Here are my picks heading into the playoffs: Bruins in 5 over Florida; Leafs in 6 over TB; Canes in 7 over the NYI; NYR in 6 over NJ I like the Leafs and NYR in the ECF. VGK in 6 over the Jets; Oilers in 5 over LAK; Avs in 6 over Kraken; Stars in 6 over Wild I like the Oilers and Avs in the WCF. I think the East, outside of the Bruins series, has some great round 1 series that honestly could go either way - I wouldn't be surprised if any/all of TB, NYI, NJ won their series. I like the Leafs to beat Boston. The West I think has big favs in round 1. And the Avs I think have great path back to the WCF at least.
For the Rangers I think it is simple, they play smart playoff hockey I have no doubt they win this series. If they get fancy, and turn the puck over in their own zone/in the neutral zone, they will lose the series.
I expect there will be two sweeps in the first round....Boston over Florida and Colorado over the Kraken. Outside of that anything can happen.
I think Florida is going to push Boston to 6 or 7 and the Kraken will take at least one from Colorado.
I look forward to this day more than any other day on the sporting calendar...more than the NCAA tournament, more than the first Sunday of the NFL season, more than opening day in baseball. Nothing beats playoff hockey and it is FINALLY here! Let's fucking go!!!!! Bruins over the Panthers (4 games) Toronto over the Lightning (6 games) Islanders over the Canes (7 games) Rangers over the Devils (7 games) Avs over the Kraken (4 games) Stars over the Wild (5 games) Knights over the Jets (5 games) Oilers over the Kings (6 games) Should be fun to see if I get anything right!
Looks like Florida is going to even their series against Boston - good for them. I say again, I do not think the Bruins are winning the Cup. And Quickie with the game winner in OT for the Canes - normally I'd root for the underdog in that series, but no way I can root for the Isles, so happy it is 2-0 Canes. If we beat the Devs, we'll beat the Canes again IMO.
Not having Bergeron stings the Bruins. They won the first game but it really hampers them losing their 1C.
Of course you want to win game 2 and put a death lock on the series, but I'll say right now I'll be shocked if the Rangers win game 2. First they very rarely take a 2 game lead in a series. And second the Devs know how important game 2 is for them, it pretty much is their season as they are not coming back from down 2-0. Expecting the series to be 1-1 is why I had no issue with the Devs getting home ice, and I actually prefer to start on the road. I love the game 3 atmosphere when you come home 1-1. MSG should be rocking Saturday night.
I won't be shocked...if the rangers can hold the fort for the first 10 minutes of tonight's game they will win. There is enough vets on this team that know tonight's game is HUGE in the Debbie's minds. They can't lose both home games. No stupid penalties..keep the game close and by the third watch the inexperienced team start to feel the pressure and make mistakes.
would be interesting to see. They are the complete package with solid goaltending, and good mix of scoring, physicality and experience. Rangers are greatly a finesse team, so would be interesting to see how we would react when Bertuzzi or McAvoy drop one of our top players with an open ice hit. Would we be up for the physical battle?
You know, it is interesting, but as I have watched the last few regular season games, and the first two playoff games, I'm not sure the Rangers are only a finesse team. I have liked the bite and grit they have shown. Maybe they have more of that then we give them credit for. Trouba, Schneider, Lindgren, Mikkola, Goodrow, Kreider, Trocheck, Lafreniere all play with a bit of bite and feistiness. We'll never be mistaken for this big physical team, but I think we have more of that game then I originally thought. Adding Mikkola and Trocheck has helped there. And Laf and Schneider being a year older and more experienced helps as well. I think we may be okay there, especially if we shoot and get pucks deep as we have been.
Great comeback by the Jets - down 4-1 now tied at 4. We'll see if they can win in OT - Vegas will start with a PP though. Have to love the NHL playoffs. And to me the issue with teams like Vegas, Toronto, and the Oilers, and maybe a bit the Avs this year, is their goaltending. As I see these games playing out, I do struggle with these no name unproven goalies winning the cup. I say maybe the Avs, because I am not sure about Georgiev, I can maybe go either way on him.
Georgiev sucks. He is a decent backup at best. He allows a lot of average goals. I’ve seen some of the Avs games this year. Any above average goalie can have a good record with that team. They basically can outscore anyone at will.
