Waiting on Rags and Pens winner. Got my game 2 tickets and ready to roll. Hoping Frederick Anderson will be ready for round 2. I like my Canes chances being home, but neither one of them will be easy.
I honestly thought the Maple Leafs would finally win a series. They were playing really well. You could argue they outplayed the Lightning. However, Tampa Bay is back to back Champs for a reason. They never give up and know how to play playoff hockey. Toronto still can't get over the hump.
Round 2 looks pretty fun. In the East we have The Battle of Florida with the Panthers taking on the back to back Champion Lightning, plus the Hurricanes and the Rangers. In the West, you have the Battle of Alberta Canada with Edmonton and Calgary. Very cool. Plus Can any team stop the Avalanche? Well, the Blues are going to try. PS: Glad Marner is okay, @GREG. That is scary.
I want to stick with my pre-playoffs pick of the Panthers to win the Cup, but I don’t see the Lightning losing this series. Bolts in 6. On the other side I felt this would be McDavid’s year for a deep playoff run; Oilers in 6. Rangers played a third string goalie and were still fortunate to make it out do that series. Hurricanes in 5. Blues could be recapturing that 2019 magic; Blue in 7.
Nice picks! A few surprises in there. My picks: Lightning in 4 (Still bitter) Hurricanes in 7 Oilers in 6 Avalanche in 6 I will say the Panthers and Rangers are interesting to me. They could win but I am going with the stronger teams from Round 1. I think Calgary is the better team, but I am with you, this feels like it could be McDavid's moment. However, Calgary ran into a great goalie in Dallas, which extended the series. I don't think Mike Smith will do as well, so the Oilers will have to score more. And Colorado is still a juggernaut to me, but I gave St. Louis a couple wins due to the long layoff the Avalanche have had.
That game was nuts. I couldn't believe the Oilers came all the way back to tie it 6-6. When that happened, I thought the game and series was over for the Flames. Instead they score the final 3 goals to win 9-6. Insanity. I knew the Oilers goalies would struggle this series, but I did not expect that! It will be interesting to see how the teams adjust for Game 2.
McDavid is easily the fastest player I’ve seen in any sport in my lifetime when comparing him to everyone else on the ice and that’s not just in hockey. Mike Smith is one ugly motherfucker. Needed to find somewhere to put that. But back to McDavid. The closest thing I can compare his dominance to that I’ve seen is when LeBron won back to back rings in year two and three with the Heat except that coward needed two other Hall of Famers to do it. They finally put some more pieces around him too in adding Evander Kane and an older Duncan Keith.
I’ve always seen highlights but I’d never actually watched him play before the Kings series. On top of his speed he just makes defenders look helpless when he has the puck. Barzal has speed but can’t break down defenses like McDavid. It’s incredible. If they can hold their opponents to 3 goals I don’t see them losing until they play the Lightning.
TB is rolling right now like a well oiled machine. What they are doing to the Panthers has been very impressive. Vasilevskiy is once again proving to be the best goalie in the NHL. He has been money in the playoffs for the past couple of years and as a result B2B Stanley Cup championships. No disrespect the Canes and Rangers who are both good teams but the winner of that series will most likely get steamrolled by the Lightning.
Although I had Canes in 5 before the series, after the Rangers tied it at 2 I figured they’d get at least 1 in Carolina and take the series. There was no reason to believe the Canes were going to be able to win 1 on the road.
The Western Conference Finals Game 1 was nuts. 14 goals. Definitely an odd year of playoff hockey so far. Fun though. Bolts-Rangers tonight should be good too. I'm still sticking with Colorado but if Edmonton can get any kind of goalie play, they can make it a series.
I’m sure the Avs are going to be sharp for the Finals after not playing a game for 12 days. Regardless of who comes out of the Rangers/Lightning series, that’s going to be my pick.
Road warriors and just flat out dominant overall. (16) Nick Alberga on Twitter: "Through 14 playoff games, Colorado is 12-2 and 7-0 on the road." / Twitter
I’m not impressed. 8-0 of that is against Nashville, who simply wasn’t a significant playoff opponent, and Mike Smith, he of giving up the empty net goals when actually in net. If Bennington doesn’t get hurt I think the outcome of the Blues series is very different. I don’t see them having anywhere near the same success against a legitimate Cup contender with Shesterkin or Vasilevskiy between the pipes, especially with a 12 day layoff.
