First off, lets just say that calling five of the eight series correctly counts for something. Is it worth anything? That's another issue for another time.
When it comes to looking at the second round, it's much like a trip to a discount produce stand. Sure there are a lot of bruised peaches in the bin. Your job is to select the best ones that can hang around a little longer. They ain't perfect, the vendor will tell you, just pick something.
O.K., given that, the fruit with the least amount of flies circling the runway are the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins. Again, they ain't perfect, but they are the ones I am picking this time around.
Detroit Red Wings over San Jose Sharks in six games: Do you believe in the Sharks? I don't, and it isn't because they have disappointed me in years past. I believe that San Jose has a talented team built for the regular season. I need to see Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley be leaders, be the focus of the nightly video highlights. That's not really the case now, and can Joe Pavelski do more? I know he will try. But he needs more help. And as for Evgeny Nabokov, his expiration date has arrived. The Red Wings looked refreshed in the final stages of their series with the Phoenix Coyotes. I had them winning that round and I have them getting into the next round.
Chicago Blackhawks over Vancouver Canucks in seven games: Will Roberto Luongo break down? Who finishes this series in net for the Blackhawks? This series should be a lot of fun. There's a lot of speed and skill to burn. But I tend to look at the goaltenders and Luongo did not impress me in the series with the Kings as much as his defense did in the final games. There was some strong team defense that went into knocking that cocky smile off the faces of the Kings. Antti Niemi has the challenge of stopping the Sedin twins and any other of the Canucks who came alive in the late stages of the previous series. If he cannot, then it's Cristobal Huet. Hmm, he's a former King. That's a minus on my scorecard. This dance will take a full seven frames before we have a winner. I say Chicago.
Pittsburgh Penguins over Montreal Canadiens in four games: The Penguins, by reaching the Cup finals in two consecutive springs and by winning once, have the experience to overcome any number of setbacks or cold spells. And as long as Sidney Crosby is healthy, I see this one going quickly. Good on Montreal for getting this far. But those little guys up front are going to take a BIG BEATING in this series. Washington's Mike Green was saying "Ole" on any number of occasions, but the Penguins will punish the mite-sized Canadiens forwards. Jaroslav Halak played a man's game against the Capitals. It's going to take a Superman's game from him to beat Pittsburgh. Not happening. Pittsburgh advances.
Boston Bruins over Philadelphia Flyers in five games: Tuukka Rask has the tools, and he has more healthy teammates than does the Flyers' Brian Boucher. This series should be physical, which means some deliberate attempts to disable being performed by the Flyers' Chris Pronger or maybe Daniel Carcillo. When those two do what they do best, the Bruins had better make quick work of them on the power play. In this corner of the Lounge, I say the Bruins do this and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
In short, it's Howard over Nabokov, Niemi over Luongo, Fleury over Halak and Rask over Boucher. That's my call. What are you having?
No comments:
Post a Comment