After six and a half months, the final two months of the NHL season, known in these parts as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, are upon us. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are usually the hardest to predict in any of the four major sports. Hockey's the only sport where one player can single-handedly beat a superior team. In basketball, the team with the best player is probably going to win. Football's the ultimate team game. And a shutdown starting pitcher can only throw twice in a seven-game series, meaning you have to find a way to win the other two games. But a hockey team can ride a hot goalie all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, which is why you can't count out the eighth-seeded Rangers or seventh-seeded Sabres in the East or the Coyotes, the West's No. 7 seed.
Despite their best efforts, the Rangers found some way to back into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East when Carolina inexplicably lost its final game to Tampa Bay, which had nothing to play for. Anyway, that sets up a matchup between the Rangers and the top-seeded Capitals, who the NHL hand-picked as Eastern Conference Champions when Washington was selected as the visiting team in the Winter Classic (the visiting team in the first three Winter Classics lost the Stanley Cup Finals). But this is actually a pretty compelling matchup. The Rangers won the season series 2-1-1 and have Henrik Lundqvist. He's going to be a key because the Capitals are probably the best offensive team in the league. Washington has a history of underachieving in the playoffs, mainly because their goalie always sucks and they win so many regular season games because the Southeast Division is usually terrible. This year they were actually the best team in the East. They were also the No. 1 seed last season and lost in the first round. Let's see how they do this year.
The Flyers went to the Finals last year and are the No. 2 seed this season. On paper, Philadelphia has a great chance of going back. Offensively, the Flyers are loaded. But Chris Pronger has been in and out of the lineup, and Sergei Bobrovsky has never started a playoff game. Of course, the Flyers (who barely made the playoffs) were down 3-0 to the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semis last season, then made a goalie change (to Michael Leighton) and won the series en route to the Finals. This year they're playing the Sabres, Daniel Briere's former team, a team that doesn't like them and they don't like. Philly's a better team, but Ryan Miller is a stud, and he pretty much single-handedly won the Olympic silver medal for the U.S. last year. Don't count out the Sabres.
In the 3-6 series, Boston plays Montreal. The Bruins and Canadiens are both Original Six teams, and they're meeting in the playoffs for the 33rd time. These teams also don't like each other, and there's no love lost between them, especially after Zdeno Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty (which I still maintain was NOT a dirty play). The history between these teams makes this matchup so intriguing. The last time they played, the top-seeded Bruins beat Montreal in the first round in 2009! Then last year, the Canadiens were the No. 8 seed again and reached the conference finals.
The other East series is between Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. Sidney Crosby hasn't played since January and Evgeni Malkin has been out since February, but the Penguins still managed to earn the four-seed. The Penguins have more playoff experience than any other team in the East, which could help them compensate for the loss of their two best offensive players. Tampa Bay is in the playoffs for the first time since 2007 and has a dynamic offense led by Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. This is going to be a great matchup.
In the West, the annual playoff meeting between the Canucks and Blackhawks is a round early this year. Vancouver ran away with the President's Trophy and is by far the best team in the league, while defending champion Chicago backed into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. The Blackhawks beat the Canucks 4-2 in the second round last season, but Vancouver is so overdue for playoff success. Led by Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler and the Sedin twins, the Canucks won 54 games during the regular season. Seriously, the Canucks are loaded. Chicago might've won the Stanley Cup last year, but this is a completely different Blackhawks team. The fact that they got blown out by the Red Wings in their final game is really telling. I think this is the year Vancouver finally gets by Chicago in the playoffs.
Another team that's long overdue for some playoff success is the San Jose Sharks. They went to the conference finals last season, but were swept by the Blackhawks. The year before, they won the President's Trophy and lost in the first round. This year's Sharks won the Pacific Division for the fourth straight year, and will play the Kings in the West quarters. San Jose is still loaded and balanced. I'm not sure how LA can stack up. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick might literally have to stand on his head to keep the likes of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley from lighting the lamp over and over. This is probably the most one-sided of the eight first round matchups.
The most consistent team in hockey is the Detroit Red Wings, who qualified for the playoffs for the 20th straight season. The Red Wings have won four Cups and been to the Finals six times since 1995, so their players know what it takes to win in the playoffs. All the usual suspects (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom) are back as the Red Wings try to get back to the Finals for the third time in four years. This year, they play Phoenix in the first round for the second straight season. The Coyotes were one of three Western Conference teams to finish with 99 points and Ilya Bryzgalov is a monster in goal. They're not as good as the Red Wings, but that was also true last year, when the series went seven.
The final series is between the very evenly-matched Ducks and Predators. Thanks to an incredible late season surge, Anaheim went from watching the playoffs to having home ice in the first round. (Interesting little tidbit thanks to our friends at Wikipedia, this is the first time the Kings and Ducks both made the playoffs in the same season.) The Ducks are probably the better team in this matchup, and their offense is very balanced with Corey Perry, Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan leading the way. However, this is a better matchup for Anaheim than Phoenix would've been. Other than Martin Erat and Shea Weber, Nashville doesn't have any superstars, and the goalie matchup (Jonas Hiller vs. Pekka Rinne) favors the Ducks.
Even though the Stanley Cup Playoffs are unpredictable, I'll give it a shot. Capitals in six, Flyers in seven, Canadiens in six, Lightning in five in the East. In the West, Canucks in five, Sharks in four, Red Wings in seven and Ducks in five.
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