The 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs are just around the corner, with 2 days until opening night on April 16th. Entering the final day of the season (yesterday) the Eastern Conference playoff picture was set, as the match ups will be Boston-Detroit, Pittsburgh-Columbus, Tampa Bay-Montreal and New York-Philadelphia. My favourite time of the year is playoff time, that's why I enjoy doing these previews so much. With that being said, here is a look at my 1st round predictions for the Eastern Conference:
1. Boston Bruins vs. 4. Detroit Red Wings (Wild Card #2)
Season Series:
Detroit won the season series 3-1:
4-1 (Boston)
3-2 (Detroit)
6-1 (Detroit)
3-2 (Detroit)
Players to Watch:
Boston: David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla, Tuukka Rask, Zdeno Chara
Detroit: Pavel Datsyuk, Gustav Nyquist, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Daniel Alfredsson
X-Factor:
Patrice Bergeron (BOS) Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
Series Notes:
This is definitely the most anticipated series in the Eastern Conference, its going to be one heck of a series and great from a fan's perspective. The Boston Bruins come in as the President's Trophy Winners, the best team in the NHL this season no doubt. The Bruins are fresh off a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 and are out for revenge, it doesn't seem like anyone can get in their way. Enter the Detroit Red Wings, the historic franchise who survived a huge amount of injuries to reach the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive year, an astonishing accomplishment. The Red Wings faced a slew of injuries to players this season, including Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen to name a few. What a job Mike Babcock has done this year, he kept his team in the hunt despite carrying a roster full of AHL players with little NHL experiece. Guys like Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheahan and more stepped up big for the Red Wings when a number of their regular roster players went down with injuries. While the Red Wings face a very tough test with the Bruins, they have played spoiler in recent years as they beat the 2nd seed Ducks last year in round 1. Look for the top players on each team to make a big impact in this series, will be seeing alot of Pavel Datsyuk vs. Patrice Bergeron.
Prediction: I think this is going to be a lot closer of a series than people are making it out to be, but ultimately the President's Trophy winning Bruins will find a way to get past the Red Wings:
(BRUINS IN 6)
1. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 4 Columbus Blue Jackets (Wild Card #1)
Season Series:
Pittsburgh won the season series 5-0 with:
4-2 (Pittsburgh)
3-0 (Pittsburgh)
2-1 (Pittsburgh)
5-3 (Pittsburgh)
2-1 (Pittsburgh)
Players to Watch:
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Chris Kunitz, James Neal, Marc-Andre Fleury
Columbus: Ryan Johansen, Sergei Bobrovsky, James Wisniewski, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Cam Atkinson
X-Factor:
Sidney Crosby (PIT) Sergei Bobrovsky (CBJ)
Series Notes:
The Penguins enter the post-season with some confidence after winning Metropolitan Division and finishing 2nd place in the Western Conference. The Pens are getting healthy at the right time as defenceman Kris Letang and Paul Martin both returned in the last 2 weeks, while Evgeni Malkin is close to returning as well. The Penguins lost to the Bruins in the Conference Finals last season, so you know they want to get back there and hopefully move on to the Stanley Cup. Standing in their way is the underdog Columbus Blue Jackets, lead by the talented 3rd-year player Ryan Johansen upfront and Sergei Bobrovsky in net. If the Blue Jackets have a chance in this series they need stellar goaltending from Bobrovsky throughout the series, the Penguins attack is relentless and they score in bunches. The Blue Jackets are a very balanced team, they get scoring from all of their lines and play hard as a team. I would love to see Columbus pull the huge upset here, but its going to take a total team effort to pull this one out and the odds aren't in their favour.
Prediction: While this series could be a close one, the Penguins are just too talented to lose this series:
(PENGUINS IN 6)
2. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. 3. Montreal Canadiens (Atlantic Divison)
Season Series:
Tampa Bay won the season series 3-0-1:
2-1 SO (Tampa Bay)
2-1 SO (Montreal)
2-1 OT (Tampa Bay)
3-1 (Tampa Bay)
Players to Watch:
Tampa Bay: Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Victor Hedman, Teddy Purcell.
Montreal: Thomas Vanek, Max Pacioretty, Carey Price, PK Subban, Daniel Briere, Brendan Gallagher
X-Factor:
Steven Stamkos (TBL) Carey Price (MTL)
Series Notes:
This series has the potential to be a very high-scoring affair between two divison rivals. The Lightning enter the series after winning on the last day of the regular season to steal home-ice from the Canadiens. The Lightning had a great season under Jon Cooper, his 1st year as Head Coach. After losing Steven Stamkos to a broken leg in November, the Lightning managed to stay in the hunt until he returned in March. With Stamkos back the Lightning were able to lock up the #2 spot in the division, a pretty great feat considering he missed 3 months. A big part of Tampa Bay's success this season has been the influence of a trio of rookies; Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn. Palat and Johnson were 2nd and 3rd in rookie scoring this season and both have a good chance at being nominated for the Calder. Another big reason for Tampa Bay's success is goalie Ben Bishop, who won a career-high 37 games this season. However Bishop is currently out with a wrist injury and his status for the series is unknown at this point. The Canadiens enter the series lead by star goalie Carey Price. Price has had a great season of hockey, winning 34 games and leading Canada to a Gold Medal at the Olympics. He is an integral part of the Canadiens success, they will go as far as he takes them. The Canadiens will rely heavily on the top line of Thomas Vanek-David Desharnais-Max Pacioretty to score big goals in this series. The Canadiens will also need a strong series from the top D-pair of PK Subban and Andrei Markov. This is going to be a very even series.
Prediction: This series could go either, but I think that Montreal has the slight edge with Carey Price in net:
(CANADIENS IN 7)
2. New York Rangers vs. 3. Philadelphia Flyers (Metropolitan Division)
Season Series:
Season Series tied 2-2:
2-1 (Philadelphia)
4-1 (New York)
4-2 (Philadelphia)
3-1 (New York)
Players to Watch:
New York: Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis, Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan
Philadelphia: Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Vincent Lecavalier
X-Factor:
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) Claude Giroux (PHI)
Series Notes:
This is the Eastern Conference series I am most looking forward to, the Rangers and Flyers have some bad blood from the last few years and I expect it to be a very physical series. The Rangers enter the series after finishing 2nd in the division, lead by world-class goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers will go as far as Lundqvist takes them, when he's on his game the Rangers look unbeatable. The Rangers will need a big contribution from their star players if they want to win this series, most notably Rick Nash and newcomer Martin St. Louis. The Rangers will also rely on the trio of Ryan McDonagh-Marc Staal-Dan Girardi to shutdown the Flyers potent offense. The Flyers enter the series after finishing 2 points behind the Rangers, good for 3rd in the division. They are lead by superstar Claude Giroux and the top line of Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek. The Flyers have the depth to overpower teams, with the 2nd line of Brayden Schenn-Vincent Lecavalier-Wayne Simmonds and 3rd line of Matt Read-Sean Couturier-Steve Downie they can beat you in multiple ways. The Flyers will also need a big contribution from Kimmo Timonen and Mark Streit from the back-end to win this series. The big question mark for the Flyers remains in goal, Steve Mason has little playoff experience (4 games, 0-4 in those games) and hasn't played a playoff game since 2009. Mason won a career-high 33 games this season, and really has gotten his career back on track after several tough years. Mason will need to be at his best in order to match the man at the other end, and he'll be a big part in the playoff success of the Flyers:
Prediction: This is going to be a great series, but I give the edge to the Flyers and their potent offense:
(FLYERS IN 7)
This would have Boston, Pittsburgh, Montreal and Philadelphia moving on to the next round. The match ups would look as follows:
Boston vs. Montreal
Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
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