NHL Playoff Thread-Mania...

[cinch]

Man, I did a really horrible job of predictions in the first round. Ah, well, here I go again:

****************

(I'll go for broke...)

Anaheim over Dallas in 6.
Giguere is hotter than any goalie has been in a good, long while. Dallas played well against Edmonton, but not *that* well. Edmonton basically defeated themselves. Anaheim will not be so quick to self-destruct. Stumpy will be the series hero.

Minnesota over Vancouver in 7
I'm a little unsure about this one... I just think Minnesota will have a fairly easy time shutting down the Canucks' offense. Park, Gaborik, & Brunette just have to stay hot. Whatever the outcome, this is sure to be a fantastic coaching battle: Lemaire vs. Crawford... Oh, my!

Ottawa over Philadelphia in 6
Philly's playing well, but Amonte's not delivering, and they've shown defensive cracks. Cechmanek has only had moments, so far... Ottawa showed they were the real deal by coming back to take out the Isles. They won't be pulling a 'Sens' this time.

Tampa over Jersey in 7.
Another St. Louis-Prospal-Lecavalier-fuelled stunner? I think so. Brodeur is amazing, and Burns is a level above Tortorella, but this is the playoffs, and I think the youthful lightning can surprise the Devils in ways the Bruins only dreamed of.

(Premature conference final predictions? Okay!)

Anaheim over Minnesota in 7.
I keep picking long series, I know... If this happens, I think it'll be a classic battle. Two upstart teams with solid leadership, battling it out for a chance in the Finals. Will Giguere still have the touch? If he does, Ducks in 7.

Tampa over Ottawa in 5.
They choke! They choke! It has to happen some time, fellas; it's a yearly tradition! Andreychuk stars.

(Whoa, I just don't know when to quit!)

STANLEY CUP FINALS

Anaheim over Tampa in 7.
Another classic series, if it occurs. St. Louis shines, but Khabibulin is no Giguere. Giguere takes the Conn Smythe. Neidermayer notches 5 points in the series, the final one an assist to Kariya for the game winner in Game 7.

How's THAT for specific?!

[RedFred]

Originally posted by dejon

Stanley Cup Final:
Ottawa Senators vs. Vancouver Canucks

The dream of many Canadians but Bettman's worst nightmare.

[RedFred]

Looking back at Tingkai's comments on the first round predictions, kudos are due for the truely stunning prediction of Anaheim beating Detroit. This was a monumental upset in my book.

Too bad he called a Avs/Leafs final though.

[DarthVeda]

If Giguere plays the rest of the finals like he did against Detroit... Anaheim is going to win easily.

[Tingkai]

ARRGGGHH!!!!! I can't believe it. The Leafs collapsed like a bunch of, well wet leafs. What bunch of boners. What the hell happened with Sundin. He's making 9 million and that's the best he can do? One lousy goal!!! Then there's guys like Renberg with one friggen goal and -4. The defence sucked the big time, well below expectations and expectations were not high. Svelha finishes with a -5 and Kaberle ends with a -6. Then there's Lumme who seemed to spend more time setting up plays for the Flyers then he did for the Leafs.

Some of the guys have reasons for not playing great. Mogilny was injured, so was Nolan.

But's that's no excuse for leaving Belfour out to die in the onslaught of the Flyers. Belfour was the only player who came out looking good.

The Leafs have to get rid of Quinn. He's had five years to put together a championship team and he failed miserably. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept that a team needs defence. A team needs a system. A team needs to rely on more than just smucking people (not that there is anything wrong with that, but there has to be more).

The worst thing about Quinn is his lack of management skills. Having a player quit the team in the middle of the playoffs shows that Quinn doesn't know his players. A good manager would have defused the situation.

Okay maybe I should cut Quinn some slack. Corson is a certifiable nutcase. They had a team party after the defeat and he went to it! Talk about not getting the concept.

Anyways, my hat off to the Flyers. They did a great job. Hitchcock has them performing as a team. Now if they can just teach Roman "Where's my glove" Cechmanek not to pull anymore dumbass moves they might have a chance at the cup, but that ain't going to happen.

As for next year, I'll be back to

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by RedFred
Looking back at Tingkai's comments on the first round predictions, kudos are due for the truely stunning prediction of Anaheim beating Detroit. This was a monumental upset in my book.

Too bad he called a Avs/Leafs final though.

I told ya the Duck were underrated, but I really blew it with my prediction of the Bruins over the Devils.

I still can't believe the Avs couldn't make it. I thought that the Wild would give them a run for the money, but I never thought the Wild would go all the way.

As for the Leafs, I don't want to talk about it anymore.


Now for this round,

Stars vs Anaheim. Flip a coin. It'll be all close games because of the goaltending. The Ducks are coming off a big high after sweeping the Wings. Meanwhile, Dallas had trouble with Edmonton which doesn't have the Duck's skill in special teams and goaltending. I also like the way the back lines of the Ducks have come through on offence.

So Ducks in seven.

Canucks vs Wild
Can the Canucks play better than the Avs? I think so. The Canucks are a stronger, bigger team. They'll muscle their way through the Wild's defence. The weak link for the Canucks is goaltending, but Coultier seems to be getting stronger and stronger. The demon of last year is gone. Still, I should pick the Wild because goaltending wins the playoffs, but I'll stay true to Canada and say

The Canucks in six.

Sens vs Philly
No question here. Philly will be exhausted after its gruelling round with the Leafs. The Sens meanwhile have everything needed to win and they don't have to face their nemesis. The only team that could have stopped the Sens was the team that goes out in the first round, the Leafs, but with that psychological threat gone, the Sens can go all the way.

Sens in six.


Devils vs Lightning.
Broduer puts together two shutouts against Boston, but gets splattered and pulled along the way. Go figure. I like TB. They've got a solid team and the Bulin Wall will match up strongly against Broduer.

So TB in seven.

[Tingkai]

Okay just one more thing about the Leafs.

This is from the Toronto Star

A festering rift divided the Maple Leafs dressing room this season and culminated with most players skipping the team's traditional end-of-season get-together early yesterday.

Coach Pat Quinn and captain Mats Sundin acknowledged the split yesterday, but said it didn't hurt the team on the ice.

"Guys on this team ... (haven't) been the best of friends but there is respect for each player, everyone respects the next guy. There is no problem after that," said Sundin.

http://waymoresports.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=waymoresports/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125549082&call_page=WM_Home&call_pageid=979619472127&call_pagepath=Home/Home&pubid=975569009277&StarSource=email

No wonder they didn't win.

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by Tingkai

ARRGGGHH!!!!! I can't believe it.

The Leafs are out! The Leafs are out!

Maybe now the CBC will pay some attention to the Senators, huh? For once, I look forward to watching Don Cherry on the next Coaches' Corner, to see how that Leaf-bootie-kisser handles himself .

Anyway, 5/8 for me in round 1, though I did get 4 exact matches .

Ottawa / Philadelphia: My heart says Ottawa in six, but my head says Philadelphia in six. I still think Ottawa is out to prove something this year, but really weren't pushed in the first round the way the Flyers were, and the Flyers are a big, tough, strong defensive team with a coach who's won one Cup and getting some clutch scoring from Mark Recchi. Awkward goaltending remains the Flyers' weakness, but the Leafs weren't able to exploit it because they couldn't get through the team defense. Ottawa will be more rested and the longer the series goes the more the Flyers multiple-overtime games could catch up with them. So I'm going with the heart: Ottawa in six games.

New Jersey / Tampa Bay: Devils crushed the sputtering Bruins, no surprise there. Lightning are a different story -- again they'll be in the underdog role with no pressure, and with Khabibulin in net they can keep the Devils to a low-scoring series that works in the underdogs' favour. Momentum of a four-game comeback against the Capitals will give the Lightning a big boost, and so keeping with my call of the Lightning as this year's darkhorse in the East, I call Tampa Bay in six games.

Dallas / Anaheim: Boy, I wish I could call Anaheim in this series, but with the Stars firing on all cylinders coming off their spirited series against the Oilers, I don't see how it will happen. The Wings looked as though they had no idea how to adjust their game to beat the Ducks, something I don't think the Stars will be guilty of, and didn't have a Mike Modano or Sergei Zubov at the top of their games to provide timely offense. If Giguere remains hot, it'll be a long series, but I'll still say Dallas in six games.

Vancouver / Minnesota: My heart says Canucks in seven, my head says Wild in six. Minnesota's just come off a terrific upset of one of the most potent offensive teams in the NHL, and their trapping style could give the shallower Canuck offense (which basically amounts to the Bertuzzi/Morrison/Naslund line and timely goals from the defense) a real problem. It's tough to tell how much of the Canucks comeback against the Blues might've been affected by the flu bug that struck down St. Louis, while Minnesota is healthy. OTOH, it still took a major gut-check by the Canucks to rebound from the 3-1 deficit, and that plus my belief that the Canucks are also out to prove something gets me to follow my heart here as well: Vancouver in seven games.

[Hot Mustard]

For all those that are picking the Wild over the Canucks - What!?

The Canucks will not be underestimating the Wild the way Roy and the Av's did. Cinderella's seldom make it past the second round in the NHL (Carolina notwithstanding). I agree that the Wild will make series of it, but the Canucks are alot faster than the Av's, and won't get caught as often as they did. Also, the leadership of Linden and Naslund was really starting to have an effect on the team the last couple of games vs. the Blues, and I think we'll see more from the Sedins and other lines in this series.

And I won't add number of games to any of my predictions - that always jinxes me.

[SlowwHand]

Let's just cut to the chase on this, ok ?

Stars win Trophy in 5.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Sava
Predictions do you say?(although I'm not sure they are worth anything considering less than half my pics were right...) statistically I should have at least gotten 50/50.

Philly over Ottawa (payback for last year)


I shall not predict any more so to save myself from further prediction embarassment.

In light of your previous predicitions, can you please change your pick, your gonna jinx them. I wanna see a good ol' fashioned Philly vs. Devils bloodfest for the Eastern finals.

[SlowwHand]

Bring on Ottawa. Spank them like a red-haired stepchild.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So TB in seven.

Tinkai, you just don't learn .

[Ben Kenobi]

Lots of predictions.

Very cool to see this thread take off.

As for me:

Ottawa in 6 over Philly.

Well rested Canadian club crushes crazy Cechmanek.


New Jersey over Tampa Bay in 5.

Just look at the defense!



Dallas over Anaheim in 5.

Same deal as above. Dallas has a much stronger defense then Detroit, as well as a better, though less experienced goalie.

Even comparing the forwards, Dallas comes out on top. Unless Giguere racks up four consecutive shut-outs, I see them playing golf after this round.

Vancouver over Minnesota in 6.

Lemaire's the wild-card, however, he has just as many stanley cups as a coach as Crawford. No rookie coach means the Canucks should win.

[cinch]

Stars win Trophy in 5.

Never!!!



Oilers in 2004!