Eastern Confrence Finals

The second round is over and the final 4 looks like this:

Eastern Confrence

Rangers vs Devils

Western Confrence

Kings vs Coyotes

After getting literally every one of my predictions wrong last round I'm hoping I can do a bit better this round, but I guess it's nothing really to be ashamed of because this years playoffs have been more than just a little unpredictable.

Having new York in the finals doesn't come as a suprise being as they were the number 1 seeded team in the east but I don't believe very many people had New Jersey in the finals, Thats doesn't make this a bad series though, in fact it makes for quite a good one being as New Jersey and New York are rivals. At first glance you would exspect that New York would deal with New Jersey in 4-5 games but New Jersey has proven to us time and time again that they are not a team to be under estimated. They've had their star players step up to the plate which is exactly what every team needs if they want to be succeful in the playoffs. even Brodeur who was thought to be to old to make a deep playoff run has managed to step up and provide the team with some solid goaltending. However despite all this I belive that New Jersey just doesn't quite have what it takes to beat New York. New York has received some of the most solid goatending in the playoffs thus far and i belive that this will be tghe diffrence 9n the series, new york may not be a team that goes out and scores several goals a game but they always seem to manage tho get things done with there grind it out style of play, and I belive thats exactly what will happen, New York will recieve their solid goaltending from Lundqvist and then be able to grind New Jersey's defense down with there physical play over the course of the series. Although I would peronally rather see New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Finals I think that, like New Yorks other two series they're going to manage to outast New Jersey. My prediction is New Jersey in 7 games.  

Playoffs 2nd Round Western Conference

So even though these two series are nearly half over already I'm not going to be changing any of my original predictions.

Western Conference

Blues vs Kings

Coyotes vs Predators

Let's start off the with St.Louis Blues and the LosAngeles Kings. This is one of those series that should be incredibly tight. These two teams finished 1st and 2nd respectively in goals against in the regular season (1st being the least amount of goals against) and on top of that they have two of the top goalies this season. So this makes this series a hard one to predict, and I believe we're going to be seeing a lot of one goal games in this series, but ultimately I believe St.Louis will win because they've proven over the regular season that they're capable of playing that defencive kind of game better than LosAngeles. I predict a Blues win in 7 games. 

The Coyotes and Predators is another hard series to predict because they also both play similar styles and also both have elite goaltending. At first glance you would think that Nashville would have a major advantage over Phoenix but that's not the case, because in a series like this goaltending is everything and I don't think there's been a better goaltender in the playoffs than Mike Smith, not to mention Shane Doan has been a major force in this years playoffs. However I still believe that Nashville will win because of more experience, not only as a team but as a group of individuals and I also believe that Nashville is the more hungry of the two teams. I predict a Nashville win in 6 games.



Playoffs 2nd round Eastern Conference

Since round 1 is already over it's a little late for round 1 predictions, so I'm gonna jump straight to the 2nd round.

Eastern Conference

 Capitals vs Rangers

Flyers vs Devils

sorry for the crappy bracket apparently it's impossible to find one online

So let's start off with the Capitals and the Rangers. Most people including experts have the New York Rangers pegged to win this one, which is understandable since they finished on top of the Eastern Conference and have played stellar nearly the entire year where as the caps haven't been so good and were only just able to sneak into a playoff spot, but despite that I still have Washington pegged to win this series. Largely based off of the fact that Washington has eliminated New York 3 years running coupled with the incredible goaltending they have received from rookie goaltender Braden Holtby. I think it'll be a very close series between the two, but I believe the caps will go in there with more confidence then the rangers and that will be the difference in the end. So my prediction is Caps in 7 Games.

The second match up in the east is the Philidelphia Flyers and the New Jersey devils. In this series I'm going to have to agree with everyone else and pick the Flyers. mainly because neither team has received solid goaltending so it should just come down who ever can score more goals and at the moment I don't believe there is more offensive team in the playoffs then the Flyers, they scored 36 goals in the first series alone, by far the most of any team in the playoffs. So unless the Devils can receive some stellar goaltending from Martin Brodeur this series should be over pretty fast. My prediction is the Flyers in 5 games.