The Conference semi-finals got underway last night in San Jose with the Sharks defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3. We have the Montreal Canadiens starting their series tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins and two more series starting tomorrow.
Enough waiting, let's get to the predictions. We will start in the East with the defending champs.
Montreal vs. Pittsburgh:
Montreal rallied from a three games to one deficit to win the last three games and stun the top seeded Washington capitals to move on to the 2nd Round.
Jaroslav Halak gave the Habs a performance in goal that they have been lacking since Jose Theodore won the Hart Trophy back in 2002. In the last three games he stopped 131 of 134 shots that he faced.
Forward Mike Cammalleri is the leading scorer for Montreal with 5 goals & 10 points this post-season.
Pittsburgh lost Game one by a score of 5-4 to Ottawa before winning the next three games. Pittsburgh went on to eliminate the Senators in six games.
Sidney Crosby is the leading scorer for the Penguins with 5 goals and leads all playoff scorers with 14 points.
Prediction- Montreal did a good job containing Alex Ovechkin in the 1st round. I think they are good enough to contain Crosby or Malkin but they can't do both.
Penguins in five.
Philadelphia vs. Boston:
This is a rematch of the Winter Classic back on New Year's Day which Boston won 2-1 in overtime.
Philadelphia continued their dominance of New Jersey, winning that series four games to one.
Claude Giroux leads Philly with four goals this post-season while Mike Richards is their leading scorer with eight points.
Brian Boucher has a Goals Against average of 1.59 and a save percentage of .940 with one shutout. Not bad for a guy who was the 3rd option in goal going into the playoffs.
Boston upset the Buffalo Sabres in six games to advance to the 2nd round.
Tukka Rask has emerged to take the job in goal for the Bruins. He has a Goals Against Average of 2.18 & and save percentage of .927.
Mark Rechhi & David Krejci are tied for the lead in goals with three each.
Prediction- Boston has trouble scoring goals and because of that the Flyers have a huge advantage at forward. Both teams have shutdown defenseman (Chris Pronger for Philly, Zdeno Chara for Boston) that should limit scoring chances.
I think this series will have to come down to who is the better goalie. If Rask can outplay Ryan Miller then he can outplay Brian Boucher.
Boston in seven games.
Now let's take a look at the Western Conference.
Vancouver vs. Chicago:
This is a rematch of last year's Western Conference Semi-Final which Chicago won in six games.
Vancouver advanced to the 2nd round after defeating Los Angeles in six games.
Forward Mikael Samuelsson is benefiting from playing on the same line as the Sedin Twins. He leads the Canucks with 7 goals & 11 points this post-season.
Chicago survived their series with Nashville, winning it in six games.
The young guns for Chicago got the job done in Round one. Patrick Kane leads the team with four goals and Jonathan Toews leads all scorers with eight points.
Prediction- I think Vancouver is a one-line team with a good goaltender. If you can stop that one line and get a couple quick goals on Luongo the Canucks have a tendency to fold like a cheap tent.
Chicago has a very good group of defenseman, led by Olympic Gold Medalist Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook, that is able to shut down the Sedin line.
They also have a good group of forwards that is able to score on Luongo.
Blackhawks in six.
Detroit vs San Jose:
As I said at the top, this one got underway last night with the Sharks winning 4-3.
These teams are pretty equal from top to bottom. Both have a deep group of forwards & defenseman. I think the goaltending will determine who wins this series.
Evgeni Nabokov has the playoff experience in net for the Sharks while Jimmy Howard is only playing in his 2nd post-season series. Yet I give the Wings a slight edge here because this is usually where Nabokov ends up getting outplayed by his counterpart.
I watched the game last night and I didn't see anything from Nabokov that made me think the Red wings were in trouble this series.
He was outplayed by Craig Anderson in the previous round and I think Howard is capable of outplaying him in this series.
I like the Red Wings here mostly because I don't trust the Sharks. I've seen them get this far so many times only to stumble and get eliminated.
This series will tell us if the Sharks are for real or not. Since 2002 whoever has gone on to eliminate Detroit has played for the Stanley Cup.
There is an old saying "To be the man, you have to beat the man." If the Sharks want to be the team let's see how they do against the measuring stick in the West.
Red Wings in six.
Wooooooooo!
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