Written on 4/30/2010 by Jim Cerny
The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has some mighty large shoes to fill because the first round was as exciting and entertaining as any opening round has been in recent memory.
Some quick thoughts on the first round before providing my second round predictions.
1) Sidney Crosby (photo) has pulled away from Alex Ovechkin as the game's most important player. While Ovechkin was unable to lift and inspire his teammates in the first round, clearly struggling with his own game as the Caps blew a 3-1 series lead and were kayoed by the 8th seeded Canadiens, Crosby had the opposite effect on the Penguins. Crosby, who has captained his team to two straight appearances in the Cup Finals as well as the 2009 Stanley Cup championship, posted 14 points in the opening round series win against Ottawa. Just as important, Crosby played with fire, grit, and passion, traits that clearly were lacking from Ovechkin's performance.
2) What has happened to Alexander Semin? A true NHL star, Semin was a non-factor---and one could argue, a detrimant---for the Caps, the biggest upset victims in Round One.
3) Let's hear it for unheralded goalies Antti Niemi (2 shutouts) of the Blackhawks, Tuukka Rask (2.18 goals against) of the Bruins, and Brian Boucher (.940 save percentage and 1.59 goals against) of the Flyers. Great job by Colorado's Craig Anderson in defeat, as well.
4) First Round Heroes: Crosby, Montreal's Jaroslav Halak, San Jose's Joe Pavelski, Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom, Montreal's Mike Cammalleri, Vancouver's Mikael Samuellson, Boucher, and Boston's Miroslav Satan.
5) I should have trusted my gut about the New Jersey-Philadelphia series. I picked the Devils in seven, and my gut kept telling me it would be another bad first-round defeat for New Jersey. Turns out my gut was right, and this was the worst of the Devils three straight ousters in the first round because it did not even look like they competed in the final two games. Now Lou Lamoriello is looking for yet another new head coach.
6) Turn out the lights, but what a great party it was for the Phoenix Coyotes, who capped a riveting revitalized regular season with a seven-game first round gem of a series against the Red Wings. Losing to Detroit in Game Seven hardly tarnishes their season. And the mid-ice salute to the home fans after that loss was one of the true highlights of the NHL season when you consider everything the Phoenix franchise has been through this past year.
Now on to the predictions, which I originally posted on
Twitter yesterday. In the first round I was a perfect 4-for-4 in the Western Conference, but only 1-for-4 in the East.
In Round Two:
Sharks over the Red Wings in seven games
Canucks over the Blackhawks in seven games
Penguins over the Canadiens in six games
Bruins over the Flyers in six games
Enjoy it!
Posted in
2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs,
Alex Ovechkin,
Brian Boucher,
Jaroslav Halak,
Montreal Canadiens,
NHL,
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Pittsburgh Penguins,
Rink Rap,
Sidney Crosby,
Washington Capitals
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Written on 4/13/2010 by Jim Cerny
Now that we have all sixteen teams set for the two-month journey in order to determine the next Stanley Cup champion, I will join the expanding list of so-called "experts" in providing my predictions.
But first I digress.....
I was at Madison Square Garden on Friday and down in Philly on Sunday as the Rangers and Flyers battled for the final one of those 16 playoff berths. And I know that both teams are extremely flawed, and would not have even qualified if they played in the Western Conference as opposed to the East, but what great theater those two rivals provided.
MSG was electric on Friday as the Rangers kept their season alive with a 4-3 victory that was chock-full of plot twists and momentum swings and huge plays both ways.
Not to be outdone, the Wachovia Center was even louder and more raucous than The Garden for Sunday's contest, with the home team even dusting off a video of Kate Smith circa the mid-'70's singing "God Bless America". Simply great stuff!
Then Henrik Lundqvist plays one of the truely great games in goal for the visitors and nearly steals a playoff spot for his completely-outplayed team of Rangers. But the Flyers finally break through early in the third period to tie the game 1-1, and win it in the shootout with Brian Boucher somehow besting an exhausted Lundqvist ("I was dead tired...didn't have a good feeling heading into the shootout") for a 2-1 Flyers win.
Philly secures a playoff spot, one point better than the Rangers, who head for an early summer vacation.
Great theater. Whoever put that NHL schedule together and had Rangers and Flyers home-and-home to close out the season, well, give 'em a raise, or at least a Molson!
OK, prediction time. Well, wait, a second, before I get to that let's revisit how my pre-season predictions went (not so great):
In the East I had had six of the eight teams correct, though I opted for Carolina and the Rangers over Buffalo and Ottawa. Plus I had Philly as a lock, not to mention my Stanley Cup representative from the East (Yikes!).
Out West, I only nailed five of eight, though am proud to say I got LA right when many people did not think they would make it. Calgary, Anaheim, and St. Louis were my misses as Nashville, Colorado, and Phoenix made me look bad. For what it's worth, I had Vancouver heading to The Finals. That's got a better shot of happening than the Flyers, at least!
So now here we go:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Caps over (8) Canadiens in five games
(2) Devils over (7) Flyers in seven games
(3) Sabres over (6) Bruins in six games
(4) Penguins over (5) Senators in four games
Western Conference:
(1) Sharks over (8) Avalanche in five games
(2) Blackhawks over (7) Predators in five games
(3) Canucks over (6) Kings in six games
(5) Red Wings over (4) Coyotes in five games
Posted in
2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs,
Brian Boucher,
Henrik Lundqvist,
New York Rangers,
NHL,
Philadelphia Flyers,
Rink Rap
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