2012 stanley cup 1st rd predictions

8/2/2019 2012 Stanley Cup 1st Rd Predictions

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STANLEY CUP FIRST ROUND PREDICTIONS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

# 1 NEW YORK RANGERS vs. # 8 OTTAWA SENATORS

Did the Rangers want to dodge ghosts of playoff past and avoid the Washington Capitals? Based on theireffort Saturday night at home against the Caps, perhaps. Did Ottawa lay down against the Devils onSaturday afternoon to avoid the Bruins (who they went 1-5 against this year), maybe. Ottawa took 3 of the 4games against the Rangers and were a surprise team in the NHL that many picked to finish dead last in theEast.

The Senators have an interesting mix of players that either have a ton of experience (Daniel Alfredsson,Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips, Filip Kuba, Sergei Gonchar, Chris Neil) or have practically no playoffexperience (basically the rest of their roster). G Craig Anderson has been very good all season long for theSens and will need to continue that to pull off the upset. The Rangers are built for the playoffs. They have amix of playoff experience up and down their roster, arguably the best goalie in the league in HenrikLundqvist, and former Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards. The Blueshirts play a gritty, physical, blue-collarstyle of hockey that wins in the playoffs more often than not. Ottawa has some grit (Ranger fans, if you don't

hate Chris Neil already, you will in a few days), but it remains to be seen whether the youth on the Senatorsroster answers the bell or shies away from the physical play

Key match-up: - NYR's Penalty Kill (5th in the NHL) vs. Ottawa's Power Play (11th in the NHL) - TheSenators have one of the best defenseman and power play quarterbacks in the league in Erik Karlsson.The Rangers penalty kill is often stifling and doesn't allow many opportunities. Ottawa's production on thepower play could be the difference in the series.

Prediction - The series will go on longer than the Rangers want, but experience will prevail -NEW YORK IN7

# 2 BOSTON BRUINS vs. # 7 WASHINGTON CAPITALS

This is a match-up of the defending champs against a team many picked to win it all this year, but

underachieved for most of the year. Washington righted the ship in time to make the playoffs in the lastweek of the season. The Caps played well against the B's this year, taking 3 of 4, including both games inTD Garden.

The Bruins are basically the same team that won it all last season. Like the Rangers, they are built for theplayoffs with a gritty, physical roster. Boston also has the defending Vezina & Conn Smythe winner in TimThomas in net. This is a stark contrast to the Capitals, who are without their top two goalies and have theyoung Braden Holtby manning the crease for the series. While Holtby has displayed the ability to be a goodgoalie at times, being thrust in to the starter's role a week before the playoffs is not ideal. The Russian duoof Alex Oveckin and Alexander Semin started to heat up towards the end of the season and will need tocontinue that way against Boston.

Key match-up: - Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin (38G 27A - only 3 assists against Boston this year) vs. BruinsD Zdeno Chara (12G 40A, +33) - Ovie is no stranger to seeing other team's top defensive pair. But most d-pairings don't have a guy that's 6'9 and 260 lbs. Chara was recently reunited with D Dennis Seidenberg,which was a key pairing to the Bruins Stanley Cup run last year.

Prediction - Most of the games will be tight, but Washington's lack of experience between the pipes will dothem in - BOSTON IN 6


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# 3 FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. # 6 NEW JERSEY DEVILS

You can make the argument that the best place to finish in the East this year was 6th place. While thePanthers won their division and inherited the 3 seed, they did it with 94 points, which would have ranked 7thin the East and 8 points behind New Jersey. These teams split the season series at 2 wins a piece, but the

Panthers earned an extra point in a shootout loss.

The Panthers top line of Kris Versteeg, Stephen Weiss, and Tomas Fleischmann were red hot for the firsttwo months of the season. It's been average since then, and the Panthers don't have much offensive helpbelow that. They also come in to the playoffs without having their goalie situations settled. While JoseTheodore was their guy for most of the year, former Devils Scott Clemmensen played well down the stretchand could get the nod. The Devils were victims of playing in a division where their 102 point effort was onlygood enough for a 4th place finish. The Devils roll 3 lines that are capable of scoring (Kovalchuk, Pariseand Clarkson each had 30+ goal seasons), their blueline is solid, and you can't doubt G Marty Brodeur nomatter how old he is.

Key match-up: - Devils Penalty Kill (1st in the NHL) vs. Panthers Power Play (7th in the league) - Not onlywill New Jersey's penalty kill wear you down 89.6% of the time, they can also turn the PP against you. NewJersey led the league in shorthanded goals with 13. The Panthers power play converted on 18.6% of theiropportunities, and have one of the best PP quarterbacks in D Brian Campbell (Ranked 2nd in points amongdefensemen this season). D Jason Garrison also has a point presence, netting 9 goals with the manadvantage.

Prediction - Winning their first division title was nice, but the Panthers come in to the playoffs cold onlywinning 2 of their last 10. The Devils depth will be too much for Florida to handle.NEW JERSEY IN 5

# 4 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs. # 5 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

The cross-Keystone State hatred between these teams has always made for one of the best rivalries in theNHL. Factor in the events of the April 1st game in the Steel City, and this series is just a match-stroke awayfrom exploding. In case you missed what happened on 4/1:http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=625537

There's no shortage of storylines in this series. On the Pittsburgh side, Evgeni Malkin led the league inscoring with 109 points, Sidney Crosby FINALLY appears to be fully healthy, and G Marc Andre Fleury hasbeen nothing short of great all year long. While Crosby and Malkin are 2 of the best players in the league,the most important player to the Penguins is D Kris Letang. He runs their power play and the Pens oftenstruggled in the 31 games he missed. For Philly, two former Pens in Max Talbot (a fan favorite during histime in Pittsburgh) and 2-time Pittsburgh champion (1991 & 1992) Jaromir Jagr play their first playoff seriesagainst their former team. Flyers F Claude Giroux had a great season and finished 3rd in the league inscoring with 93 points.

Key match-up: - Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov vs. Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov - this is not a typo. Bryzgalov has theability to be one of the top goalies in the league when he's not in his own head. While he had a streakyseason, he played his best hockey down the stretch, going 10-2-1 in the month of March. He's the X-Factorin this series. If he keeps playing this way, Pittsburgh could be out in the 1st round for the 2nd year in a row.

Prediction - Even the staunchest hockey hater could get in to this series. While the Penguins are arguablythe best team in the league when fully healthy, the Flyers match up with them better than any team in theleague. PHILADELPHIA IN 7


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STANLEY CUP FIRST ROUND PREDICTIONS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

# 1 VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs. # 8 LOS ANGELES KINGS

For the second season in a row, the Canucks earned the Presidents Trophy for being the regular seasonchampions. For the 2nd time in 3 seasons, the Kings earned a 1st round showdown with Vancouver (TheCanucks won that series in 6 in the 09-10 playoffs)

The Canucks had another strong regular season, winning their 4th straight Northwest Division crown behindthe usual cast of characters (the Sedin twins, Kesler, Bieksa, Burrows, Luongo). The huge question in thePacific Northwest is if this is the season they finally get over the hump and win it all. After being eliminatedin the playoffs for two straight seasons by the rival Blackhawks, they got that monkey off their backs in lastyear's playoffs (only to lose a heart-breaking 7 game Stanley Cup Finals to the Bruins). For the Kings, it's amatter of whether or not their woeful offense (they finished 29th in goals scored) can show a little bit of life.

A 4th-ranked Penalty Kill has saved the Kings on numerous occasions, but they'll need to score a lot moreto keep up with the Canucks high-octane offense.

Key match-up: - Canucks G Roberto Luongo (31-14-8, 2.41 GAA, .919 Save Percentage, 5 shutouts) vs.Kings G Jonathan Quick (35-21-13, 1.95 GAA, .929 save percentage, 10 shutouts) - The only reason theKings are in the playoffs is because of Jonathan Quick. The Kings lack of offense all year was saved byQuick being lights-out all season (he was a victim of losing SIX 1-0 shutouts). Luongo is one of the best inthe league, but one mistake and the Vancouver faithful will ride him hard.

Prediction - The Kings just don't have the horses to keep up with Vancouver. Jonathan Quick will steal agame for LA though. VANCOUVER IN 5

# 2 ST. LOUIS BLUES vs. # 7 SAN JOSE SHARKS

Ask any player in any sport if they have a preference of a team they want to face in the playoffs, you'll getthe typical "We're just happy to be there and play who we play, blah blah blah" answer. I'd like to see aShark say that with a straight face after being swept by St. Louis 4-0 this season (the Sharks were shutouttwice and only managed three goals in the four meetings this season.

St. Louis has been one of the best teams in the league since they fired Davis Payne 13 games in to theseason. The Blues decided Ken Hitchcock was the man to guide their young roster, and its paid off big.While the Blues lack a top flight scorer, they roll three lines that can produce and two young defensemanthat can jump in the rush in Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk. The Blues also had one of the bestgoaltending tandems in recent history as Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott combined for 15 shutouts thisseason. Look for Halak to get the nod in net for St. Louis. For San Jose, it comes down to their usual cast ofcharacters (Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Dan Boyle) and whether or notthey can produce consistently. The Sharks did play strong at the end of the season when they needed to,so they should be able to ride that momentum in to a couple of victories.

Key match-up: - San Jose Power Play (2nd in the NHL - 21.1%) vs. St. Louis Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL -85.8%) - The Blues play typical Ken Hitchcock style hockey (focus on being responsible in your own endfirst and wait for a mistake to pounce on). If San Jose is going to have any chance, they will need tocapitalize on their power play often.

Prediction - Everything the Sharks can do, the Blues can do better -ST. LOUIS IN 6


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# 3 PHOENIX COYOTES vs. # 6 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

Out of the 3 teams that were contending for the Pacific Division title, this was the one that Blackhawks didn'twant to see. Phoenix won 3 of the 4 meetings and Chicago looked awful in 2 of those losses.

You can analyze this series until the cows come home, but this comes down to two things. For Phoenix, cangoalie Mike Smith (38-18-10, 2.21 GAA, .930 save percentage, 8 shutouts) continue the stellar season he'shad? For Chicago, will captain and center Jonathan Toews come back and be ready to produce for theHawks? Besides a deep blue line, the Blackhawks biggest strength is their depth down the middle, andToews is their best player who is a very productive jack of all trades. While G Corey Crawford hasn't lookedthat good at times, he's played well down the stretch and has given Chicago some stability between thepipes.

Key match-up: - Blackhawks Power Play (26th in the NHL - 15.2%) vs. Coyotes Power Play (29th in theNHL 13.5%) - Whichever of these anemic power plays can get something could be the difference maker.Phoenix does have the 8th ranked Penalty Kill to keep Chicago at bay (85.5%) while the Blackhawks lowlyPK was ranked 27th (78.1%)

Prediction - I expect Toews to come back and be a force and hand the Coyotes their 3rd straight First roundplayoff exit - CHICAGO IN 7

# 4 NASHVILLE PREDATORS vs. # 5 DETROIT RED WINGS

You can make the argument that this is the most evenly matched series of the first round. They split theseason series 3-3, these Central Division rivals know each other well, and their styles of play match-up wellagainst each other.

The Red Wings are in the playoffs for their 22nd straight season. This is only the 2nd time in that stretchthat they don't have home ice in the 1st round of the playoffs. Detroit's season was highlighted by winning23 straight home games, but the Wings also had to suffer through their share of injuries. For Nashville,head coach Barry Trotz has done another fantastic job of getting the most out of a roster that, while havingone of the best bluelines in the league, lacks an established scorer up front. While Nashville doesn't have a

sexy offense, they had the top power play in the league (21.6%) and ranked 8th in goals per game (Detroitwas 7th). Smashville will rely heavily on the top D-pairing in the league in Shea Weber and Ryan Suter(each averaging over 26:00 of ice time per game) to keep Detroit's top two lines at bay.

Key match-up: - Predators G Pekka Rinne (43-18-8, 2.39 GAA, .923 Save Percentage, 5 shutouts) vs.Jimmy Howard (35-17-4, 2.12 GAA, .920 save percentage, 6 shutouts) - Nashville has the slight edge here,but both are more capable of getting very hot and carrying their team for long stretches.

Prediction - The Predators got out of the 1st round for the first time in franchise history last season, andexpect them to survive the Wings to do it for the 2nd year in a row.NASHVILLE IN 7

2012 stanley cup 1st rd predictions

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