As I’ve aged, hockey and I have steadily grown apart. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but with the 2004-05 lockout, and the difficulty in finding a game that involved two teams other than the Bruins, it’s been a very hard league to follow the last five years.
When I first moved into my own apartment, I was able to purchase the Time Warner Digital Cable package, and for the first time, was able to watch Versus. This led to a torrid affair between the Stanley Cup Playoffs and myself for the first time since Martin St.Louis led the Lightning to the Cup in 2004 (not a romantic affair, that phrase just means I watched an awful lot of hockey). Versus aired playoff games every night for two months. It felt like getting together with an old girlfriend (you know, the part where you remember all the best parts of her and forget why you broke up with her in the first place?). The outstanding final that year between Pittsburgh and Detroit capped off a fantastic spring. Unfortunately though, hockey faded to the background again when the 2008-09 regular season started and it was again difficult to find games. I've still kept an eye on hockey from a distant, and am now ready to offer to the world my official uninformed Stanley Cup 1st Round Picks.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1 Washington Capitals vs. #8 New York Rangers
Washington isn’t quite the offensive juggernaut it was in past seasons, but that may actually be a good team. An increased focus on defense has led the Capitals to giving up the fourth fewest goals in the NHL. As long as young goalie Michal Neuvirth is competent, Washington should be able to overpower the Rangers. I’ll be shocked if they go down in the first round as a top seed for a second straight year.
Prediction = Capitals in 5
#2 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #7 Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo was fighting for their playoff lives the second half of the season, and rose to the challenge by finishing the year on a 28-11-6 run. All-world goalie Ryan Miller (of 2010 Olympic fame) is more than capable of stoning a superior club for a seven game series. Philadelphia patched together their goaltending situation last year, but I don’t think they’ll be able to pull it off two years in a row.
Prediction = Sabres in 7
#3 Boston Bruins vs. #6 Montreal Canadiens
It seems like there is a rule that these two teams need to meet every single year in the NHL Playoffs. Maybe these two franchises are magnetically attracted to each other. As if the series needed any more juice, we are just a month removed from Zdeno Chara’s devastating hit on Max Pacioretty. Boston has looked like a team that is on a mission to avenge their epic choke against the Flyers in last year’s playoffs. Look for Montreal to bring plenty of fight, but the more physical Bruins will wear them down eventually.
Prediction = Bruins in 7
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Tampa Bay Lightning
What Pittsburgh has done in without superstar centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has been remarkable. Marc-Andre Fleury has been outstanding the past two months, but has been all or nothing the past few seasons in the playoffs. Tampa Bay has a huge edge on the offensive end of the ice, but needs to get solid goaltending out of journeyman Dwayne Roloson. He’s done it before back in 2006 when he backstopped the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals. Look for him to provide steady enough play to get Tampa Bay into the second round.
Prediction = Lightning in 6
WESTERN CONFERENCE
#1 Vancouver Canucks vs. # Chicago Blackhawks
Vancouver would probably much rather be playing Los Angeles as opposed to the defending Stanley Cup champions, but this is not the same Blackhawks team that knocked the Canucks out of the playoffs the past two seasons. I expect the Sedin twins and Roberto Luongo to power the Canucks into the second round.
Prediction = Canucks in 5
#2 San Jose Sharks vs. #7 Los Angeles Kings
I would’ve been all over the Kings in this series, but the loss of star center Anze Kopitar crushed them. San Jose has struggled in past seasons during the playoffs, but they couldn’t of asked for a better set-up here.
Prediction = Sharks in 4
#3 Detroit Red Wings vs. #6 Phoenix Coyotes
Phoenix pushed Detroit to seven games before losing to them in the first round a year ago. Coyotes’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is the key. If he significantly outplays opposing goaltender Jimmy Howard (which isn’t that much of a stretch), Phoenix is capable of stealing this series. Detroit will be in real trouble if they don’t get Henrik Zetterberg back at any point after game 2.
Prediction = Coyotes in 6
#4 Anaheim Ducks vs. #5 Nashville Predators
This series is a tough one for me. On one side, you have 50-goal scorer Corey Perry, and Teamu Selanne, who is somewhere between 38 and 64 years old. On the other, you have badass defenseman Shea Weber and the breakout goalie of the year, Pekka Rinne. Most experts that I’ve read are choosing the Ducks, but I’m throwing my weight (what littler there is of it) behind the dude named Pekka and the Nashville Predators.
Prediction = Predators in 7
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