NHL 2009 Playoffs

[NEVER85]

Great win, Hawks. Hopefully the Flames get ousted on Monday!

[Ji@nBing]

Western Semis finally set:

Canucks vs Hawks

Wings vs Ducks

[R-Flex]

Well, I'm shocked and terribly disappointed at my Rangers. All I can say is that I'm glad that Sean Avery won't win the Cup, and that this must come as a pleasant surprise for the NHL and their biased, pro-Ovechkin articles found on their website. What could have been a great Original Six battle between Boston and New York will now be between Boston and Carolina, with Washington and Pittsburgh (Ovechkin vs. Crosby and Malkin; the league must be in tears of joy for that matchup) as the second series.

I'm predicting for the conference semi-finals:

Eastern Conference

1. Boston Bruins vs. 6. Carolina Hurricanes - In five games.

2. Washington Capitals vs. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - In six games.

Boston is looking too good for a team like Carolina to beat, and will likely steamroll them only with a bit of trouble. Pittsburgh looked very sharp in their series, despite a few stumbles, and the Capitals' shortcomings prove that they can be beaten with excellent goaltending. If Marc-Andre Fleury can put up a good series, and with the explosive Penguin offense (as they showed in the last game of the series coming back from three goals down), the Caps will lose.

Western Conference

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 8. Anaheim Ducks - In five games.

3. Vancouver Canucks vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks - In six games.

The Red Wings are a no-brainer, despite criticisms of Chris Osgood's season. He did win the Cup for them last year, and has continued to play well in three of the four games in the first series. Their complete offense and strong defense make even the surprising Ducks falter. The Blackhawks seem to be an underdog, despite their better showing in the regular season, but their talent can easily show why they did so well. We forget that the Canucks defeated a poor team in the Blues, one that had a miraculous journey from last place to eight, but remained a team that could be beaten easily. The Blackhawks faced a much better team in Calgary. The Hawks' key is their young talent. Inexperienced, but once they get going, as they did several times against the Flames, they are hard to stop. The Canucks won on the back of their penalty killing and Roberto Luongo. If the Chicago power play clicks, or the young guns such as Kane and Toews start firing in goals on even strength, it will be tough for the Vancouver offense to match the Chicago scoring. The wild card will be if the Hawks' goaltending can do well. Even if it is not spectacular, a solid performance will be enough to back a high scoring team. Because Vancouver relies on both penalty kill and Luongo, where if one fails, the other will have little effect in stopping Chicago, and thus why Chicago has the edge.

Last round I predicted correctly five out of the eight series (although my choice of St. Louis was more of a wish than a serious prediction, but I will not pretend that I knew better), with only one choice winning in the correct amount of games.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I am truly surprised by the Devils. That was one series that I would have guaranteed to go the other way.

[mikebiacsi]

Even though i didn't get the games won correct i successfully guessed the winner for 7 out of 8 matches (i knew i should have chosen Anaheim over San Jose) , go me! :D

1. Boston Bruins vs. 6. Carolina Hurricanes - In six games.

2. Washington Capitals vs. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - In seven games.

I would really love the 'canes win this series and with Staal and Whitney leading by example it's certanly a possibility, Ward also played very well (.938Sv% 2.11 GAA). But it's hard to bet against the Bruins. Thomas has better numbers than Ward (.946Sv%, 1.50 GAA) and the bruins scored nearly twice as many goals per game than the 'canes did.

The caps-pens series is gonna be fantastic to watch, no love loss between these two teams. I believe Varlamov will have another strong series here and the caps will advance in a close series.

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 8. Anaheim Ducks - In five games.

3. Vancouver Canucks vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks - In seven games.

The undoing of the ducks will be the penalty box. The wings are too good on the power play and they will ride that into the western conference finals. As for the 'nucks and hawks, im going go stick my neck out and say Vancouver in seven. I think Luongo will come up big when needed and he will be the main reason Vancouver go through.

[+shift. MVC]

...

Statistically speaking (so far in the playoffs) the Canucks and Hawks have been pretty much even in almost every category (faceoff percentage, goals for, goals against, shots on goal etc.), with Luongo having the edge in goaltending, Hawk's having the edge in PP and Canucks with the edge in PK.

[Ji@nBing]

Canucks win 5-3. Woooo!! That was close in the 3rd though. Canucks got too confident and just stood and watched and it cost them 3 goals.

[R-Flex]

I'm quite delighted to see how my prediction turned out to be very true.

3. Vancouver Canucks vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks - In six games.

I even managed to get the number of games correctly.

The Blackhawks seem to be an underdog, despite their better showing in the regular season, but their talent can easily show why they did so well. We forget that the Canucks defeated a poor team in the Blues, one that had a miraculous journey from last place to eight, but remained a team that could be beaten easily. The Blackhawks faced a much better team in Calgary.

Most analysts chose the Canucks as their pick to win this series, but they should have not been the underdog.

The Hawks' key is their young talent. Inexperienced, but once they get going, as they did several times against the Flames, they are hard to stop.

And they did get going, several times. The 'Hawks were able to destroy leads with proficiency, and their offense won them the series, albeit that the defense corps still proved their skill. Brian Campbell displayed his speed and puckhandling skills, while Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook stopped many chances.

The Canucks won on the back of their penalty killing and Roberto Luongo. If the Chicago power play clicks, or the young guns such as Kane and Toews start firing in goals on even strength, it will be tough for the Vancouver offense to match the Chicago scoring.

Kane and Toews scored five goals between them in the last game, and all of Kane's were even-strength. Willie Mitchell mentioned that he did not believe that Kane had any skill other than at power play. Additionally, the power play managed to give Chicago a healthy advantage.

The wild card will be if the Hawks' goaltending can do well. Even if it is not spectacular, a solid performance will be enough to back a high scoring team. Because Vancouver relies on both penalty kill and Luongo, where if one fails, the other will have little effect in stopping Chicago, and thus why Chicago has the edge.

Perhaps Khabibulin was not spectacular nor solid, but he was reliable. He never let in seven goals in one game, at least. Luongo's poor play and the failures of the penalty kill both contributed to allowing the Blackhawks win, because it is simple: Make mistakes, and the 'Hawks will take that mistake and score goals.

[mikebiacsi]

3 game 7's in two days? The hockey gods are smiling on us. :D I'm really looking forward to the wings-ducks game, especially after what happened at the end of game 6.

[Konstanov]

I'm hoping for Anaheim-Chicago, because I don't think the Red Wings deserve to win this year(or any year for that matter), and a Boston-Washington game, because the Hurricanes would sweep Pittsburgh or Washington but Boston playing Washington would make for an interesting semi-final.

[MikeFu84]

Pens move on! Crosby showed who's the better player by showing up when the pressure was on. As much as I would hate to see Detroit move on, I am intrigued by a possible rematch from last year. Only this year the Pens win then laugh in Hossa's face :p

[Slane]

I'm saying Wings beat the Hawks. Pen's beat the Canes for a Wings/Pen's showdown for the cup.

[R-Flex]

Last round I predicted the winner correctly three out of four times, with one series having the correct amount of games as well. That makes my playoff prediction record at 8-4.

Interestingly enough, if Detroit wins, they will face either their 2002 or 2008 opponent in the Stanley Cup Final.

Eastern Conference

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 6. Carolina Hurricanes

Western Conference

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks

[mikebiacsi]

I didn't do as well in this round as the last. I went 1 for 4 after going 7 for 8 last round.

Eastern Conference

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 6. Carolina Hurricanes

Western Conference

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks

[R-Flex]

Last round I predicted the winner correctly three out of four times, with one series having the correct amount of games as well. That makes my playoff prediction record at 8-4.

Interestingly enough, if Detroit wins, they will face either their 2002 or 2008 opponent in the Stanley Cup Final.

Eastern Conference

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 6. Carolina Hurricanes in seven games.

Western Conference

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

Forgot the number of games!

[mikebiacsi]

Forgot the number of games!

Oops, me too. :p

Detroit in 7 games, Pittsburgh in 6.

[kylejn]

Anybody following the Penguins game right now? I'm listening to it. Pens are up 3-2 with, like, 14-ish minutes to go.

[kylejn]

Well, now it's 6-2 Pens with about 30 seconds remaining. I think I can safely say that this one's in the bag.

Go Pens!

[Konstanov]

Looking like another Stanley Cup in Detroit this year. I want the Penguins to get dominated and go home with a 4-0 loss to Detroit.

[rajputwarrior]

looks like we are going to get a stanley cup rematch (can't wait to hear hossa getting booed in pittsburgh)

[R-Flex]

If Detroit and Pittsburgh finish off both of their series by Wednesday, the NHL has set the schedule to begin the Finals nine days after the end of the Conference Finals. What absolute garbage. I remember one analyst pointing out last year (and it becomes true yet again) why the NHL fails to understand that they are not the NFL - They cannot let a period so long to fall between series as the Super Bowl does. The fans grow bored and will lose interest with such a long break.

[R-Flex]

With tonight's finishing of the Conference Finals, my record now stands at 9-5 for the playoffs, with the Detroit-Chicago series one I correctly predicted the number of games as well (the third of the playoffs entirely).

For the Finals:

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - In six games

I believe we'll see the same result as last year.

[MikeFu84]

Pittsburgh over Detroit in 5.

[mikebiacsi]

Im now 10-4 in the playoff guessing game, not bad if i do say so myself :)

I have to agree with R-Flex.

2. Detroit Red Wings vs. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - In six games

[Ayepecks]

Let's go Red Wings :)

looks like we are going to get a stanley cup rematch (can't wait to hear hossa getting booed in pittsburgh)

Why? He left for less money :blink: