Month: April 2010

There’s still lots of hockey left, with Round 2 starting today. Here are my biased and unscientific well thought-out predictions for the second round:

Western Conference– In the first round, there were no sweeps, and no “real” upsets either–proving how good the top teams in the West really are. The two second round series should prove to be long, drawn-out slugfests.

Series: San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)

My Prediction: Sharks in 7 games.

Comments:Despite past, ahem, setbacks, the Sharks made it to the second round. Both of these teams are good. The Sharks were 1st overall in the West, and Detroit would have finished higher than 5th if their team was healthy earlier on in the season. Expect high-scoring, yet close games.

Series: Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Vancouver Canucks (3)

My Prediction: Blackhawks in 6 games.

Comments: All right! A rematch of last year’s second round bout between these teams. The Hawks and Canucks are establishing a nice “love-to-hate-’em” playoff rivalry, akin to that of the Red Wings and Avalanche circa 1996.

The Canucks have the better goalie in Roberto Luongo, and they got the Sedin twins. However, Chicago’s core group of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith finally seem to be clicking. At least one of them contributed in each of the 4 goals scored against Nashville in their Round 1 clincher.

Eastern Conference – A lot of low-seeded teams made it to the Second Round. Oh, and the Penguins. My dream of a Blackhawks/Penguins Stanley Cup Final may come true after all.

Series: Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8)

My Prediction:Penguins in 5 games.

Comments: How long can Montreal rely on Jaroslav Halak to win them games that they should really lose? Despite his first round heroics, the Penguins have a lot of offensive firepower and home ice advantage–not that either of those meant anything for the Washington Capitals. Still, Pittsburgh didwin the Stanley Cup last year, so do we really need to list reasons why they should–or will–win this series?

Series:Boston Bruins (6) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7)

My Prediction: Bruins in 7 games.

Comments:Who would have thought that finishing 6th would merit you home-ice advantage in the second round? Having the extra game might be the factor that wins it for Boston.

Then again, what hockey fan wouldn’t pee their pants over a Pittsburgh/Philadelphia conference finals? So, maybe I’ll predict the Bruins as the winner, but secretly hope that the Flyers win instead.

Best playoffs ever? If everything keeps up like it did in the first round, then the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs will go down as the best postseason in hockey history. We’ve had shutouts, fluke goals, upsets and surprise heroes. And that was only the first round!

Here’s a quick look back at my first round predictions–and how things actually turned out:

Series: San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Colorado Avalanche (8)

My Prediction: Sharks in 7 games.

What Actually Happened: Sharks won in 6 games.

Comments: Craig Anderson made life hell for the Sharks, standing on his head and making it look like the 8th-seed Avalanche might actually win the series. But despite a fluke goal loss in Game 3, the Sharks did not choke. They might save that for the next round, though.

Series: Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Nashville Predators (7)

My Prediction: Blackhawks in 5 games.

What Actually Happened: Blackhawks won in 6 games.

Comments: When the lazy and uninspired Blackhawks showed up, they lost. When the “real” Blackhawks showed up, they won–even managing to shut out the Preds twice.

Do you hear that sound?

It’s the sound of my Antti Niemi rookie cards going up in value.

Series: Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (6)

My Prediction: Kings UPSET in 6 games.

What Actually Happened: Canucks won in 6 games.

Comments: OK, I was wrong about this one. The series was pretty even until Vancouver drubbed L.A. 7-2 in game 5. But you gotta admit, it did look pretty good for the Kings for a while.

Series: Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)

My Prediction: Red Wings UPSET in 6.

What Actually Happened: Red Wings UPSET in 7.

Comments:We all knew the Red Wings would win–it would just be a matter of how many games. Hats off to the Coyotes, though, as they put up a good series against what is still one of the best teams in the NHL.

Series: Washington Capitals (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8)

My Prediction: Capitals SWEEP in 4 games.

What Actually Happened: Montreal UPSET in 7 games.

Comments: No one got this one right. No one. Sure, now you say that you knew all along that the Canadiens would win, but the only person to actually say it was the guy who writes for Canadiens.com.

Well, there are upsets, and then there are UPSETS. The Caps had the best record in the regular season. The Caps have Alexander Ovechkin. How they managed to flub this one is beyond me.

Then again, the Sharks have been doing that for years.

Perhaps the Caps are the new Sharks…

Series: New Jersey Devils (2) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7)

My Prediction: Flyers UPSET in 6 games.

What Actually Happened: Flyers UPSET in 5 games.

Comments:Thank you Flyers for ending the Devils season a game sooner than I predicted. You’ve done all of hockey a favor.

Series:Buffalo Sabres (3) vs. Boston Bruins (6)

My Prediction: Bruins UPSET in 6 games.

What Actually Happened: Bruins UPSET in 6 games.

Comments:  This is the only playoff series where I got the number of games right. Fortunately, that was the one I needed to get right to win a contest for an autographed Adam Oates card.

Series: Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Ottawa Senators (5)

My Prediction: Penguins SWEEP in 4 games.

What Actually Happened: Penguins won in 6 games.

Comments: With Sidney Crosby scoring 14 points in 6 games, how could the Penguins lose?

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It is interesting to note that in the Western Conference, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seeds won–and the 4th-seeded Coyotes almost won too. However, in the East the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seeds LOST, with the 4th-seeded Penguins being the only favorite to win. That says a lot about the strength of the Western Conference, leading me to believe that the eventual Cup winner will be from the West.

So far, I am 6 for 8–or 75% right–in my playoff predictions.

I’ll post my Round 2 predictions later today (but before the Sharks-Red Wings game).

 

The 2010 NHL Playoffs are a scant 6 days old–not even a week!–and yet what will probably be the craziest goal of the postseason has already been scored. For those of you who did not stay up to watch the Sharks / Avalanche game go into overtime, you need to see this video:

That’s right, kids...the San Jose Sharks somehow found a way to lose this game, despite firing 51 shots on net and limiting the Avalanche to a meager 17 shots. Sad that a defenseman as great as Dan Boyle would inadvertently knock the puck into his own net. (And for those of you who are too young to get all the “Steve Smith” references flying around, check out this video.)

Looking at the first round so far:

Pittsburgh / Ottawa – The Pens lead the series 2-1. So they won’t sweep, but no one doubts that they will win the series. Evgeni Malkin scored a pretty sweet goal yesterday, rushing end to end, dishing it to a teammate and then scoring on the rebound  (video here).

New Jersey / Philadelphia – Yesterday, Dan Carcillo scored the winner in OT to give the Flyers a 2 games to 1 series lead. Flashes of brilliance like this is why I liked Carcillo as a player (past tense).

Washington / Montreal – Series tied 1-1. Another assumed sweep, the Canadiens surprised everyone to win Game 1, and almost had Game 2 in the bag before the Caps battled back to win it in OT–Nicklas Backstrom scored 3 goals, including the winner.

Buffalo / Boston – Another tied series (1-1). I have not watched much of this series, but predicted that the Bruins will win in 6 games. Having won Game 2 on the road, the Bs can pull of an upset.

San Jose / Colorado –  Avalanche lead the series 2-1, thanks to Dan Boyle scoring in his own net.

Detroit / Phoenix – The “Desert Dogs” have a 2-1 series lead. But having the series lead doesn’t mean squat when it is against Detroit.

Chicago / Nashville – Don’t pay attention to Nashville wining the first game 4-1–the last 2 goals were empty-netters. In Game 2 last night, Antti Niemi and the Blackhawks shut out the Predators 2-0. Perhaps this will quell those critics who are anti-Antti Niemi.

Vancouver / Los Angeles – Series tied 1-1. This is shaping up to be an exciting series. Both games have been won by a score of 3-2, and both games have gone into overtime. You can’t get much closer than that.

Only six days old, and already we’ve seen lots of sudden-death overtime, a crazy fluke goal, a hat trick and a couple of shut outs. This is shaping up to be one hell of a postseason.

Every hockey blogger wants to sound off on the Stanley Cup Playoffs–and I’m no different. So here are my thoughts on how Round One will go down.

Western Conference – Wow, look at that. Four Western Conference teams who were golfing last year at this time made it to the postseason in 2010.

Series: San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Colorado Avalanche (8)

My Prediction: Sharks in 7 games.

Comments: The playoffs seem to come with a elf-destruct button for the Sharks each year. Somehow, they manage to be a kick-ass team during the regular season, and then blow it come April. Since the lockout, they have not finished with fewer than 99 points in the regular season. And since the lockout, they have not made it to the conference finals, either.

But the Sharks won’t get eliminated yet. Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson will make this a long, hard fought series, but the Sharks will prevail.

Series: Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Nashville Predators (7)

My Prediction: Blackhawks in 5 games.

Comments: For years, the Blackhawks and Predators have fought tooth and nail to be the “not worst” team in the Western Conference. Kind of like the two dorkiest kids in class picking on each other to show everyone else who the cooler kid is. A few years later, and both are contenders.

Well, the ‘Hawks are contenders, anyway. They have a lot of goal scorers–Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Kris Versteeg and Troy Brouwer have all scored 20 or more goals this season. Only 2 players on the Predators–Patrick Hormqvist and Martin Erat–can claim that.

Series: Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (6)

My Prediction: Kings UPSET in 6 games.

Comments: I like the Canucks, but goaltender Roberto Luongo has been off his game since the Olympics (where he was very much “on” his game for Team Canada.). The Kings–another team who has turned things around this year–beat the hell out of the Canucks 8-3 a few weeks ago. This series won’t be as easy as that one game was for the Kings, but the playoffs are about upsets. This will be one of them. Speaking of upsets…

Series: Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)

My Prediction: Red Wings UPSET in 6.

Comments: Though we really can’t call this an upset, can we? Sure, the Coyotes finished the season higher in the standings, but we know that they are really the underdogs here (pun intended). Remember, the Red Wings lacked many of their best players throughout the season due to injuries.

While the Coyotes are way better than they were last year (I fondly recall how red Gretzky’s face would get during a ‘Yotes loss?) they have the misfortune of playing against a healthy Red Wings team.

Eastern Conference– Buffalo and Ottawas are in back in the playoff mix this season. And Montreal got to be the (un)lucky team to squeak in at 8th place. Sucks to be them.

Series: Washington Capitals (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8)

My Prediction: Capitals SWEEP in 4 games.

Comments: Alexander Ovhechkin. Nicklas Backstrom. Mike Green. Alexander Semin. Brooks Laich.

Need I say more?

OK, then how about I mention that the Capitals had the best record in the NHL, while the Canadiens haven’t really established who their number one goalie is.

Series: New Jersey Devils (2) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7)

My Prediction: Flyers UPSET in 6 games.

Comments: I don’t care for the Devils’ style of play. Somehow, they will manage to play boring hockey, even in the playoffs. Fortunately, the Flyers went 4-1-1 against the Devils this year, so winning another 4–even as the lower seed–does not seem far-fetched.

Series:Buffalo Sabres (3) vs. Boston Bruins (6)

My Prediction: Bruins UPSET in 6 games.

Comments:  The middle of the regular season seemed so long ago, but weren’t the Bruins in 1st place at one time this year? Weren’t there predictions of a “Bruins vs. Blackhawks” final?

A bit hasty, eh?

But I’m still picking the Bruins to pull an upset here. Sure, Sabres goalie Ryan Miller proved that he’s a world-class goalie in the Olympics, it’s just the team in front of him that I’m not sure about.

Series: Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Ottawa Senators (5)

My Prediction: Penguins SWEEP in 4 games.

Comments: Pens vs. Sens. Yeah, I had to say it.

The Penguins have a lot of firepower up front–namely Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin–and last season, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury proved that he could perform in high pressure situations. Oh, and the Penguins are the defending Stanley Cup champions too. Yeah, they lost a few players between then and now, but right now they just need to worry about getting past the Senators. Which they will. Easily.

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Last year, I correctly picked the series winners 12 out of 15 times–an 80% success rate. Hopefully, I’ll be just as good this year with my picks so I can retain bragging right–and win Captain Canucks’s playoff contest on Waxaholic.