Predictions For The Second Round

It’s probably been a couple of years since I’ve made predictions on all of the upcoming playoff series’, but thought I’d take a stab at it again.  There’s a lot of interesting matchups, and some seem like they’re easy on the surface, but if you really take a look at it, there’s a lot more involved.  So, without anything further, here we go:

Canucks vs Blackhawks

No point in drawing this one out and leaving it till the end.  The Canucks want revenge for what happened in the second round of last year’s playoffs.  No one feels it more than Roberto Luongo, and that counts for a lot.  Dustin Byfuglien notwithstanding.  Maybe someone knocking the guy on his ass a few times will get him away from the net.  Regardless, the Canucks’ scoring has improved vastly over last year, and their secondary scoring in the first round did exactly what it needed to get them through.  Now if Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler start scoring the way that they did during the regular season, this thing will be over in a hurry.

Not to say that this thing is going to be an easy series in any way, shape or form.  There’s going to be a lot of emotion come out, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a fight or two in the first game.  The first ten minutes or so will probably go a long way to show what this one’s going to be like.

Canucks in six.

Sharks vs Red Wings

How do you pick a winner here?  The Sharks were the best team in the west this year.  But they have a long and glorious history of flaming out in the playoffs.  The Red Wings are, well, the Red Wings.  They’ve made the Finals the last two years.  However, the Wings are getting not getting any younger, and they’re trying to ride a rookie goaltender through all of this.  Sure it’s been done before, but it ain’t going to be easy.

In the long run I think I’d have to side with the team that has an incredibly vast amount of playoff experience and go with Detroit.  And while I’m predicting that the Sharks will win a couple, they really won’t really be in this series.  They might win games three and five.

Wings in six.

Penguins vs Canadiens

The Sens didn’t provide much of a challenge to the Penguins.  Or maybe it was just the fact that Sidney Crosby was so dominating in the first round.  The Habs pulled off the upset of the playoffs this year.  Regardless of whatever else happens for the final three rounds. 

But Jaroslav Halak is NOT going to be able to do what he did to the Caps for a whole series against Pittsburgh.  As much as I’d love to see the Habs go deep into the playoffs, I have a feeling that they’re about to get run over by the Sidney Crosby express.

The Habs will win a couple, but like the Sharks, they really won’t be in this series all that much.

Pens in six.

Bruins vs Flyers

I can remember when the Flyers and Bruins played in the Stanley Cup Finals back in the mid-70s.  Absolutely brutal.  While I don’t think that this series will be like those ones were, I think that this one has the potential to be the most emotional series in the second round. 

Particularly if the Bruins play the way that they did during their series with the Sabres.

This is going to be a long, drawn out series and I really would be surprised if it did anything other than go the full seven games.  Which of course would lead to the Bruins getting their matchup against Matt Cooke and the Penguins.  Which could, in my opinion could be an even more interesting ECF than the Pens and Capitals would have been.

Bruins in seven.