What a Stanly Cup Playoffs it has been already! We’ve seen a five-overtime game, the defending champs eliminated, and a stunning opt-out. What will we see next in these playoffs?
Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round Two
Saturday, round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs kicks off with the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars, both teams the favorite in their first-round series.
We will also see a fun series between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as with the Vancouver Canucks vs the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders could be a sleeper series but we will find out. What better way then to come read these predictions while you settle in with your Irish coffee and play video games before puck drop at 8?
The Western Conference Semifinals
(1) Vegas Golden Knights vs (5) Vancouver Canucks
With Vancouver steamrolling the defending champ St. Louis Blues in six games, in what was a fairly boring series for most, we will see them take on the Golden Knights, who by the way, have never missed the playoffs.
Vancouver has some talent in Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, and Jacob Markstrom, but will it be enough to overcome Lehner, Flower, and company?
As Consuela from Family Guy says, “no… no… Vancouver no go to the conference final.”
Vegas has talent from top to bottom, with quality goalies, quality four lines and quality D. The Knights look primed for a run to the cup that ends in Wikipedia saying, 2020 Stanley Cup champs, Vegas Golden Knights.
For this series, I feel it will be a bit tougher for the Knights, but with the same outcome as against the Chicago Blackhawks, quick and decisive.
Knights kick them out from the casino lounge in six games.
Vancouver beat the Blues in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to get here, but the buck will stop at one upset for them. The Knights are too well put together and will be too much for the likes of Hughes and company.
(2) Colorado Avalanche vs (3) Dallas Stars
This series is a bit harder to predict. Both teams played well in the first-round series vs the Arizona Coyotes and Calgary Flames respectively. Personally, I feel both teams played against teams who have a lot of holes and need quite a bit of work to get to the next level.
The Dallas, Calgary series was a battle of two teams who are coming up but are also relatively in the “good, but not past round two great” category.
Dallas has a few weapons in Tyler Seguin and veterans like Andrew Cogliano, but they are older and will be gassed from a series where Flames’ star Matthew Tkachuk was taken out. The injury to Tkachuk, I feel was what allowed Dallas to get over the Flames, and should a Colorado player be out of commission, I don’t feel it will yield a similar result.
The Colorado and Arizona series was wild, the return of the Kachina to the playoffs, the Avalanche looking like the next Tampa juggernaut, and Arizona being outscored 14-2 in the final 2 games of the series.
Colorado looked fierce in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Avs will carry that energy into the “Pepsi Center of Edmonton” for this series against Dallas. Their weakest link is Philipp Grubauer in goal and truthfully, he is better than the tandem of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin.
Add in star power like Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar on D and this team looks good. Should Vegas somehow get eliminated, and Colorado dominates this series, I would expect the Av’s to be lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Avalanche send the Stars back to the rodeo in six.
Although Dallas looks like a competitive team, the facts don’t lie, Colorado is a way better all-around team and quite frankly, Dallas looked like this year’s San Jose, just old and boring. Colorado vs Vegas in the conference final.
The Eastern Conference Semifinals
(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs (4) Boston Bruins
These two teams have shown some serious grit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boston lost Tuukka Rask due to a pregame opt-out for a family emergency and the B’s still beat Carolina in five games. Tampa has shown that they can keep momentum and stay hot through the break and into the playoffs.
Tampa got to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by dispatching the Blue Jackets in five games. A Blue Jackets team who by the way, swept the Bolts last season. Columbus was by no means a pushover with quite a talented roster and forcing five overtimes in game one. The Blue Jackets though, losing in five, made this series a must-watch and made Tampa earn the W.
Boston got to round two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs via dispatching the Carolina Hurricanes Canes, who they took out in the Conference Final last season.
Both teams lost star power in Boston’s Tuukka Rask and Carolina losing Andrei Svechnikov. Going to a backup is never easy but Jaroslav Halak stood on his head to get Boston a not so romantic date with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tampa sends Boston back to the harbor in seven.
As painful as it is to say, Tampa is the better team. The Lightning have excellent goaltending in Andrei Vasilevskiy, terrific play from all four offensive lines and all D.
This team looks poised to potentially be finally able to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time in 16 years, finally jumping over a playoff hurdle, unlike the Maple Leafs, who in Maple Leaf fashion, can’t get past the first round…ever.
(1) Philadelphia Flyers vs (6) New York Islanders
This series feels like it shouldn’t be a thing. Philadelphia got here by beating the team of Carey Price and Carey Price. Montreal truly is Carey Price, that’s it.
They have a subpar offense, subpar defense, and their best player is Shea Weber who hasn’t been relevant in years. Philly finally has quality goaltending in the stud, Carter Hart, and a great supporting cast all around.
New York dispatched a Caps team that also seemed mainly to be Braden Holtby with some assistance from Alex Ovechkin. New York doesn’t have what it takes to beat the Flyers who look like a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Flyers prove the Philly Cheesesteak is better than a grinder in six.
What else is there to say? The Islanders are that one team who got out of a “well someone has to win” series. The Flyers are way better at all facets and will have a date with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Do you agree with my picks for the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Leave a comment below!
What do you think will happen this round? An upset? A breakout player? A surprise?
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