NHL Playoff Preview – Round 2

Photo By: Dennis Schneidler of USA Today Sports

NHL Playoff Preview – Round 2

Round one of the NHL playoffs is in the books, and what a fun one it was. 5 game 7’s, impeccable reffing, and the panthers breaking their 26 year playoff series win drought is about all you can ask for at this point in the playoffs. This is a great time to take stock, reevaluate teams, and ask some questions that will have major implications going forward. With all the “terrible” teams being eliminated already, the second round is really an opportunity to separate the men from the boys, and for teams like the Panthers, Avalanche and Oilers to prove they’re for real.

Looking Back

Our predictions from the first round held up pretty well. We all had Colorado, Calgary, and Florida moving on, with Minnesota being the only team that disappointed all of us. As for the bold predictions, many of them held their weight throughout the series, and could lead to strong narratives into next season. Some of the hits were: Jeremy Swayman establishing himself as the best goalie in Boston, Seth Jarvis continuing to be a force in Carolina, Colorado sweeping Nashville, with a double digit positive goal differential, Husso and Binnington both getting wins, and Evander Kane being the X-factor and scoring 9 points. 

We had a few misses in our bold predictions as well though. Kevin Fiala didn’t overwell the blues, and we were reminded again just how dominate Kirill is for the Wild, Shersterkin played below his own expectations all series, but the Rangers were still able to progress, and Markstrom wasn’t able to take hold of the series, with Oettinger outplaying him most nights. The thing with bold predictions is, there’s no way they all hit, otherwise they aren’t actually bold. We’ll make some more bold predictions again later in the article, but just know, they won’t all come true.

Looking Forward:

Bold Predictions

Colorado – Valeri Nichushkin plays some of the best hockey of his life, leading the Avs in scoring for the round, and emerging as the x-factor in the series. The Avs breeze past the Blues with relative ease, winning in 5. – Ryan 

St. Louis – St. Louis’s power play continues to stay hot, and the Blues score more special teams goals in the series than even strength goals. This is not enough though, as the Avs still win by a wide margin. – Derek

Calgary – Tyler Toffoli proves that the Flames deadline trade was worthwhile and pots 4 goals for Calgary. In general, the offense bounces back after being freed from Oettinger, and the Flames handle the Oilers in a fun series – Derek

Edmonton – Evander Kane continues his hot streak and scores the most goals of either team this series. He also leads Edmonton in what will prove to be a very rough series with 2 fights. Its not enough though and Calgary wins the series in 6 games. –  Derek

Florida – Spencer Knight steps into the crease in Game 2 after more struggles by Bob. Knight plays great, and establishes himself as the starter, but it isn’t enough, and the offense dries up and the Panthers fall the the Bolts – Derek

Tampa Bay – Tampa will look like a worse team than the Panthers all series, but will prevail on the back of Vasilevskiy playing great hockey. No forward for the bolts will have more than 3 goals, but Vas’s sub 2.4 GAA is enough to help Tampa Bay prevail over Florida. – Derek

Carolina – Carolina continues to win with the use of depth and strong puck possession. Carolina gets goals from 14 different players on their way to beating the Rangers in 6 games. -Derek 

New York Rangers – Igor is the best player in the series by a wide margin, but the discrepancy between the two teams outside of goaltending proves to be too much for the Blueshirts to overcome. Carolina posts an expected goals for percentage in excess of 65 percent for the series, but Igor steals 2 games. Canes in 6. – Ryan