Stanley Cup Second Round Predictions

Round two has arrived in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Three of the four series in the East in the opening round went the full seven games, while the other one went six games. Out in the West, we saw a sweep, a six game series and two seven game series. Now in the second round we have a battle of regions. We got a battle of Florida in the East, and the Battle of Alberta in the West. It's going to be a fun second round.

That being said, here's how we see the second round going down.

Eastern Conference:
1. Florida Panthers vs 3. Tampa Bay Lightning: Lightning in 7
No chance I sugar coat this here. Florida has been very very good this season. The fact that they actually won a round for the first time since 1996 speaks volumes for the direction that this team is going in. They are going in the right direction and are going to be a very good team for a long, long time. The only reason I fell they don't get past here is their experience come this time of the year, an advantage the Bolts have. Sure the Panthers are loaded with star power and Cater Verhage is going to play like a man possessed against his former team. But the Bolts seemed to get it together at the right time at the end of round one, and that's going to propel them to victory here in round two.

1. Carolina Hurricanes vs. 3 New York Rangers: Hurricanes in 6
MSG is jumping for the first time in a long time. The rebuild has come almost complete and the Rangers are a very competative  hockey club. Igor Shesterkin has played out of his mind all season long and is very deserving of his nomination for league MVP this year. But at times, he didn't look that way against Pittsburgh in round onem. The Penguins are a solid team but they aren't on the same level as a Carolina and the Hurricanes will take full advantage of that. Carolina will and should do a much better job of holding onto leads late in games then the Penguins did.

Western Conference
1. Colorado Avalanche vs 3 St Louis Blues: Avalanche in 5
Colorado is the 2nd best team in the NHL this season and the best in the West. They looked every bit of it during their first round sweep of Nashville. The Blues are coming off that hard fought series with the Wild and they playing good hockey right now. Just feel that Colorado is too good and has playing hot at the right time

1. Edmonton Oilers vs 2. Calgary Flames: Flames in 7
The Battle of Alberta and this promises to be good, like really good. This maybe the best battle of the entire second round of the playoffs. Both teams are pretty balance d and playing at the tops of their games right now, and both coming off seven game series. I just have a little more faith going into this series in the Calgary nets then I do whats going on in Edmonton