The 4 teams moving on in the East are the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. The match-ups are set: Boston vs. Montreal and Pittsburgh vs. New York. Here are my predictions:
1. Boston Bruins vs. 3. Montreal Canadiens
Season Series:
Montreal won season series 3-1-0
2-1 (Montreal)
4-1 (Montreal)
4-1 (Boston)
2-1 SO (Montreal)
Players to Watch:
Boston: David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla, Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug
Montreal: Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, PK Subban, Max Pacioretty, Thomas Vanek, Tomas Plekanec
X-Factor:
Tuukka Rask (BOS) Carey Price (MTL)
Playoff Point Leaders:
Boston: Patrice Bergeron/Torey Krug (5 points)
Montreal: Brendan Gallagher/Lars Eller/PK Subban (5 points)
Series Notes:
The bitter rivals faceoff in what is the most anticipated match up of the 2nd round, an original six battle between two teams who had an easy first round. The top-seeded Bruins come into this series having beat the Red Wings in 5, and they seemed to get better every game in the series. The Bruins have such a balanced attack, they can beat you with all 4 lines and they lock it down on defense. Tuukka Rask was rock-solid in the series against Detroit, and he will need to be even better against the Canadiens. The Bruins will also need more from their top line of Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Jarome Iginla in this series. The Canadiens enter the series after sweeping the Tampa Bay Lightning in 4 games. Montreal has had over a week of rest since they won their series against Tampa Bay, one only wonders if this will be a good or bad thing. Carey Price started the series off shaky against the Lightning, but got better every game. In order for Montreal to win this series they need Price to outplay Tuukka Rask, which is no easy task. The Canadiens had a very balanced attack against the Lightning, but it was 2 lines that did the damage: Tomas Plekanec-Brendan Gallagher-Brandon Prust and Lars Eller-Brian Gionta-Rene Bourque. The Canadiens also got a great contribution from Dale Weise and Daniel Briere on the 4th line. This is going to be a great series, and expect a lot of bad blood between these bitter rivals.
Predictions: This series is going to be really close and either team can win, but I am going with the favoured Boston Bruins.
(BRUINS IN 6)
1. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 2. New York Rangers
Season Series:
Season series tied 2-2
5-1 (New York)
4-3 SO (Pittsburgh)
5-2 (Pittsburgh)
4-3 SO (New York)
Players to Watch:
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Jussi Jokinen, Matt Niskanen, Marc-Andre Fleury
New York: Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis, Mats Zuccarello, Brad Richards, Marc Staal
X-Factor:
Sidney Crosby (PIT) Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
Playoff Point Leaders:
Pittsburgh: Matt Niskanen/Paul Martin (8 points)
New York: Martin St. Louis/Brad Richards (6 points)
Series Notes: The Penguins enter this series after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets in a hard-fought 6-game series. The Penguins really struggled with the scrappy Blue Jackets, they couldn't find any consistency with their forwards and were looking to move on to the 2nd round. With that being said, the same thing happened to the Penguins last year in the playoffs when the Islanders gave them all they could handle. This made the Penguins a lot more prepared for the 2nd round and the beat the Senators in 4, so hopefully they can learn from their past. The Penguins will need more out of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in this series, Malkin scored 3 goals in game 6 and Crosby has no goals so far. The Penguins need Marc-Andre Fleury to step up in this series, he has to play better in net if the Penguins have a chance of moving on. The Rangers enter this series having beaten the Flyers in 7 games, winning 2-1 last night in game 7. The Rangers will once again rely on the steady goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist, who will need to be at his best to stop the Penguins strong offensive attack. The Rangers need more out of Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis if they want to win the series, as Nash has 0 goals and Marty has only 1. If the Rangers want to win this series they need to stay out of the penalty box as much as possible, the Penguins PP is way to lethal to keep giving them powerplays. Its going to be a close series as long as the goaltenders show up.
Predictions: This series has the potential to go either way, but I think the Penguins are the better team offensively and will win the series.
(PENGUINS IN 6)
This leaves the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins facing off in the Eastern Conference Finals, the same 2 teams that were in it last season.
-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
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