesota wants to stand any chance in this series, goalie Devan Dubnyk will have to be out-of-his-mind good to keep this series close. Don't get me wrong, Dubnyk has been good, but there's a difference between last year and this. See last year, Dubnyk played out of his mind during the stretch run for the Wild, carrying them to their 2nd round matchup with the Hawks. This year, it hasn't been the case. Minneosta has been good this year, there's no denying that, but Dallas is just that much better than the Wild.
Pick: Stars in 5
Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 13 Chicago Blackhawks 9:30 p.m St. Louis Blues Scottrade Center
April 15 Chicago Blackhawks 8:00 p.m St. Louis Blues Scottrade Center
April 17 St. Louis Blues 3:00 p.m Chicago Blackhawks United Center
April 19 St. Louis Blues 9:30 p.m Chicago Blackhawks United Center
April 21 Chicago Blackhawks TBD St. Louis Blues Scottrade Center
April 23 St. Louis Blues TBD Chicago Blackhawks United Center
April 25 Chicago Blackhawks TBD St. Louis Blues Scottrade Center
St. Louis is going into this series looking for revenge. Chicago bounced the Blues two years ago, this after the Blues went up two games to none in that series. Vladamir Tarasenko has been killing it for the Blues this season, having scored 40 goals for the first time in his career. He is getting support from guys like David Backes, who was the only other Blues forward to score more than 20 goals this year. A big plus for the Blues this year has been the play of goalies Jake Allen, who has had a fantastic season in the nets. He won 26 games and has been coming in hotter than a wildfire going down the stretch.
As hot as a goalie can be, scoring depth should be able to win out and that's what the Hawks have. It also doesn't hurt when you have a potential league MVP in Patrick Kane in your lineup, as well as a strong contender for the Calder Trophy in Artemi Panarin. They have some minor questions in who can come in as the 4th defender to play along with Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Nicklas Hjalmarsson. Corey Crawford too has looked OK this year, but not great. Same thing happened too with Crawford last year in the playoffs, and Scott Darling just stepped in, held the fort down and got the ship righted until Crawford found his game again and became his old self. Tarasenko may be able to match Kane and company eventually, but he is not at that level this year and doesn't have the support from the other Blues. This will be a close series because of Jake Allen, but at the end of the day Chicago still has the deeper, more experienced team and that's going to be the key.
Pick: Blackhawks in 7
Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 15 Nashville Predators 10:30 p.m Anaheim Ducks Honda Center
April 17 Nashville Predators 10:30 p.m Anaheim Ducks Honda Center
April 19 Anaheim Ducks 9:30 p.m Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 21 Anaheim Ducks 8:00 p.m Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 23 Nashville Predators TBD Anaheim Ducks Honda Center
April 25 Anaheim Ducks TBD Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 27 Nashville Predators TBD Anaheim Ducks Honda Center
This should be a good series, with most catagories favoring the Ducks. They had the best special teams in the league, the top power play and top penalty kill. Oh yeah, they also had the lowest goals against in the league at 2.32 against per game. The goalie duo of John Gibson and Frederik Andersen deserve a good chunk of the credit. A lot of cdredit does desereve to go to a very good blue-line corps. Anaheim got off to a rough start this year, going 1-9 to begin the year. The fact that they are standing here now, with a division title in their back pocket, is a testament to the coaching of Bruce Boudreau. Midway through a season that was looking lost, Boudreau changed the way his team played and focused on defense-first. Yeah, I think its worked out pretty well. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf turned their games on as the season went on, which was a big help.
Nashville is a better offensive team than in years past but if Anaheim plays up to its No. 1-ranked defensive ways, this is the X factor in the series. Lets not sleep on the Preds here. If Pekka Rinne is on his game, he can match the Anaheim goalie, whoever he turns out to be, save for save. If not, this could be a long series for the Preds. Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, James Neal, and Shea Weber have been carrying the offensive load for the Preds. If they want to have any chance in this series, they need the secondary scoring. Nashville can hang in this series, of this I have no doubt, but Ahaneim has been hotter than a wildfire the 2nd half of the year and are going to be too much for the Preds to handle. Sure the Preds are an underdog and underdogs can do amazing things come post season play, but the Ducks are going to be too good.
Pick: Ducks in 6
Here's the date and times of the games in this series:
April 14 San Jose Sharks 10:30 p.m Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
April 16 San Jose Sharks 10:30 p.m Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
April 18 Los Angeles Kings 10:30 p.m San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 20 Los Angeles Kings 10:30 p.m San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 22 San Jose Sharks TBD Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
April 24 Los Angeles Kings TBD San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 26 San Jose Sharks TBD Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
The battle of California should be fun to watch. Jonathan Quick has been playing out of his mind in the 2nd half of the year, putting himself right in the discussion for the Vezna Trophy as the league's top goaltender. they also have some guy named Drew Doughty, who has been playing like the best defender in the leauge. He's going to draw the assignment in this series of going head-to-head with Sharks veteran center Joe Thornton, who had yet another outstanding season. If Doughty wins that matchup, it goes a long way to ensure a Kings win. The Kings also win if Quick gets the better of his pupil Martin Jones in goal. Offensively, the 1-2 punch of Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter down the middle is one heck of a handful for almost anyone, making them so difficult to match up against.
San Jose is no slouch, they do still have Joe Thornton, who granted hasn't played at the level he once did, is still one of the best players in the league. Martin Jones is going to be tested in this series, but he has shown this year he can handle the workload of being a number one goalie. His backup James Reimer has been playing well since coming to San Jose, so there is something in place to support Jones if he faulters at all in this series. On paper, these teams matchup pretty evenly, but the edge is where it matters most, and that's in the goaltending department. Jones is good but Jonathan Quick he isn't
Pick: Kings in 7
So there you have it, the predictions for the opening round of the playoffs!
(Note: All predictions were made BEFORE the start of the playoffs)
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