The 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs are so close we can taste it, 2 days until the pucks drop on Wednesday night. The Eastern Conference playoff picture came down to the last day of the season, with the Penguins and Senators making the playoffs while the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2006/2007 season. With that being said, here is a look at the 1st round match ups in the East:
#1 New York Rangers vs. WC #2 Pittsburgh Penguins
Season Series: New York won the season series 3-0-1
November 11, 2014: New York Rangers 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 0
November 15, 2014: Pittsburgh Penguins 3, New York Rangers 2 (SO)
December 8, 2014: New York Rangers 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 3 (OT)
January 18, 2015: New York Rangers 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 2
Players to Watch:
New York: Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist, Martin St. Louis, Keith Yandle, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz, Paul Martin
X-Factor:
New York: Henrik Lunqdvist
Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby
Team Leaders:
Goals: Rick Nash - 42 (NYR), Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin - 28 (PIT)
Assists: Sidney Crosby - 56 (PIT), Derick Brassard - 41 (NYR)
Points: Sidney Crosby - 84 (PIT), Rick Nash - 69 (NYR)
Wins: Marc-Andre Fleury - 34 (PIT), Henrik Lundqvist - 30 (NYR)
Shutouts: Marc-Andre Fleury - 10 (PIT), Henrik Lundqvist/Cam Talbot - 5 (NYR)
Series Notes:
-The Rangers won the season series 3-0-1, outscoring the Penguins 16-8.
-The Penguins will be without star defenseman Kris Letang for the foreseeable future, huge blow to the Penguins chances in this series.
-This will be the Penguins 1st playoff series under Head Coach Mike Johnston
-The Penguins enter the playoffs as underdogs for the first time in years, pretty much since Crosby's 1st playoffs.
-The Rangers meanwhile enter the playoffs as the Stanley Cup favourites after winning the Presidents' Trophy.
-The Rangers will hope for a much better showing from Rick Nash this year, he had just 3 goals in 25 playoff games last year.
-Look for a big playoffs out of Keith Yandle and Ryan McDonagh. The Rangers have one of the deepest defensive units in the NHL with Yandle, McDonagh, Dan Boyle, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Kevin Klein.
-The Rangers beat the Penguins in round 2 last year 4-3 after trailing 3-1 in the series.
Prediction: The Rangers are too powerful and deep for the injury-riddled Pittsburgh Penguins who limped into the playoffs.
(RANGERS IN 6)
#1 Montreal Canadiens vs. WC #1 Ottawa Senators
Season Series: Ottawa won the season series 3-1-0
December 20, 2014: Montreal Canadiens 4, Ottawa Senators 1
January 15, 2015: Ottawa Senators 4, Montreal Canadiens 1
February 18, 2015: Ottawa Senators 4, Montreal Canadiens 2
March 12, 201: Ottawa Senators 5, Montreal Canadiens 2
Players to Watch:
Montreal: Carey Price, P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov
Ottawa: Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Andrew Hammond. Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan
X-Factor:
Montreal: Carey Price
Ottawa: Erik Karlsson
Team Leaders:
Goals: Max Pacioretty - 37 (MTL), Mike Hoffman - 27 (OTT)
Assists: PK Subban - 45 (MTL), Erik Karlsson - 45 (OTT)
Points: Max Pacioretty - 67 (MTL), Erik Karlsson - 66 (OTT)
Wins: Carey Price - 44 (MTL), Andrew Hammond - 20 (OTT)
Shutouts: Carey Price - 9 (MTL), Andrew Hammond/Craig Anderson - 3 (OTT)
Series Notes:
-On February 9th they were 20-22-9 and 14 points out of a playoff spot, which they followed with an impressive 23-4-4 run down the stretch to make the playoffs.
-Andrew Hammond is a big reason the Senators are in the playoffs, he went 20-1-2 after Craig Anderson/Robyn Lehner went down
-Carey Price picked up an NHL-best 44 wins and his 9 shutouts were 2nd best in the NHL. Price is sure to win the Vezina and could win the Hart Trophy too.
-Max Pacioretty remains questionable for the start of the series, he took a hard hit into the boards last week and could have a concussion. Would be a tough loss for the Canadiens if he can't play in this series.
-This is the first of 2 all-Canadian match ups (Vancouver/Calgary is the other one).
-The Senators beat the Canadiens 4-1 the last time these teams met in the playoffs 2 seasons ago.
Prediction: The Canadiens are definitely the favourite in this series, if Carey Price is on his game this could be a short one. However, I am big on Ottawa right now they have some serious momentum heading into the playoffs and will relish in playing the underdog role, so for that reason I've got Ottawa winning the series.
(SENATORS IN 7)
#2 Washington Capitals vs. #3 New York Islanders
Season Series: Season series tied 2-0-2
November 26, 2014: New York Islanders 3, Washington Capitals 2 (OT)
November 28, 2014: Washington Capitals 5, New York Islanders 2
December 29, 2014: New York Islanders 4, Washington Capitals 3 (OT)
February 21, 2015: Washington Capitals 3, New York Islanders 2 (SO)
Players to Watch:
Washington: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Mike Green, Braden Holtby, Troy Brouwer
New York: John Tavares, Johnny Boychuk, Ryan Strome, Anders Lee, Kyle Okposo, Brock Nelson
X-Factor:
Washington: Alex Ovechkin
New York: John Tavares
Team Leaders:
Goals: Alex Ovechkin - 53 (WSH), John Tavares - 38 (NYI)
Assists: Nicklas Backstrom - 60 (WSH), John Tavares - 48 (NYI)
Points: John Tavares - 86 (NYI), Alex Ovechkin - 81 (WSH)
Wins: Braden Holtby - 41 (WSH), Jaroslav Halak - 38 (NYI)
Shutouts: Braden Holtby - 9 (WSH), Jaroslav Halak - 6 (NYI)
Series Notes:
-The Islanders had a chance to take home ice advantage in this series but lost a shootout on the last night of the NHL season.
-John Tavares finished 2nd in the NHL in points with 86.
-Alex Ovechkin won his 5th Rocket Richard Trophy and scored at least 50 goals for the 6th time in his career.
-Braden Holtby set career-highs with 41 wins and 9 shutouts, good for 2nd in the NHL in both categories.
-Jaroslav Halak won 38 games this season, a career-high.
-Nickals Backstrom picked up 60 assists on the season, the 4th time in his career he has reached at least 60 assists in a season.
-Keep an eye out for the d-pair of Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy, both have won Stanley Cups for other teams in the last 5 years (Boychuk with the Bruins in 2011, Leddy with the Hawks in 2013).
-John Tavares and Nicklas Backstrom expect to go head-to-head for much of the series, going to be a good match up to watch.
-We could be seeing some extra hockey in this series, 3 of the 4 games in the season series went to OT.
-The Islanders beat the Capitals 4-2 the last time these teams met in the playoffs in 1993.
Prediction: This series could truly go either way and it is tough to pick a winner, so I will side with the team with home-ice advantage.
(CAPITALS IN 7)
#2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. #3 Detroit Red Wings
Season Series: Tampa Bay won the season series 3-1-0
November 9, 2014: Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Detroit Red Wings 3 (SO)
January 29, 2015: Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Detroit Red Wings 1
March 20, 2015: Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Detroit Red Wings 1
March 28, 2015: Detroit Red Wings 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 0
Players to Watch:
Tampa Bay: Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson, Ben Bishop, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman
Detroit: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Darren Helm
X-Factor:
Tampa Bay: Steven Stamkos
Detroit: Pavel Datsyuk
Team Leaders:
Goals: Steven Stamkos - 43 (TBL), Tomas Tatar - 29 (DET)
Assists: Henrik Zetterberg - 49 (DET), Ondrej Palat - 47 (TBL)
Points: Steven Stamkos/Tyler Johnson - 72 (TBL), Henrik Zetterberg - 66 (DET)
Wins: Ben Bishop - 40 (TBL), Jimmy Howard - 23 (DET)
Shutouts: Ben Bishop - 4 (TBL), Petr Mrazek (DET)
Series Notes:
-Mike Babcock with a gutsy call starting Petr Mrazek over Jimmy Howard in game 1, lets see how it plays out. I'm a big fan of Mrazek, I think he's better than Howard and has the potential to be a top goaltender in the NHL in the near future.
-Despite being limited to 63 games because of injuries, Pavel Datsyuk still registered 65 points on the season. The Red Wings are going to need a lot out of him to win this series.
-Johan Frazen has been sidelined since January 6th with a concussion. Franzen is always dangerous come playoff time so this is a big loss for the Red Wings. They will need guys like Tatar, Nyquist, Helm and Abdelkader to step up.
-Ben Bishop picked up a career-high 40 wins this season.
-Steven Stamkos scored at least 40 goals in a season for the 4th time in his career.
-The line of Ondrej Palat/Tyler Johnson/Nikita Kucherov combined for 73 goals, 107 assists for 180 points. All 3 forwards set career-highs in points (Johnson 72, Kucherov 64 and Palat 63)
-These 2 teams have never met in the playoffs.
Prediction: This has the potential to be a really close series, both teams have a strong offensive attack that are capable of scoring in bunches. I would like to see Babcock and the Red Wings win this series but I give the edge to Stammer and the Bolts.
(LIGHTNING IN 6)
This would have New York, Ottawa, Washington and Tampa Bay moving on to the next round. The matchups would be as follows:
#1 New York Rangers vs. #2 Washington Capitals
#2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs WC #1 Ottawa Senators
-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
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