The most wonderful time of the year

[Snail Shell]

The Stanley Cup Playoffs start this week!

The East

The Boston Bruins look scary. All healthy. Solid offense. Solid Defense. Two All-Star quality netminders in Thomas and Fernandez. Go Go Black and Gold!

The Devils are in the same boat. Scary team to play against. The best living goaltender in the game and enough behind him to give any team a hard time.

The Flyers look good. The Penguins are peaking at the right time. If Ovechkin doesn't choke, Washington could do some damage. Same with Carolina. If Florida makes it in, they're a dark horse for sure. The East is going to have some classic physical matches.

The West

The San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings are the faves to take the West and the Cup. Those two in the Western final might as well be playing for the Cup, but hey, stranger things have happened. 🙂

The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks will be an all-out war if/when those two get together. In the Western final, that could get positively brutal. The Flames are especially spooky with Jokkinen (spelling?) in the lineup. Either could go all the way with enough effort.

The Columbus Blue Jackets could take it on a dark horse candidate. Like I said, stranger things have happened. (Can you imagine Florida vs. Columbus for the Cup???)

My Calls

The East will be (oh geez, close my eyes and hope for the best) Boston Bruins beating New Jersey Devils in 6 games.

The West will be San Jose Sharks beating the Vancouver Canucks in 6 games.

The Cup will go to the Boston Bruins over the San Jose Sharks in 7 games.



Your thoughts? 😀

Snail Shell

 

[Carsomyr]

Well, Boston has been looking good this year. So have the Sharks, but don't they have a history of starting to suck bigtime come playoff time? At least on the top of my head I believe that's the case, so... I wouldn't go with them.

The Redwings are always a threat but I don't think their goaltending is good enough to take them all the way.

If Ovechkin doesn't choke, Washington could do some damage.

Oh, but aside from "Alexander the Great" they also have Semin, Backstrom and Green to bail them out. 🙂 Brooks Laich is also the kind of player that will be extremely valuable; last year he almost had a PPG in the playoffs and he has only improved his game since then. Nylander's experience and routine could also come in handy... Safe to say, it feels good being a Caps fan! 😀


That being said, I'm still going to forget all about the Stanley Cup Playoffs once the 2009 IHWC starts. lol

 

[Skinfan87]

Well, Boston has been looking good this year. So have the Sharks, but don't they have a history of starting to suck bigtime come playoff time? At least on the top of my head I believe that's the case, so... I wouldn't go with them.

The Redwings are always a threat but I don't think their goaltending is good enough to take them all the way.


Oh, but aside from "Alexander the Great" they also have Semin, Backstrom and Green to bail them out. 🙂 Brooks Laich is also the kind of player that will be extremely valuable; last year he almost had a PPG in the playoffs and he has only improved his game since then. Nylander's experience and routine could also come in handy... Safe to say, it feels good being a Caps fan! 😀


That being said, I'm still going to forget all about the Stanley Cup Playoffs once the 2009 IHWC starts. lol

Thank you so much for remembering the other parts to the puzzle of the Capitals. People always seem to forget about all the other players on this team and they are just as deadly as Ovie. Not only that, the Caps are gonna enter the playoffs near or at the top of the league with power play efficiency and their penalty kill has gotten better. The only thing that has me worried about my Caps, is the goaltending. Can Theodore play well enough to get us deep? Or are we gonna use a rotation style with this if Johnson comes back from injury or are we gonna do a 'trial-by-fire' for Varlamov? If our goaltending is good enough, considering the fact that the Caps have done well this season against the other division winners, they could find themselves playing for a conference title come June.

I'm not gonna predict the east, because my massive Bias will totally get in the way, the west however I see as a two horse race, and I say the Red Wings have the best chance. I just do NOT trust the Sharks in this regard. That and the team that usually wins the president's cup manages to choke it out one way or the other.

I see the Red Wings in 6 over the Sharks

I won't predict the finals because of my DC bias.

 

[luvgirlsfeet]

For the finals in the Stanley Cup i think it will come down to the 2 teams currently battling for the Presidents trophy ( Best record in the NHL ) my prediction that it will come down to the Bruins and the San Jose Sharks and with me being a bruins fan i think the Bruins will take it in 6 games and bring home the cup they havent won since 1972 even more of a prediction each game will be decided by 1 goal

 

[DrgRcr]

Glad to see there are other Caps fans, and totally agree that the Caps have other tools. Looks like the Red Wings are well on their way to another finals appearance, and the East is just too tough to call, although the Bruins don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Should be interesting to watch the next few weeks.

 

[Laffy Daffy]

I came into the playoffs very high on the Caps, but they've really struggled to get the puck past Lunquist. I feel like even if they can get past the Rangers, they'll be too worn down to do much damage in the later rounds.

The Bruins, Red Wings, and Canucks all looked pretty nasty in round one, but the layoff could cool them off.

I have to admit though, I'm mighty excited about my Devils. They look like the classic Devils recipe for success... Brodeur looks rested and hungry, and the offense isn't completely dead (although tonight's 1-0 win doesn't really help my cause). I'm hoping they're on track to get back to the Finals.