* NHL Conference Finals Results & Thoughts *
Welcome back to another one of my updates. Well, as you might have seen, I was terribly wrong with one of the picks I made. I had the San Jose Sharks beating the Vancouver Canucks. Completely wrong. I'll get into all that later. I would believe that the results are as expected. The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins were the better teams left of the four.
==== NHL Conference Finals Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=3. Boston Bruins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
My Prediction : Bruins in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 7
This series was closer than it appeared. It was highly competitive and I can actually say I'm impressed by how the Lightning played. Dwayne Roloson played superb for a guy his age. The Lightning came up short, but they could easily be back sometime soon with core they've established. For the Bruins, this was to be expected. They're a well built hockey team. They have speed, a bit of scoring, size, grit, and goaltending. The fact that they're the last team in the Eastern Conference is no mistake.
My pick was close and correct, so no complaints there. I did think that Boston would dominate the Lightning a bit more than they did. I was thinking the Bruins in either five or six. That the Lightning hung around and made this the series they did was not expected (in my opinion and I'm no awesome hockey guru). It's with that note that I won't pretend I made a genius pick.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 2. San Jose Sharks=
My Prediction : Sharks in 6 ==> Actual Result : Canucks in 5
I wasn't close whatsoever on this pick. I had figured that the Canucks would bend against a team that was built with more talent than the Blackhawks or Predators. This was not the case. The Sharks were undisciplined and did the usual playoff disappearing act that they've been known to do. Luongo didn't go to the pieces like I thought and the Canucks were deeper than I had given them credit for. I definitely went outside the box when I made the pick, but I do feel like I had some just reasoning. I banked on recent history and lost. As I mentioned earlier, the Canucks are definitely the class of the Western Conference. There is a good reason they won the Presidents' Trophy. They'll now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup to truly prove they're the best team in the NHL.
For San Jose, this is a truly disappointing series. They had assembled one of the more impressive teams in the NHL. They have a lot of established talent and plenty of upcoming talent on their team. I do get the feeling they'll be back. Much like the seeding suggested, they were just the second best team in the Western Conference.
NHL Conference Finals Round
Bruins vs Lightning : Pick - Bruins : Result - Bruins : Correct : 10-3
Canucks vs Sharks : Pick - Sharks : Result - Canucks : Wrong : 10-4
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : Need I say more? I banked on San Jose playing a dominating brand of hockey using their depth. I banked on Roberto Luongo being as shaky as he was against Chicago and slightly untested against Nashville. I didn't bank on the fact that San Jose can disappear rather quickly (especially in the Western Conference Finals) or the fact that the Canucks were the best team in the regular season. It was a dumb pick, but as I mentioned earlier, I don't feel too big of a moron. I'm glad I was able to make a bold pick even if it was stupid. Picking Vancouver seemed to easy. Sometimes the easy answer is the correct one.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : Even though the Bruins and Lightning series was the closer and could have been had by either team, I'm still going with this series. These teams were both chocked full of talent and both had a good reason to be picked to win.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning : Though it was close, I felt like Boston would win this one from the start. They're more physical and well-rounded. Tampa Bay's defense was sloppy at times which ultimately led to their defeat. Tim Thomas was the better goaltender. Dwayne Roloson was spectacular at times, but was pulled twice and sat out another game (backed up Mike Smith). Boston was able to play a strong defensive series that thrived on making Tampa Bay pay for their mistakes as seen in a few games. As I mentioned earlier, this series was closer than I thought it would be, so it's not like this pick was like taking the Canucks over the Oilers.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
None. I was incorrect on one and cautiously correct on another. Had the Sharks beat the Canucks, there would be a place for this award.I was going to omit some of these until next season, but as we're closing in on the end of the NHL's season, figure I'd just copy, paste, and comment.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : For a team that was second only to Vancouver, the Sharks were beat fairly easily. Their undisciplined play killed their chances of taking this series. It's not a surprise that the Sharks weren't able to win, but it is a surprise that they only collected one win. I would have figured at least two games.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
Stupid award for the playoffs and I'll make sure it's removed during next year's run. As I said, every team has a case of why they should or could have won. The Lightning have the biggest case I'm sure as they were only beat by one goal in final deciding game of their series.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
I'm still technically alive on my pick of the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. I was completely off picking the Philadelphia Flyers to emerge in the Eastern Conference. No victory to celebrate if the Canucks win as my round-by-round analysis had them losing to the Sharks. As I had said, the mass prediction was for entertainment value only.
* NHL Stanley Cup Finals Pick & Thoughts *
When looking at the two teams who will be competing for the chance to have their names engraved on one of the greatest trophies in all of sports, you'll find one that was an obvious choice and another that wasn't as popular. The Vancouver Canucks were tabbed as favorites to win all season long. They have solid netminding, a pretty good defense corps, and some amazing offensive talent. You'll find a lot of solid building blocks down their roster. The fact that they're where they are is no surprise.
On the other hand, you have the Boston Bruins. Many had teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins (who might have been Cup contenders had they not lost Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the season), the Washington Capitals, and the Philadelphia Flyers as the favorites to win the East. You can't blame such predictions as those teams are usually always in the discussion of the best in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Bruins are certainly not out of left field. They have a goaltender who is a candidate to win the Vezina trophy (awarded to the league's best goaltender) and solid defense core that includes Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle. The offense is decent with players like David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, and Milan Lucic. It does hurt that they're missing one of the better offensive players of their team in Marc Savard. They do have a solid blend of players, though I would not see them as an exotic team. Even if Boston wasn't a favorite, I would say their team chemistry is a reason that they're where they are. They were able to beat their past by beating the Philadelphia Flyers in a sweep and by sending the Montreal Canadiens, a divisional foe, packing. This year's version of the Bruins has shown the ability to rise up above the circumstances. Out of the three rounds they've played, they've went to seven games against the Canadiens and Lightning to get where they're at.
As far as goaltending goes, both teams have a goalie who is capable of winning a game on their own. Tim Thomas can handle a shooting gallery when he's under siege. That helps the Bruins immensely when the Bruins aren't scoring at will. In Vancouver, the Canucks have one of the best goalies in the NHL in Roberto Luongo. He also can hold the fort down when the Canucks aren't at their best. Trying to determine who is better set for this series is difficult. I won't be a douche about this by saying the decision is split. I'm going to go give the slight nod to Vancouver as Luongo has a more proven track record and is younger. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tim Thomas outplay Luongo. We could see another case of the losing team winning the Conn Smythe as Ron Hextall of the Flyers and J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks had previously done.
Defensively, the Boston Bruins are pretty set. They have one of the best defenseman in the game in Zdeno Chara. His shot on the power play and physical ability in front of the net are second to none. Tomas Kaberle, acquired via trade during the regular season, hasn't been amazing so far in Boston, but shouldn't be discounted. Shane Hnidy, Dennis Seidenberg, and Andrew Ference aren't stars, but provide Boston with a recognizable corps. The Canucks also have a pretty good defense in place. Christian Ehrhoff (banged up), Kevin Bieksa, Keith Ballard, Sami Salo, and Dan Hamhuis make a very good and deep corps. I believe the Canucks are deeper than the Bruins, but I have to give the nod to Boston as they have the better defenseman of them all in Chara.
I mentioned the Boston Bruins offense earlier. It's not bad, I'm just not as impressed with what they have. Horton, Krejci, Bergeron, Lucic, and Seguin seem to provide much of the luster for the Bruins. Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder and Todd Marchand give the Bruins some recognizable depth as well. In Vancouver, the Canucks have the Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Chris Higgins, Alex Burrows, Mikael Samuelsson, Raffi Torres, and Maxim Lapierre. Where Vancouver runs away from Boston is in higher end talent. Kesler and the Sedin twins are far better than anyone Boston has to offer on offense. The Canucks get the nod here.
With all that said, I'm going with the Vancouver Canucks (as I originally had done in the mass prediction) to win the Stanley Cup in 6 games. I feel like this one will highly competitive and entertaining. Boston should put up a great fight, but perhaps we've finally hit a year where the experts had it right all along.
I'll be back with a blog to close this season out when the Finals are over. I'll still keep on with the blog as needed, especially when we the free agent season. Until next time, enjoy!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
5/13/2011 : Playoff Edition 2011 : NHL Conference Semifinal Results, NHL Conference Final Picks
Sorry for the late posting of this. Blogger was down for a couple of days. Had it ready to go though. Also, RIP Derek Boogaard. The enforcer, who played most of his career in Minnesota and was currently a New York Ranger, was found dead in his Minnesota apartment. He was 28. Way too young. He was a rare breed of player that's slowly being removed from hockey as hockey moves away from fights and players who are used for intimidation. The Boogie Monster was one of the best in the game today. Aside from hockey, he seemed like a great guy that was always willing to embrace fans. It's a terrible loss for the hockey world.
* Conference Semifinal Playoff Results & Thoughts *
As you might imagine, I'm very deflated by the effort my Flyers put up. That said, I'm not stupid and can easily the admit the Bruins were the better team. They were far more physical and the goaltending was solid for Boston. Philadelphia showed that going cheap in net has it's rewards (2010's Stanley Cup runner-up team) and it's risks (2011's exit). Philadelphia is in a world of salary cap hurt, but I can't imagine them not adding a proven goaltender. Sergei Bobrovsky should be the future of this team, but the future is not now. He needs to be groomed for the North American brand of hockey. If there was another indication Philadelphia must act with haste in fixing it's issues, it's guys like Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen. Both players are aged and though they can make up for that with hockey smarts, their effectiveness on the ice is waning. The window for Philadelphia's current roster is shut within a year or two (though we'll see who they add to prop the window open for longer down the road). I give kudos to Boston for not letting the 3-0 series lead get away from them this year. There was only one game where Philadelphia was even close and they weren't able to close the deal. I'd continue with thoughts, but I'll just add my thoughts as I cover each series of the round.
==== NHL Conference Semifinal Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
My Prediction : Capitals in 6 ==> Actual Result : Lightning in 4
Easily the upset of the entire round. Washington was a heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference this year and failed. The Lightning have Dwayne Roloson to thank. Roloson was outstanding stopping heavy barrages of shots. Tampa Bay can also thank Sean Bergenheim who was clutch as hell. Tampa Bay's offensive power was able to finish the deal where Washington just couldn't figure out Roloson. Washington running with Michal Neuvirth in net reminds me of the Flyers situation. So much offensive depth, a decent defensive core, but an unaccomplished netminder. This isn't to rag on Neuvirth, but I wonder what happens if you put Tim Thomas or Roloson on the Capitals instead. It is a fair surprise that Lightning won the series, but that they swept the Capitals? That's the real amazing part. Tampa Bay enters the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since they last won the Stanley Cup in 2004. For Washington, it's another disappointing year where most saw them as an easy choice to represent the East, but they failed to do so.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 3. Boston Bruins=
My Prediction : Flyers in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 4
Philadelphia seemed to be lucky just to escape the first round against the Sabres. They landed next to a team most would figure Philadelphia could match up with. This was not the case. The goaltending issues from the first round continued as Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky continued the carousel that made the Flyers the butt of many jokes. Boston was able to expose the Flyers not just in net, but also physically. Game two was the only game that appeared to be competitive, after that it was all Bruins. Philadelphia seemed tired and out of energy. Tim Thomas was absolutely stellar in net despite not needing to be considering how lethargic the Flyers were. There was no way the Bruins were going to let the Flyers relive their 2010 miracle four game winning streak to overcome a 3-0 deficit. Boston easily ends the Flyers season but lose Patrice Bergeron to a concussion. Bergeron is their leading scorer in the playoffs thus far and has a terrible history when it comes to concussions. It's reported he'll miss a game or two.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
My Prediction : Canucks in 6 ==> Actual Result : Canucks in 6
Where I was terrible in picking the Eastern Conference, I was dead on in the Western. Right team in the right amount of games. This series was odd. There were games where Pekka Rinne was busy....and games where he wasn't. I figured that Rinne was going to be busy the entire series. Rinne certainly played a big part in Nashville winning two games, but the Predators show resiliency in how they showed up against the Canucks. The series probably also provided Roberto Luongo with a break and confidence after the previous Chicago series nearly ruined him. As expected, Vancouver took care of business against Nashville, but not as easily as I had expected. Kudos to both teams. If not for the Sharks/Wings series, this would have been the most entertaining series of them all. Plenty to look forward to in Nashville. For the Canucks, they're just meeting expectations as they continue toward to the Stanley Cup.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 3. Detroit Red Wings=
My Prediction : Sharks in 7 ==> Actual Result : Sharks in 7
As with the last series, I had the right team in the right amount of games. However, this one could have easily been finished in four games. San Jose dominated Detroit and exposed Jimmy Howard for most of the series. After the Red Wings won their first game of the series, I actually started to think that the Sharks could be the type of team to repeat what the Bruins did against the Flyers last year by letting a team win four straight. I was almost right. When I made this prediction, I didn't see either team taking a 3-0 lead on the other. I saw a back and forth series. I can't take too much credit for picking it to go seven games. It was nice to see the series go the distance because both of these teams looked so good. Detroit also showed how resilient they are by winning three straight games. They almost won game seven, but San Jose was able to close the deal. Easily the best series of the this round. San Jose, much like the Canucks, move on as expected. Kudos to Detroit. I was actually rooting for them in the end.
NHL Conference Semifinals Round
Capitals vs Lightning : Pick - Capitals : Result - Lightning : Wrong : 7-2
Flyers vs Bruins : Pick - Flyers : Result - Bruins : Wrong : 7-3
Canucks vs Predators : Pick - Canucks : Result - Canucks : Correct : 8-3
Sharks vs Red Wings : Pick - Sharks : Result - Sharks : Correct : 9-3
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
Philadelphia Flyers vs Boston Bruins : Banking on terrible goaltending against a team with a Vezina Trophy finalist? Not a good idea. Philadelphia barely escaped Buffalo. Boston did barely escape Montreal, but they had all the motivation in the world to win this series. The Flyers, aside from a few players, never looked good. Their play from the final few months of the season continued to plague them as well as injuries to Chris Pronger. All of that was in view and I chose to pick Philly regardless.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings : I had a feeling it would be San Jose based only on their forward talent. That said, it's so hard to rule out the Red Wings. They play so well together, even if every player isn't a star. You can't count the Red Wings out, especially because I feel San Jose's better players can disappear at certain times.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs Nashville Predators : I was a little off in thinking the Predators would easily be pushed over, but the Canucks were easily the more talented team. I knew that it would take a miracle for Nashville to win this series. Pekka Rinne was nearly that miracle.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
None. Really don't think any of the picks apply. I am impressed that I landed the correct amount of games in the Western Conference sets, but that was mere luck.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Take your pick in the Eastern Conference. Both Philadelphia and Washington were thoroughly embarrassed and neither would win a single game in the round.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
I won't pick any teams for this. You could say Detroit, but they were playing a pretty good San Jose team...and they did win three straight to make the series interesting. I might get rid of this award for the playoffs. I think every team could say they should have won.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
Well, I was absolutely correct in the Western Conference. Both the Canucks and Sharks are in. I was absolutely wrong in the Eastern Conference as I chose the Capitals and Flyers to make it. It'll be the Bruins and Lightning instead. I'm still alive as I have the Canucks winning it all. Unfortunately, I think I'm having a change of heart. You'll see in my picks section.
* NHL Conference Finals Predictions/Picks *
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=3. Boston Bruins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Tricky series ahead here. We first must acknowledge that the Bruins will be missing Patrice Bergeron who has been their leading scorer. Tyler Seguin, a former first-round draft pick, will likely start for Bergeron. He's solid but unproven as far as the playoffs go. It's being reported that Patrice will only miss a game or two, but I'm a little concerned that it will be longer than that with his history. With that out of the way, I think the Bruins are stronger in net. Tim Thomas was fantastic in the Philadelphia series. Dwayne Roloson of the Lightning was great too against the Capitals, but Thomas had a better season. Defensively, the Bruins are also the better team. Between Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle, the Bruins are far more solid than the Lightning. Now for where the Lightning are more dynamic: forwards. I like the forwards the Lightning bring. St. Louis, Lecavalier, Stamkos, Gagne, Purcell, and even Sean Bergenheim who chipped in with huge goals against the Capitals. The Bruins aren't slouching, but I can't really name a guy who brings excitement to their team other than David Krejci. With Bergeron out and Marc Savard out for the season (possibly for his career), the Bruins can't match the Lightning in terms of scoring. They do have big physical forwards like Milan Lucic who can score with hard work. I think that's basically the summary of this series. You have one team who is more physical, better defensively, and comes with a better goaltender against the other team who can score goals and is very dangerous on the power play. This truly is a hard series, but I think I know which team to go with.
My Prediction : Bruins in 6.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 2. San Jose Sharks=
The top two seeds in the Western Conference meet for the Conference Finals. Both teams have taken difficult routes to get to where they are. Vancouver had to keep the Chicago Blackhawks from knocking them out in the first round while San Jose had to stave off the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. I would dare to say that both these teams were expected to get as far as they have without all the drama. The Canucks were picked by many to win the Cup this year and they're very close. Goaltending is a little even. Roberto Loungo for the Canucks has not been as spectacular as he was in the regular season. He can be beat, especially if the Sharks can get in his head. In San Jose, the Sharks have the goaltender who backstopped the Chicago Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup just one year ago. His experience alone helps. That said, I think Vancouver has the slight edge just on paper. If we're talking intangibles, give it to Antti Niemi of the Hawks. I think Niemi is the more beatable goalie, but he does provide brilliance when needed. Defensively and offensively, both of these teams are chocked full. The Canucks bring outstanding forwards Ryan Kesler and the Sedin twins. Overall (and this is just an opinion), I think the Sharks have the greater quantity of players while the Canucks have the better quality players. The Sharks have guys like Setoguchi, Couture, and Clowe. This is after mentioning Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thorton. I think the Canucks are a bit better on defense, but the Sharks aren't far away.This should be an outstanding series regardless of how you break it down. I had initially gone with the Canucks at the beginning of the playoffs, but I think it's going to change. I'm prepared to be wrong because the Canucks could get their shit together quickly, but I just don't like Luongo's potential (after seeing him lose his cool in Chicago, I feel like he has to earn trust back) to break down when the going gets tough.
My Prediction : Sharks in 6.
So...........
Bruins vs Lightning ==> Bruins
Canucks vs Sharks ==> Sharks
Night!
* Conference Semifinal Playoff Results & Thoughts *
As you might imagine, I'm very deflated by the effort my Flyers put up. That said, I'm not stupid and can easily the admit the Bruins were the better team. They were far more physical and the goaltending was solid for Boston. Philadelphia showed that going cheap in net has it's rewards (2010's Stanley Cup runner-up team) and it's risks (2011's exit). Philadelphia is in a world of salary cap hurt, but I can't imagine them not adding a proven goaltender. Sergei Bobrovsky should be the future of this team, but the future is not now. He needs to be groomed for the North American brand of hockey. If there was another indication Philadelphia must act with haste in fixing it's issues, it's guys like Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen. Both players are aged and though they can make up for that with hockey smarts, their effectiveness on the ice is waning. The window for Philadelphia's current roster is shut within a year or two (though we'll see who they add to prop the window open for longer down the road). I give kudos to Boston for not letting the 3-0 series lead get away from them this year. There was only one game where Philadelphia was even close and they weren't able to close the deal. I'd continue with thoughts, but I'll just add my thoughts as I cover each series of the round.
==== NHL Conference Semifinal Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
My Prediction : Capitals in 6 ==> Actual Result : Lightning in 4
Easily the upset of the entire round. Washington was a heavy favorite to win the Eastern Conference this year and failed. The Lightning have Dwayne Roloson to thank. Roloson was outstanding stopping heavy barrages of shots. Tampa Bay can also thank Sean Bergenheim who was clutch as hell. Tampa Bay's offensive power was able to finish the deal where Washington just couldn't figure out Roloson. Washington running with Michal Neuvirth in net reminds me of the Flyers situation. So much offensive depth, a decent defensive core, but an unaccomplished netminder. This isn't to rag on Neuvirth, but I wonder what happens if you put Tim Thomas or Roloson on the Capitals instead. It is a fair surprise that Lightning won the series, but that they swept the Capitals? That's the real amazing part. Tampa Bay enters the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since they last won the Stanley Cup in 2004. For Washington, it's another disappointing year where most saw them as an easy choice to represent the East, but they failed to do so.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 3. Boston Bruins=
My Prediction : Flyers in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 4
Philadelphia seemed to be lucky just to escape the first round against the Sabres. They landed next to a team most would figure Philadelphia could match up with. This was not the case. The goaltending issues from the first round continued as Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky continued the carousel that made the Flyers the butt of many jokes. Boston was able to expose the Flyers not just in net, but also physically. Game two was the only game that appeared to be competitive, after that it was all Bruins. Philadelphia seemed tired and out of energy. Tim Thomas was absolutely stellar in net despite not needing to be considering how lethargic the Flyers were. There was no way the Bruins were going to let the Flyers relive their 2010 miracle four game winning streak to overcome a 3-0 deficit. Boston easily ends the Flyers season but lose Patrice Bergeron to a concussion. Bergeron is their leading scorer in the playoffs thus far and has a terrible history when it comes to concussions. It's reported he'll miss a game or two.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
My Prediction : Canucks in 6 ==> Actual Result : Canucks in 6
Where I was terrible in picking the Eastern Conference, I was dead on in the Western. Right team in the right amount of games. This series was odd. There were games where Pekka Rinne was busy....and games where he wasn't. I figured that Rinne was going to be busy the entire series. Rinne certainly played a big part in Nashville winning two games, but the Predators show resiliency in how they showed up against the Canucks. The series probably also provided Roberto Luongo with a break and confidence after the previous Chicago series nearly ruined him. As expected, Vancouver took care of business against Nashville, but not as easily as I had expected. Kudos to both teams. If not for the Sharks/Wings series, this would have been the most entertaining series of them all. Plenty to look forward to in Nashville. For the Canucks, they're just meeting expectations as they continue toward to the Stanley Cup.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 3. Detroit Red Wings=
My Prediction : Sharks in 7 ==> Actual Result : Sharks in 7
As with the last series, I had the right team in the right amount of games. However, this one could have easily been finished in four games. San Jose dominated Detroit and exposed Jimmy Howard for most of the series. After the Red Wings won their first game of the series, I actually started to think that the Sharks could be the type of team to repeat what the Bruins did against the Flyers last year by letting a team win four straight. I was almost right. When I made this prediction, I didn't see either team taking a 3-0 lead on the other. I saw a back and forth series. I can't take too much credit for picking it to go seven games. It was nice to see the series go the distance because both of these teams looked so good. Detroit also showed how resilient they are by winning three straight games. They almost won game seven, but San Jose was able to close the deal. Easily the best series of the this round. San Jose, much like the Canucks, move on as expected. Kudos to Detroit. I was actually rooting for them in the end.
NHL Conference Semifinals Round
Capitals vs Lightning : Pick - Capitals : Result - Lightning : Wrong : 7-2
Flyers vs Bruins : Pick - Flyers : Result - Bruins : Wrong : 7-3
Canucks vs Predators : Pick - Canucks : Result - Canucks : Correct : 8-3
Sharks vs Red Wings : Pick - Sharks : Result - Sharks : Correct : 9-3
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
Philadelphia Flyers vs Boston Bruins : Banking on terrible goaltending against a team with a Vezina Trophy finalist? Not a good idea. Philadelphia barely escaped Buffalo. Boston did barely escape Montreal, but they had all the motivation in the world to win this series. The Flyers, aside from a few players, never looked good. Their play from the final few months of the season continued to plague them as well as injuries to Chris Pronger. All of that was in view and I chose to pick Philly regardless.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
San Jose Sharks vs Detroit Red Wings : I had a feeling it would be San Jose based only on their forward talent. That said, it's so hard to rule out the Red Wings. They play so well together, even if every player isn't a star. You can't count the Red Wings out, especially because I feel San Jose's better players can disappear at certain times.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs Nashville Predators : I was a little off in thinking the Predators would easily be pushed over, but the Canucks were easily the more talented team. I knew that it would take a miracle for Nashville to win this series. Pekka Rinne was nearly that miracle.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
None. Really don't think any of the picks apply. I am impressed that I landed the correct amount of games in the Western Conference sets, but that was mere luck.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Take your pick in the Eastern Conference. Both Philadelphia and Washington were thoroughly embarrassed and neither would win a single game in the round.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
I won't pick any teams for this. You could say Detroit, but they were playing a pretty good San Jose team...and they did win three straight to make the series interesting. I might get rid of this award for the playoffs. I think every team could say they should have won.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
Well, I was absolutely correct in the Western Conference. Both the Canucks and Sharks are in. I was absolutely wrong in the Eastern Conference as I chose the Capitals and Flyers to make it. It'll be the Bruins and Lightning instead. I'm still alive as I have the Canucks winning it all. Unfortunately, I think I'm having a change of heart. You'll see in my picks section.
* NHL Conference Finals Predictions/Picks *
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=3. Boston Bruins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Tricky series ahead here. We first must acknowledge that the Bruins will be missing Patrice Bergeron who has been their leading scorer. Tyler Seguin, a former first-round draft pick, will likely start for Bergeron. He's solid but unproven as far as the playoffs go. It's being reported that Patrice will only miss a game or two, but I'm a little concerned that it will be longer than that with his history. With that out of the way, I think the Bruins are stronger in net. Tim Thomas was fantastic in the Philadelphia series. Dwayne Roloson of the Lightning was great too against the Capitals, but Thomas had a better season. Defensively, the Bruins are also the better team. Between Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle, the Bruins are far more solid than the Lightning. Now for where the Lightning are more dynamic: forwards. I like the forwards the Lightning bring. St. Louis, Lecavalier, Stamkos, Gagne, Purcell, and even Sean Bergenheim who chipped in with huge goals against the Capitals. The Bruins aren't slouching, but I can't really name a guy who brings excitement to their team other than David Krejci. With Bergeron out and Marc Savard out for the season (possibly for his career), the Bruins can't match the Lightning in terms of scoring. They do have big physical forwards like Milan Lucic who can score with hard work. I think that's basically the summary of this series. You have one team who is more physical, better defensively, and comes with a better goaltender against the other team who can score goals and is very dangerous on the power play. This truly is a hard series, but I think I know which team to go with.
My Prediction : Bruins in 6.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 2. San Jose Sharks=
The top two seeds in the Western Conference meet for the Conference Finals. Both teams have taken difficult routes to get to where they are. Vancouver had to keep the Chicago Blackhawks from knocking them out in the first round while San Jose had to stave off the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. I would dare to say that both these teams were expected to get as far as they have without all the drama. The Canucks were picked by many to win the Cup this year and they're very close. Goaltending is a little even. Roberto Loungo for the Canucks has not been as spectacular as he was in the regular season. He can be beat, especially if the Sharks can get in his head. In San Jose, the Sharks have the goaltender who backstopped the Chicago Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup just one year ago. His experience alone helps. That said, I think Vancouver has the slight edge just on paper. If we're talking intangibles, give it to Antti Niemi of the Hawks. I think Niemi is the more beatable goalie, but he does provide brilliance when needed. Defensively and offensively, both of these teams are chocked full. The Canucks bring outstanding forwards Ryan Kesler and the Sedin twins. Overall (and this is just an opinion), I think the Sharks have the greater quantity of players while the Canucks have the better quality players. The Sharks have guys like Setoguchi, Couture, and Clowe. This is after mentioning Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thorton. I think the Canucks are a bit better on defense, but the Sharks aren't far away.This should be an outstanding series regardless of how you break it down. I had initially gone with the Canucks at the beginning of the playoffs, but I think it's going to change. I'm prepared to be wrong because the Canucks could get their shit together quickly, but I just don't like Luongo's potential (after seeing him lose his cool in Chicago, I feel like he has to earn trust back) to break down when the going gets tough.
My Prediction : Sharks in 6.
So...........
Bruins vs Lightning ==> Bruins
Canucks vs Sharks ==> Sharks
Night!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
4/28/11 : Playoff Edition 2011 : NHL Conference Quarterfinal Results, NHL Conference Semifinal Picks
* Conference Quarterfinals Playoff Results & Thoughts *
I won't even pretend like I'm a genius, but if you'll see my previous post here, you'll see that I did very well with my predictions. I won't act like a genius because a lot of these picks were lucky in the end. Chicago nearly pulled off a huge upset of the Vancouver Canucks. Same with the Sabres against the Flyers. This section will give the series results, thoughts, and how it worked out for me. Thankfully the mass prediction I made concerning the entire playoffs is still alive and well. The only substitution was the Predators for the Ducks. I had the one through three seeds making the Western Conference Semifinals so whether the Ducks (4th) or Predators (5th) went on really didn't hurt my overall pick. So in my first annual NHL Playoffs, I'm officially 7-1. Almost had my first perfect round which is incredibly since the first round contains the most games of any round. Anyway, enough of all that. Here we go.
==== NHL Conference Quarterfinal Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 8. New York Rangers=
My Prediction : Capitals in 6 ==> Actual Result : Capitals in 5
The New York Rangers actually did better than the result indicates. They led a few games only to let the Capitals back in. Still, this appears to be a more solid Washington Capitals team than last year. New York did a pretty good job of staying in games, but they lack the depth that Washington has. I really felt New York was going to land more than one win, but the better team won this series.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 7. Buffalo Sabres=
Prediction : Flyers in 6 ==> Actual Result : Flyers in 7
I was very lucky here. Very lucky. Buffalo gave the Flyers a very tough series and nearly did win this one in six. The Flyers finally found their groove (perhaps with the addition of the injured Chris Pronger) and pummelled Buffalo with shots and physical play. The Flyers became the first team in awhile to use three goaltenders in one playoff series (I believe they might also have been the first to win a playoff series in that fashion) rotating Brian Boucher, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Michael Leighton. Had the goaltending been better in certain games of this series, the Flyers may have won this series in five or six. Buffalo played superb and Ryan Miller was a beast until game seven where Buffalo seemed tired and dominated. The good thing for the Flyers is they seem to be hitting a powerful stride at the right time. Whether or not that continues is another thing. For now, as a Philly Flyers fan, I'm happy we're advancing which is all that matters.
=3. Boston Bruins versus 6. Montreal Canadiens=
Prediction : Bruins in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 7
Wow, this series lived up to it's billing. Montreal could have easily ended up winning this one as game seven went to overtime. For the Canadiens, I imagine their team and fans are disappointed. There are always high expectations in Montreal. I will say this: Montreal made amazing strides this year. Carey Price looked more like the real deal. The Habs can only get better. For the Bruins, this is a series they should have won considering their talent. They now have an opportunity to exorcise the demons against the Flyers in the semifinals. I would easily say this series was one of the best of this round. Great rivalry and a terrific treat for hockey geeks. With the way the Habs dominated the Bruins all season long, I began regretting my pick. It was still a close enough series to consider my pick a failure. Fortunately for me, I picked correctly and that argument is strong enough for me.
=4. Pittsburgh Penguins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Prediction : Lightning in 7 ==> Actual Results : Lightning in 7
Everyone gave me crap (people I spoke with and on Facebook) for making this pick. I won't gloat that I was absolutely correct. It was a close series that was almost won by the Penguins who let three straight games get away from them. My feeling was Tampa Bay would take advantage of the Penguins missing Crosby and Malkin. They most certainly did. I don't see the Lightning going much further as they're a little incomplete away from the offensive side of things. They can't count on the power play to bail them out every game. Anyway, this series was my best pick in terms of accuracy and therefore my Most Impressive Pick of the Round.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 8. Chicago Blackhawks=
Prediction : Canucks in 6 ==> Actual Results : Canucks in 7
The Vancouver Canucks nearly let the Blackhawks repeat what the Philadelphia Flyers did to the Boston Bruins last year. Vancouver led the series 3-0 only to let Chicago win three straight to force a game seven. Incredible. Roberto Loungo looked like he lost his mojo until the final game. Chicago was absolutely in his head. I wonder how much of Chicago's turn around was due to Brent Seabrook taking a shot from Raffi Torres. After that hit, Chicago put on some heat. Vancouver nearly had one of the most epic collapses in NHL history. After being the NHL's best regular season team, there were high Stanley Cup expectations. I picked them to win it. I'll have to reconsider that considering how bad they let this one get away. They nearly let it get away in game seven by allowing the Blackhawks to score a tying goal while shorthanded with only minutes left in the game. I figured Chicago would give the Canucks a little bit of a game....but not as much of a game as they did.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 7. Los Angeles Kings=
Prediction : Sharks in 5 ==> Actual Results : Sharks in 6
I was close with this pick. San Jose pretty much dominated the Kings even when they lost the two games that they did. The Sharks came from behind 4-0 one game to win in overtime 6-5. Pretty amazing. So long as their star players don't disappear as some have historically done, the Sharks could be very dangerous. The Kings played very well considering they were missing their best player in Anze Kopitar. As I expected, I think his absence hurt the Kings. Had he played, I think this series could have been won by Los Angeles. Kudos go to Jonathan Quick as well. He was astoundingly good for the Kings making huge quantities of saves. It played out as I expected, though I thought San Jose was going to close it out earlier.
=3. Detroit Red Wings versus 6. Phoenix Coyotes=
Prediction : Red Wings in 6 ==> Actual Results : Red Wings in 4
I really thought the Coyotes would put up a much bigger fight, but they didn't. Detroit absolutely killed them leaving the Phoenix franchise in doubt as to whether they'll be in Phoenix or a new city next year. A smarter prediction would have been five games, but I expected Iyla Bryzgalov to give the Coyotes some strong goaltending. He wasn't as good as he had been and the Coyotes were exposed as the weaker team easily. Plenty to be optimistic about in Phoenix nonetheless.
=4. Anaheim Ducks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
Prediction : Ducks in 6 ==> Actual Results : Predators in 6
The only series I was incorrect. Nashville was very effective in shutting down the Ducks in the games they won. Anaheim entered the playoffs with amazing steam but were unable to keep that mojo going. Pekka Rinne was a beast for Nashville. If I'm Anaheim, I consider this a collapse considering how well they looked against a team with little fire power. Nashville's deep defense and excellent goaltending sealed this one. Nashville has plenty to be excited about as this was the franchise's first playoff series victory. Enjoy it, Nashville, well deserved! I have to kick myself for this pick, but I really liked Anaheim to win it. I won't consider it for my Dumbest Pick of the Round, but I do regret my disrespect for Nashville's depth on defense and in net.
NHL Conference Quarterfinals Round
Capitals vs Rangers : Pick - Capitals : Result - Capitals : Correct : 1-0
Flyers vs Sabres : Pick - Flyers : Result - Flyers : Correct : 2-0
Bruins vs Canadiens : Pick - Bruins : Result - Bruins : Correct : 3-0
Penguins vs Lightning : Pick - Lightning : Result - Lightning : Correct : 4-0
Canucks vs Blackhawks : Pick - Canucks : Result - Canucks : Correct : 5-0
Sharks vs Kings : Pick - Sharks : Result - Sharks : Correct : 6-0
Red Wings vs Coyotes : Pick - Red Wings : Result - Red Wings : Correct 7-0
Ducks vs Predators : Pick - Ducks : Result - Predators : Wrong : 7-1
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
None. Anaheim Ducks vs Nashville Predators was close, but I can't say I blame me for picking the Ducks. The Bruins vs Canadiens and Penguins vs Lightning were also close, but I lucked out this round.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens : Would regular season history be the determining factor or would the division champion Boston Bruins take this one easily from the Canadiens? Real tough to determine. I went with my gut that said a team like Boston which is more physical and bigger would beat the Canadiens in the playoff style version of hockey. I was very close to being wrong.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes : Nothing about Phoenix made me even consider picking them. Nothing wrong with them, but Detroit is just that good. They've been there before and were even able to rest Henrik Zetterberg for an entire series. That says a lot about how good this team is. Phoenix just isn't ready to hang with the big boys yet. They're getting close though.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning : I have to pat myself on the back for this one. Picking the Lightning over a team had better defense and goaltending is a bit gutsy on my part. I also liked how I saw this one as a seven game series. It's probably the only time I'll pat myself on the back in these playoffs. Too close and too many good games.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes : The Coyotes were the only team to be swept in this round. Sorry, guys, you got owned. Detroit ended this one very quickly.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks : I feel like I have to put this one on both teams. Vancouver almost let a 3-0 series lead go right down the drain. They should have swept the Blackhawks at that point. Lots of rest and Loungo would have never had his confidence shattered. The Blackhawks don't deserve to be picked on, but I have to add them in since they were only one goal short of stealing the series away from the consensus pick to win the Stanley Cup this year. Almost.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
As I mentioned earlier, my overall pick that wasn't official is still pretty parallel with the actual matches set for the NHL Conference Semifinals. The only team that is incorrect to my mass picks is the Ducks missing and the Predators included. Regardless, I still had the Ducks losing to the Canucks. I see the same happening to the Predators. So far so good. I'm impressed it has stayed in such good shape. We'll see. The next round gets a little tougher.
* NHL Conference Semifinals Predictions/Picks *
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Should be a good series between divisional foes, but I just don't see Tampa Bay pulling this one out. The Washington Capitals are a more complete team. I don't like Washington's goaltending, but Tampa Bay's situation isn't much prettier. Though the Lightning are pretty stacked with offense, they just don't have enough to compete with a much deeper Washington Capitals team.
My Prediction : Capitals in 6.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 3. Boston Bruins=
A rematch of last a series from last year's NHL Conference Semifinals where the Philadelphia Flyers made history by surviving a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Bruins 4-3. This year I see things going different. If Philadelphia truly has beat the goaltending issues and the team has hit a stride, I could see the Flyers taking this easily. However, if Tim Thomas is on and the the Flyers go back to being inconsistent, the Bruins could easily beat the Flyers. I'm basically saying I have no clue. I'm banking on my Flyers this series.
My Prediction : Flyers in 6.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
The Canucks are just happy to be here while the Predators could easily say the same. Unlike the Ducks that the Predators just faced, this Vancouver team has a much more complete team. The Canucks should easily beat the Predators, but after watching the epic collapse, I'm a little leary on this one. Pekka Rinne has shown he can easily dominate a game and steal it. Roberto Loungo better make sure his head is in the game as Nashville is a very opportunistic team. Better offense and team with Vancouver so I'll be going with them. I wish the Predators well though.
My Prediction : Canucks in 6.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 3. Detroit Red Wings=
Man, this is going to be the hardest one to choose between. I like Detroit but I'm afraid of their goaltending against a team like San Jose. The Sharks are just so deep. They have nine forwards that could easily take care of the scoring. On the other hand, how can I discount Detroit. They're usually very on top of their game. This will probably be one of the best series of this round. Again, I have no clue and I'm only going on feeling here.
My Prediction : Sharks in 7.
So...........
Capitals vs Lightning ==> Capitals
Flyers vs Bruins ==> Flyers
Canucks vs Predators ==> Canucks
Sharks vs Red Wings ==> Sharks
That's all I have for now. Enjoy the next round and hope your team is still in the running. I'll update if anything big occurs or just to follow along with my picks.
Night!
I won't even pretend like I'm a genius, but if you'll see my previous post here, you'll see that I did very well with my predictions. I won't act like a genius because a lot of these picks were lucky in the end. Chicago nearly pulled off a huge upset of the Vancouver Canucks. Same with the Sabres against the Flyers. This section will give the series results, thoughts, and how it worked out for me. Thankfully the mass prediction I made concerning the entire playoffs is still alive and well. The only substitution was the Predators for the Ducks. I had the one through three seeds making the Western Conference Semifinals so whether the Ducks (4th) or Predators (5th) went on really didn't hurt my overall pick. So in my first annual NHL Playoffs, I'm officially 7-1. Almost had my first perfect round which is incredibly since the first round contains the most games of any round. Anyway, enough of all that. Here we go.
==== NHL Conference Quarterfinal Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 8. New York Rangers=
My Prediction : Capitals in 6 ==> Actual Result : Capitals in 5
The New York Rangers actually did better than the result indicates. They led a few games only to let the Capitals back in. Still, this appears to be a more solid Washington Capitals team than last year. New York did a pretty good job of staying in games, but they lack the depth that Washington has. I really felt New York was going to land more than one win, but the better team won this series.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 7. Buffalo Sabres=
Prediction : Flyers in 6 ==> Actual Result : Flyers in 7
I was very lucky here. Very lucky. Buffalo gave the Flyers a very tough series and nearly did win this one in six. The Flyers finally found their groove (perhaps with the addition of the injured Chris Pronger) and pummelled Buffalo with shots and physical play. The Flyers became the first team in awhile to use three goaltenders in one playoff series (I believe they might also have been the first to win a playoff series in that fashion) rotating Brian Boucher, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Michael Leighton. Had the goaltending been better in certain games of this series, the Flyers may have won this series in five or six. Buffalo played superb and Ryan Miller was a beast until game seven where Buffalo seemed tired and dominated. The good thing for the Flyers is they seem to be hitting a powerful stride at the right time. Whether or not that continues is another thing. For now, as a Philly Flyers fan, I'm happy we're advancing which is all that matters.
=3. Boston Bruins versus 6. Montreal Canadiens=
Prediction : Bruins in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 7
Wow, this series lived up to it's billing. Montreal could have easily ended up winning this one as game seven went to overtime. For the Canadiens, I imagine their team and fans are disappointed. There are always high expectations in Montreal. I will say this: Montreal made amazing strides this year. Carey Price looked more like the real deal. The Habs can only get better. For the Bruins, this is a series they should have won considering their talent. They now have an opportunity to exorcise the demons against the Flyers in the semifinals. I would easily say this series was one of the best of this round. Great rivalry and a terrific treat for hockey geeks. With the way the Habs dominated the Bruins all season long, I began regretting my pick. It was still a close enough series to consider my pick a failure. Fortunately for me, I picked correctly and that argument is strong enough for me.
=4. Pittsburgh Penguins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Prediction : Lightning in 7 ==> Actual Results : Lightning in 7
Everyone gave me crap (people I spoke with and on Facebook) for making this pick. I won't gloat that I was absolutely correct. It was a close series that was almost won by the Penguins who let three straight games get away from them. My feeling was Tampa Bay would take advantage of the Penguins missing Crosby and Malkin. They most certainly did. I don't see the Lightning going much further as they're a little incomplete away from the offensive side of things. They can't count on the power play to bail them out every game. Anyway, this series was my best pick in terms of accuracy and therefore my Most Impressive Pick of the Round.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 8. Chicago Blackhawks=
Prediction : Canucks in 6 ==> Actual Results : Canucks in 7
The Vancouver Canucks nearly let the Blackhawks repeat what the Philadelphia Flyers did to the Boston Bruins last year. Vancouver led the series 3-0 only to let Chicago win three straight to force a game seven. Incredible. Roberto Loungo looked like he lost his mojo until the final game. Chicago was absolutely in his head. I wonder how much of Chicago's turn around was due to Brent Seabrook taking a shot from Raffi Torres. After that hit, Chicago put on some heat. Vancouver nearly had one of the most epic collapses in NHL history. After being the NHL's best regular season team, there were high Stanley Cup expectations. I picked them to win it. I'll have to reconsider that considering how bad they let this one get away. They nearly let it get away in game seven by allowing the Blackhawks to score a tying goal while shorthanded with only minutes left in the game. I figured Chicago would give the Canucks a little bit of a game....but not as much of a game as they did.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 7. Los Angeles Kings=
Prediction : Sharks in 5 ==> Actual Results : Sharks in 6
I was close with this pick. San Jose pretty much dominated the Kings even when they lost the two games that they did. The Sharks came from behind 4-0 one game to win in overtime 6-5. Pretty amazing. So long as their star players don't disappear as some have historically done, the Sharks could be very dangerous. The Kings played very well considering they were missing their best player in Anze Kopitar. As I expected, I think his absence hurt the Kings. Had he played, I think this series could have been won by Los Angeles. Kudos go to Jonathan Quick as well. He was astoundingly good for the Kings making huge quantities of saves. It played out as I expected, though I thought San Jose was going to close it out earlier.
=3. Detroit Red Wings versus 6. Phoenix Coyotes=
Prediction : Red Wings in 6 ==> Actual Results : Red Wings in 4
I really thought the Coyotes would put up a much bigger fight, but they didn't. Detroit absolutely killed them leaving the Phoenix franchise in doubt as to whether they'll be in Phoenix or a new city next year. A smarter prediction would have been five games, but I expected Iyla Bryzgalov to give the Coyotes some strong goaltending. He wasn't as good as he had been and the Coyotes were exposed as the weaker team easily. Plenty to be optimistic about in Phoenix nonetheless.
=4. Anaheim Ducks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
Prediction : Ducks in 6 ==> Actual Results : Predators in 6
The only series I was incorrect. Nashville was very effective in shutting down the Ducks in the games they won. Anaheim entered the playoffs with amazing steam but were unable to keep that mojo going. Pekka Rinne was a beast for Nashville. If I'm Anaheim, I consider this a collapse considering how well they looked against a team with little fire power. Nashville's deep defense and excellent goaltending sealed this one. Nashville has plenty to be excited about as this was the franchise's first playoff series victory. Enjoy it, Nashville, well deserved! I have to kick myself for this pick, but I really liked Anaheim to win it. I won't consider it for my Dumbest Pick of the Round, but I do regret my disrespect for Nashville's depth on defense and in net.
NHL Conference Quarterfinals Round
Capitals vs Rangers : Pick - Capitals : Result - Capitals : Correct : 1-0
Flyers vs Sabres : Pick - Flyers : Result - Flyers : Correct : 2-0
Bruins vs Canadiens : Pick - Bruins : Result - Bruins : Correct : 3-0
Penguins vs Lightning : Pick - Lightning : Result - Lightning : Correct : 4-0
Canucks vs Blackhawks : Pick - Canucks : Result - Canucks : Correct : 5-0
Sharks vs Kings : Pick - Sharks : Result - Sharks : Correct : 6-0
Red Wings vs Coyotes : Pick - Red Wings : Result - Red Wings : Correct 7-0
Ducks vs Predators : Pick - Ducks : Result - Predators : Wrong : 7-1
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
None. Anaheim Ducks vs Nashville Predators was close, but I can't say I blame me for picking the Ducks. The Bruins vs Canadiens and Penguins vs Lightning were also close, but I lucked out this round.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens : Would regular season history be the determining factor or would the division champion Boston Bruins take this one easily from the Canadiens? Real tough to determine. I went with my gut that said a team like Boston which is more physical and bigger would beat the Canadiens in the playoff style version of hockey. I was very close to being wrong.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes : Nothing about Phoenix made me even consider picking them. Nothing wrong with them, but Detroit is just that good. They've been there before and were even able to rest Henrik Zetterberg for an entire series. That says a lot about how good this team is. Phoenix just isn't ready to hang with the big boys yet. They're getting close though.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning : I have to pat myself on the back for this one. Picking the Lightning over a team had better defense and goaltending is a bit gutsy on my part. I also liked how I saw this one as a seven game series. It's probably the only time I'll pat myself on the back in these playoffs. Too close and too many good games.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes : The Coyotes were the only team to be swept in this round. Sorry, guys, you got owned. Detroit ended this one very quickly.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks : I feel like I have to put this one on both teams. Vancouver almost let a 3-0 series lead go right down the drain. They should have swept the Blackhawks at that point. Lots of rest and Loungo would have never had his confidence shattered. The Blackhawks don't deserve to be picked on, but I have to add them in since they were only one goal short of stealing the series away from the consensus pick to win the Stanley Cup this year. Almost.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
As I mentioned earlier, my overall pick that wasn't official is still pretty parallel with the actual matches set for the NHL Conference Semifinals. The only team that is incorrect to my mass picks is the Ducks missing and the Predators included. Regardless, I still had the Ducks losing to the Canucks. I see the same happening to the Predators. So far so good. I'm impressed it has stayed in such good shape. We'll see. The next round gets a little tougher.
* NHL Conference Semifinals Predictions/Picks *
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
Should be a good series between divisional foes, but I just don't see Tampa Bay pulling this one out. The Washington Capitals are a more complete team. I don't like Washington's goaltending, but Tampa Bay's situation isn't much prettier. Though the Lightning are pretty stacked with offense, they just don't have enough to compete with a much deeper Washington Capitals team.
My Prediction : Capitals in 6.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 3. Boston Bruins=
A rematch of last a series from last year's NHL Conference Semifinals where the Philadelphia Flyers made history by surviving a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Bruins 4-3. This year I see things going different. If Philadelphia truly has beat the goaltending issues and the team has hit a stride, I could see the Flyers taking this easily. However, if Tim Thomas is on and the the Flyers go back to being inconsistent, the Bruins could easily beat the Flyers. I'm basically saying I have no clue. I'm banking on my Flyers this series.
My Prediction : Flyers in 6.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
The Canucks are just happy to be here while the Predators could easily say the same. Unlike the Ducks that the Predators just faced, this Vancouver team has a much more complete team. The Canucks should easily beat the Predators, but after watching the epic collapse, I'm a little leary on this one. Pekka Rinne has shown he can easily dominate a game and steal it. Roberto Loungo better make sure his head is in the game as Nashville is a very opportunistic team. Better offense and team with Vancouver so I'll be going with them. I wish the Predators well though.
My Prediction : Canucks in 6.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 3. Detroit Red Wings=
Man, this is going to be the hardest one to choose between. I like Detroit but I'm afraid of their goaltending against a team like San Jose. The Sharks are just so deep. They have nine forwards that could easily take care of the scoring. On the other hand, how can I discount Detroit. They're usually very on top of their game. This will probably be one of the best series of this round. Again, I have no clue and I'm only going on feeling here.
My Prediction : Sharks in 7.
So...........
Capitals vs Lightning ==> Capitals
Flyers vs Bruins ==> Flyers
Canucks vs Predators ==> Canucks
Sharks vs Red Wings ==> Sharks
That's all I have for now. Enjoy the next round and hope your team is still in the running. I'll update if anything big occurs or just to follow along with my picks.
Night!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
NHL Conference Quarterfinals Playoff Update and Playoff Hits : 4/22/2011
* My Results Update *
Here we are a week into the playoffs and we've only seen one sweep. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes easily four games to none. What's impressive is Detroit this all without the services of Henrik Zetterberg. This bodes well for them as he'll be rested thus far and even further as the Wings wait for an opponent. I did receive my first series win as I chose Detroit. I did figure Phoenix would have won a game or two (I picked Detroit in six), but I'll take the wins however they come.
If you're wondering if I have any pick regrets based on what I've seen, I'll share the two that are coming to mind. The first is obviously the Montreal Canadiens. I figured Montreal would play good against Boston, but I didn't think they would be as tough as they have been. They did lost in overtime tonight so the series is tied, but I was definitely left wondering if the Canadiens were going to make me look absolutely stupid. The other tough pick was the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. My figuring the Lightning would run away with the series on offense alone was foolish. Pittsburgh is only one game away from closing the Lightning out. I think we may have my first Worst Pick of the Round candidate right there.
Otherwise, we have some very good matches right now. New York is proving to be tough foe for Washington, but Washington is only one game away from sending New York out. The series is at 3-1 but it's been closer than it looks. As you'll read later, I'm unsure what to think of my Philadelphia Flyers. They've been off and on in their series against Buffalo. The series is currently tied 2-2. The Vancouver Canucks blew the Chicago Blackhawks away the first three games of the series. Not the case anymore. Chicago has stormed back winning two straight games scoring 12 goals over six periods. Incredible considering Roberto Loungo is in net. Can Chicago do what Philadelphia did last year? As the NHL commercials have been touting, maybe history will be made.
The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings series has been interesting but it appears San Jose will take it. As I write this, the Sharks are leading 6-3 in the third period of game four. The win will put them 3-1 in the series. The Kings have been decent, but just haven't been able to keep the deep Sharks team from taking them over. Finally, the Ducks and Predators have made for a very interesting series. The way the two teams have been trading off is intriguing. I could see this series going seven games. Looks like Anaheim has cooled off a bit. More importantly, it appears my thoughts on Nashville were a bit off.
Unless something huge happens, you probably won't hear from me until this round is over or almost over (a matter of four or five days. At that point we'll see if my overall predictions are close, get my official round by round predictions, and see how my stats are coming along. Hope you've been enjoying the playoff hockey as much as I have.
* The Hits of the NHL Playoffs *
If there has been one running motif of the playoffs thus far, it has been the hits that have been dished out. The buzz has been out there for the last week on them. Check out the videos below. It began with a Jarret Stoll hit on Ian White. I was watching the game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings when that hit occurred. It wasn't penalized in the game, but I knew it would be reviewed and punished. Stoll hit White who was facing the boards with his head down. White went into the boards head first and seemed woozy afterwards. Overall, it was pretty ugly looking. The part I found funny is where you see Stoll look around White and see that he knocked him out. He then backs off and skates away. The NHL did the right thing by giving Stoll a suspension (one game). It worked out as White only missed one game. Injury shouldn't dictate the punishment as the act alone should make the punishment. The playoffs are a different beast though. Losing one player is enough where chemistry could be lost. The fact that both teams lost one player each for one game seems fair.
The next hit wasn't much of a hit, it was a skate stomp. No one was injured on this, but the intent of the stomp is all it takes to get notice. I think the most surprising element of this was that the stomp was made by Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks. You wouldn't really figure that a skilled player like Ryan would be so undisciplined. Jonathan Blum of the Nashville Predators was on the receiving end of the stomp. He clearly noticed it as he gave Ryan a few good chops as Ryan skated away. The play also went unpenalized but the NHL handed out a two game suspension to Bobby Ryan. Nothing to argue here. It was a stupid play and the suspension, though lengthy considering it's the playoffs, was just.
The next hit finally stirred up the pot and made the issues noticeable. Raffi Torres, freshly returned from a suspension for a hit of the same type, nailed Brent Seabrook on a blindside play behind the net of the Blackhawks. This play was actually penalized but went unsuspended. I think this one was handled correctly. The hit, according to the rules, was clean. Sure, it was rough and a bit ugly, but I thought it was clean. Unfortunately, this is a case where the player who received the hit could be out for awhile. It's worse that it's one of the Blackhawks top defenseman. Chicago didn't let it faze them as they won the next game and, as I'm writing this, are up 4-0 in the fifth game. Good call by the NHL on this one.
The latest and final two hits came from the same game. It started with Steve Downie (known for the hits he delivers) leaving his feet (a huge no-no) to nail the Pittsburgh Penguins Ben Lovejoy behind the net. It appears in the video that Downie hits Lovejoy in the head, but Lovejoy said it was in the chest. This one looked very ugly and actually, it almost looked like a hit Downie delivered against Dean McAmmond in 2007. Downie was suspended 20 games for that hit. Downie only landed one game for this hit and was going to be penalized except that Lovejoy took the hit to keep the puck moving. By doing so, the Penguins actually advanced the puck and scored, cancelling the penalty. I'm actually surprised the NHL didn't hand out two games since Downie is a repeat offender. I was expecting two games, but I'm glad they didn't make as big of a deal on this one as the NHL could have.
The final hit, as mentioned earlier, was also in the same Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning game. Chris Kunitz of the Penguins sticks out an elbow into the head of Simon Gagne. Gagne has had concussion issues and this hit could have taken him out of the series had it struck completely. I think Kunitz was a little too blatant in reaching out for Gagne. The play received a two minute penalty and a one game suspension as well. I was really surprised the NHL didn't go the two game route here. I just didn't ever get the feel that Kunitz was trying to make a legit clean hit. His elbow was clearly out. Not trying to bash on the Penguins, but this looked (and I say looked because it may not have been as bad as it looked) pretty ugly. The Penguins were very lucky that Kunitz only received one game.
It's crazy that all these hits and suspensions have been handed out and we're only about halfway through the first round of the playoffs. In a year where the focus has been on keeping cheap hits out of the game, it's almost ironic that the occurrence of them has increased. So long as they keep the suspensions at a reasonable level and look at each hit clearly, I would think the product on the ice won't be damaged. I like the old school way of thinking, but in some of these cases, it's hard defending the play. Hopefully the solid grind of the playoffs filled with clean hits continues to dominate what we see rather than any of these hits.
* Philadelphia Flyers Thoughts *
Had to have my own spot for this. Thus far their series with the Buffalo Sabres is tied at two games for each team. In both losses the Flyers have been shutout 1-0. When I put my thoughts out here, keep in mind that I only saw both of these losses, so my thoughts might be a bit skewered or off. In the first game, I felt we were beat by ourselves and Ryan Miller. We missed some grand opportunities, were terrible on the power play, and made Ryan Miller look better than he needed to be. For a team with tons of scoring, we showed nothing. The next two games we won pretty convincingly. Tons of traffic in front and plenty of power play time helped that. I also think that making the change from Sergei Bobrovsky to the veteran Brian Boucher in net helped. Bob is going to be awesome in the NHL eventually, but I think he was tossed to the wolves by being expected to lead the Flyers in net.
In the fourth game, I finally realized the refs are complete jokes. I thought it was kind of odd and crappy that Buffalo was spending some of the previous games in the box a lot. The fourth game must have been an apology to the Sabres from the refs. I'm not saying the Flyers were innocent, they weren't, but the Sabres were playing like they could get away with murder. Patrick Kaleta's opening of the Sabres bench door to cause Nik Zherdev to fall on his ass was absolutely disrespectful. No call there. Briere was knocked on his ass by Tyler Myers way after the whistle and still no call. Daniel Carcillo, a whipping boy of NHL referees, was absolutely molested in front of the net by a Sabres defenseman and goaltender Ryan Miller and CARCILLO gets the penalty. The worst of all was when Patrick Kaleta went to hit Mike Richards (standing away from the play) and ended up receiving an elbow to the chops from Richards. Rather than call them both or just give Richards a two minute minor, the refs gave the Buffalo Sabres a five minute power play. I don't see how you hand out a power play like that in the playoffs unless a guy is missing a limb or is knocked unconscious. The Flyers managed to kill it off (though it was probably because Buffalo used the five minutes to take time off the clock), but it was one of the most questionable calls I've ever seen (see below). Like I said, the Flyers weren't innocent, I just think there were many opportunities to call both players on each team for a penalty. This series is so boring because it's like the refs won't let either team play. Regardless, Philly also lost this game because they took too long to get involved. They failed to get decent shots on net and couldn't put the puck in wide open nets. Buffalo converted on one of the few chances they had and won because of it.
Here we are a week into the playoffs and we've only seen one sweep. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes easily four games to none. What's impressive is Detroit this all without the services of Henrik Zetterberg. This bodes well for them as he'll be rested thus far and even further as the Wings wait for an opponent. I did receive my first series win as I chose Detroit. I did figure Phoenix would have won a game or two (I picked Detroit in six), but I'll take the wins however they come.
If you're wondering if I have any pick regrets based on what I've seen, I'll share the two that are coming to mind. The first is obviously the Montreal Canadiens. I figured Montreal would play good against Boston, but I didn't think they would be as tough as they have been. They did lost in overtime tonight so the series is tied, but I was definitely left wondering if the Canadiens were going to make me look absolutely stupid. The other tough pick was the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. My figuring the Lightning would run away with the series on offense alone was foolish. Pittsburgh is only one game away from closing the Lightning out. I think we may have my first Worst Pick of the Round candidate right there.
Otherwise, we have some very good matches right now. New York is proving to be tough foe for Washington, but Washington is only one game away from sending New York out. The series is at 3-1 but it's been closer than it looks. As you'll read later, I'm unsure what to think of my Philadelphia Flyers. They've been off and on in their series against Buffalo. The series is currently tied 2-2. The Vancouver Canucks blew the Chicago Blackhawks away the first three games of the series. Not the case anymore. Chicago has stormed back winning two straight games scoring 12 goals over six periods. Incredible considering Roberto Loungo is in net. Can Chicago do what Philadelphia did last year? As the NHL commercials have been touting, maybe history will be made.
The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings series has been interesting but it appears San Jose will take it. As I write this, the Sharks are leading 6-3 in the third period of game four. The win will put them 3-1 in the series. The Kings have been decent, but just haven't been able to keep the deep Sharks team from taking them over. Finally, the Ducks and Predators have made for a very interesting series. The way the two teams have been trading off is intriguing. I could see this series going seven games. Looks like Anaheim has cooled off a bit. More importantly, it appears my thoughts on Nashville were a bit off.
Unless something huge happens, you probably won't hear from me until this round is over or almost over (a matter of four or five days. At that point we'll see if my overall predictions are close, get my official round by round predictions, and see how my stats are coming along. Hope you've been enjoying the playoff hockey as much as I have.
* The Hits of the NHL Playoffs *
If there has been one running motif of the playoffs thus far, it has been the hits that have been dished out. The buzz has been out there for the last week on them. Check out the videos below. It began with a Jarret Stoll hit on Ian White. I was watching the game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings when that hit occurred. It wasn't penalized in the game, but I knew it would be reviewed and punished. Stoll hit White who was facing the boards with his head down. White went into the boards head first and seemed woozy afterwards. Overall, it was pretty ugly looking. The part I found funny is where you see Stoll look around White and see that he knocked him out. He then backs off and skates away. The NHL did the right thing by giving Stoll a suspension (one game). It worked out as White only missed one game. Injury shouldn't dictate the punishment as the act alone should make the punishment. The playoffs are a different beast though. Losing one player is enough where chemistry could be lost. The fact that both teams lost one player each for one game seems fair.
The next hit wasn't much of a hit, it was a skate stomp. No one was injured on this, but the intent of the stomp is all it takes to get notice. I think the most surprising element of this was that the stomp was made by Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks. You wouldn't really figure that a skilled player like Ryan would be so undisciplined. Jonathan Blum of the Nashville Predators was on the receiving end of the stomp. He clearly noticed it as he gave Ryan a few good chops as Ryan skated away. The play also went unpenalized but the NHL handed out a two game suspension to Bobby Ryan. Nothing to argue here. It was a stupid play and the suspension, though lengthy considering it's the playoffs, was just.
The next hit finally stirred up the pot and made the issues noticeable. Raffi Torres, freshly returned from a suspension for a hit of the same type, nailed Brent Seabrook on a blindside play behind the net of the Blackhawks. This play was actually penalized but went unsuspended. I think this one was handled correctly. The hit, according to the rules, was clean. Sure, it was rough and a bit ugly, but I thought it was clean. Unfortunately, this is a case where the player who received the hit could be out for awhile. It's worse that it's one of the Blackhawks top defenseman. Chicago didn't let it faze them as they won the next game and, as I'm writing this, are up 4-0 in the fifth game. Good call by the NHL on this one.
The latest and final two hits came from the same game. It started with Steve Downie (known for the hits he delivers) leaving his feet (a huge no-no) to nail the Pittsburgh Penguins Ben Lovejoy behind the net. It appears in the video that Downie hits Lovejoy in the head, but Lovejoy said it was in the chest. This one looked very ugly and actually, it almost looked like a hit Downie delivered against Dean McAmmond in 2007. Downie was suspended 20 games for that hit. Downie only landed one game for this hit and was going to be penalized except that Lovejoy took the hit to keep the puck moving. By doing so, the Penguins actually advanced the puck and scored, cancelling the penalty. I'm actually surprised the NHL didn't hand out two games since Downie is a repeat offender. I was expecting two games, but I'm glad they didn't make as big of a deal on this one as the NHL could have.
The final hit, as mentioned earlier, was also in the same Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning game. Chris Kunitz of the Penguins sticks out an elbow into the head of Simon Gagne. Gagne has had concussion issues and this hit could have taken him out of the series had it struck completely. I think Kunitz was a little too blatant in reaching out for Gagne. The play received a two minute penalty and a one game suspension as well. I was really surprised the NHL didn't go the two game route here. I just didn't ever get the feel that Kunitz was trying to make a legit clean hit. His elbow was clearly out. Not trying to bash on the Penguins, but this looked (and I say looked because it may not have been as bad as it looked) pretty ugly. The Penguins were very lucky that Kunitz only received one game.
It's crazy that all these hits and suspensions have been handed out and we're only about halfway through the first round of the playoffs. In a year where the focus has been on keeping cheap hits out of the game, it's almost ironic that the occurrence of them has increased. So long as they keep the suspensions at a reasonable level and look at each hit clearly, I would think the product on the ice won't be damaged. I like the old school way of thinking, but in some of these cases, it's hard defending the play. Hopefully the solid grind of the playoffs filled with clean hits continues to dominate what we see rather than any of these hits.
* Philadelphia Flyers Thoughts *
Had to have my own spot for this. Thus far their series with the Buffalo Sabres is tied at two games for each team. In both losses the Flyers have been shutout 1-0. When I put my thoughts out here, keep in mind that I only saw both of these losses, so my thoughts might be a bit skewered or off. In the first game, I felt we were beat by ourselves and Ryan Miller. We missed some grand opportunities, were terrible on the power play, and made Ryan Miller look better than he needed to be. For a team with tons of scoring, we showed nothing. The next two games we won pretty convincingly. Tons of traffic in front and plenty of power play time helped that. I also think that making the change from Sergei Bobrovsky to the veteran Brian Boucher in net helped. Bob is going to be awesome in the NHL eventually, but I think he was tossed to the wolves by being expected to lead the Flyers in net.
In the fourth game, I finally realized the refs are complete jokes. I thought it was kind of odd and crappy that Buffalo was spending some of the previous games in the box a lot. The fourth game must have been an apology to the Sabres from the refs. I'm not saying the Flyers were innocent, they weren't, but the Sabres were playing like they could get away with murder. Patrick Kaleta's opening of the Sabres bench door to cause Nik Zherdev to fall on his ass was absolutely disrespectful. No call there. Briere was knocked on his ass by Tyler Myers way after the whistle and still no call. Daniel Carcillo, a whipping boy of NHL referees, was absolutely molested in front of the net by a Sabres defenseman and goaltender Ryan Miller and CARCILLO gets the penalty. The worst of all was when Patrick Kaleta went to hit Mike Richards (standing away from the play) and ended up receiving an elbow to the chops from Richards. Rather than call them both or just give Richards a two minute minor, the refs gave the Buffalo Sabres a five minute power play. I don't see how you hand out a power play like that in the playoffs unless a guy is missing a limb or is knocked unconscious. The Flyers managed to kill it off (though it was probably because Buffalo used the five minutes to take time off the clock), but it was one of the most questionable calls I've ever seen (see below). Like I said, the Flyers weren't innocent, I just think there were many opportunities to call both players on each team for a penalty. This series is so boring because it's like the refs won't let either team play. Regardless, Philly also lost this game because they took too long to get involved. They failed to get decent shots on net and couldn't put the puck in wide open nets. Buffalo converted on one of the few chances they had and won because of it.
I'm really not sure what to think of Philly right now. When they play well, they're easily capable of beating Buffalo. When they're not, Ryan Miller can beat Philadelphia on his own. I really think Chris Pronger would be a difference maker if he were able to play. I've heard he might play in game five on Friday, but it's still up in the air (as usual). Part of me thinks we shouldn't expect to see Chris Pronger unless the Flyers make the second round. Another part of me thinks we NEED to see Chris Pronger in this round so we can even make the second. We'll see. I truly hope the officiating gets better in the next game. I don't want the Sabres to be sent to the box for everything, hell the Flyers can't even convert on the power play anyway. I just want the refs to let these teams play. I'm tired of watching regular season hockey. Let these guys play. Three penalties for each team all game long or something. I'm still hoping my Flyers can pull it out in six still.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Playoff Edition : NHL Conference Quarterfinals Picks
* Playoff Preview *
Welcome to the playoff edition of my blog. I'll start by giving you each series and adding any comments as well as my pick. For the schedule of these games (which start Wednesday), go here: 2011 NHL Playoff Schedule With that out of the way, let's begin.
==== NHL Conference Quarterfinals ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 8. New York Rangers=
This could be a very good series. You would think it would be a walk in the park for the Capitals, but they'll be facing a team that shut them out 7-0 and 6-0 this season. I look through the depth of both teams and the only place where I feel the Rangers are better is in net. It's true that goaltending alone can win games, but I don't see it winning the series.
Prediction : Capitals in 6.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 7. Buffalo Sabres=
This series depends on whether or not the Philadelphia Flyers have truly gotten their game back. They've been Stella without her groove for the last couple of months. Horrendous. Fortunately, they will get Chris Pronger back from injury to solidify their defense corps. Buffalo isn't the most skilled club but they make the best with what they have. Much like the New York Rangers, they're only more solid than Philly in net. So long as Philadelphia flips into playoff mode, I see no reason they would lose unless Ryan Miller (Buffalo's goaltender) is absolutely insane.
Prediction : Flyers in 6.
=3. Boston Bruins versus 6. Montreal Canadiens=
Divisional foes with plenty of bad history just within the last couple of months. The Canadiens actually have the better record in the regular season series between the two teams. I'm going to go ahead and say that this is probably the most interesting series in the Eastern Conference as I expect an all out battle between both teams. I wanted to go with the Canadiens but I just can't see them beating the duo of Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara. I am fully prepared to eat my words though. Montreal was impressive last year in the playoffs beating both Washington and Pittsburgh who were far and away favorites over the Canadiens. I'm going with the Bruins here, but won't be surprised if Montreal can beat the higher seeded team.
Prediction : Bruins in 6.
=4. Pittsburgh Penguins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
I know I'm already going to get crap for this one since I'm a Philadelphia Flyers fan, but let me explain. If the Penguins had Crosby and/or Malkin playing, I would be picking the Penguins without a doubt. Unfortunately for the Penguins, Malkin is definitely out and Crosby is unlikely. I like Tampa Bay's depth at forward over the depleted Penguins. This is another series I wouldn't be surprised that I lost though. Pittsburgh has the better goaltender and defense corps. Their forwards aren't bad considering too. I just get the feeling Tampa Bay wins this one.
Prediction : Lightning in 7.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 8. Chicago Blackhawks=
This should be a good series as the Blackhawks aren't your typical eighth seed team. Who would expect the defending Stanley Cup Champions to be in eighth? Unfortunately for Chicago, I can't see them beating a team that is built solid from head to toe. Canucks goaltender Roberto Loungo is better than Chicago's tandem goalies. The Blackhawks also lost a lot of their depth after last season's run. Vancouver has a lot of depth featuring some very good players even with injuries to Manny Maholtra and Dan Hamhius. Vancouver is my favorite to win the Stanley Cup and the first victim is Chicago where the former champs go home this year.
Prediction : Canucks in 6.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 7. Los Angeles Kings=
We have another battle between divisional foes, but this one comes from the Pacific Divsion. The Sharks remind me of the aforementioned Canucks just without all the great chemistry. The goaltender who foiled their run last year in the Western Conference Finals is now backstopping them. That goalie, Antii Niemi, gained a lot of experience during the Chicago Blackhawks run to the Cup which has to be useful. Los Angeles has been making great strides and should be a force for awhile in the Western Conference. They do have some very talented forwards and defenseman. However, with no Anze Kopitar, I just can't see them beating a team that features the depth that the Sharks carry. If the Sharks play to their potential and Joe Thorton doesn't disappear as he tends to during the playoffs, the Sharks should win this series fairly easily.
Prediction : Sharks in 5.
=3. Detroit Red Wings versus 6. Phoenix Coyotes=
Detroit is a team that plays very well together and is still very dangerous as a third seed. They do have some great talent on the team, but it really doesn't matter because the chemistry of the team is even better. The only weakness I see with the Wings is their goaltending. It could be their Achilles heel, but I don't think the Coyotes will be the team to expose it. Phoenix was able to land a playoff spot and is generally a pretty good team. I attribute a lot of their success to goaltender Iyla Bryzgalov. That's the only part of this team that I think is better than the Red Wings. Bryzgalov steals a couple of games, but the Wings take this one.
Prediction : Red Wings in 6.
=4. Anaheim Ducks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
Anaheim enters the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. They've been playing incredible so far. Nashville's only shot against Anaheim will be behind it's defensive minded brand of hockey. The Predators have many talented defenseman and a quality goaltender in Pekka Rinne. Where Anaheim absolutely dominates the Predators is in scoring. Nashville just doesn't have much of it. The Predators certainly could win this series, but I just don't see it. They lack a convincing forward to do a bulk of their scoring. I see the Predators winning a couple of games, but the Ducks move forward with ease.
Prediction : Ducks in 6.
So.....
Capitals vs Rangers ==> Capitals
Flyers vs Sabres ==> Flyers
Bruins vs Canadiens ==> Bruins
Penguins vs Lightning ==> Lightning
Canucks vs Blackhawks ==> Canucks
Sharks vs Kings ==> Sharks
Red Wings vs Coyotes ==> Red Wings
Ducks vs Predators ==> Ducks
Best of luck to whatever team you're going with this playoff season. Wednesday can't come soon enough!
* Mass Playoff Prediction *
This here is my best guess for the entire playoffs. From quarterfinals all the way through finals. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is just for fun. My official picks will be made as each round progresses. As an additional note, I will be handing out my usual nightly awards after each round. For example, rather than having a Dumbest Pick of the Night, I'll just do a Dumbest Pick of the Round. Pretty simple I hope. Anyway, here is my best guess at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Round 1 : Conference Quarterfinals (highest seed listed first)
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Rangers => Capitals
Flyers vs Sabres => Flyers
Bruins vs Canadiens => Canadiens
Penguins vs Lightning => Lightning
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Blackhawks => Canucks
Sharks vs Kings => Sharks
Red Wings vs Coyotes => Red Wings
Ducks vs Predators => Ducks
Round 2 - Conference Semifinals
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Lightning => Capitals
Flyers vs Bruins => Flyers
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Ducks => Canucks
Sharks vs Red Wings => Sharks
Round 3 - Conference Finals
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Flyers => Flyers
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Sharks => Canucks
Round 4 - Stanley Cup Finals
Canucks vs Flyers => Canucks
So, there you have it. I'm going with the Vancouver Canucks over the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup. That's an amazing club they have in Vancouver. They were pretty unstoppable all season and I don't see how anyone will come in their way. I don't have too much else for the moment. I'll be updating in a couple of days with results of games and hopefully to talk about a Flyers victory.
Night!
Welcome to the playoff edition of my blog. I'll start by giving you each series and adding any comments as well as my pick. For the schedule of these games (which start Wednesday), go here: 2011 NHL Playoff Schedule With that out of the way, let's begin.
==== NHL Conference Quarterfinals ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=1. Washington Capitals versus 8. New York Rangers=
This could be a very good series. You would think it would be a walk in the park for the Capitals, but they'll be facing a team that shut them out 7-0 and 6-0 this season. I look through the depth of both teams and the only place where I feel the Rangers are better is in net. It's true that goaltending alone can win games, but I don't see it winning the series.
Prediction : Capitals in 6.
=2. Philadelphia Flyers versus 7. Buffalo Sabres=
This series depends on whether or not the Philadelphia Flyers have truly gotten their game back. They've been Stella without her groove for the last couple of months. Horrendous. Fortunately, they will get Chris Pronger back from injury to solidify their defense corps. Buffalo isn't the most skilled club but they make the best with what they have. Much like the New York Rangers, they're only more solid than Philly in net. So long as Philadelphia flips into playoff mode, I see no reason they would lose unless Ryan Miller (Buffalo's goaltender) is absolutely insane.
Prediction : Flyers in 6.
=3. Boston Bruins versus 6. Montreal Canadiens=
Divisional foes with plenty of bad history just within the last couple of months. The Canadiens actually have the better record in the regular season series between the two teams. I'm going to go ahead and say that this is probably the most interesting series in the Eastern Conference as I expect an all out battle between both teams. I wanted to go with the Canadiens but I just can't see them beating the duo of Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara. I am fully prepared to eat my words though. Montreal was impressive last year in the playoffs beating both Washington and Pittsburgh who were far and away favorites over the Canadiens. I'm going with the Bruins here, but won't be surprised if Montreal can beat the higher seeded team.
Prediction : Bruins in 6.
=4. Pittsburgh Penguins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
I know I'm already going to get crap for this one since I'm a Philadelphia Flyers fan, but let me explain. If the Penguins had Crosby and/or Malkin playing, I would be picking the Penguins without a doubt. Unfortunately for the Penguins, Malkin is definitely out and Crosby is unlikely. I like Tampa Bay's depth at forward over the depleted Penguins. This is another series I wouldn't be surprised that I lost though. Pittsburgh has the better goaltender and defense corps. Their forwards aren't bad considering too. I just get the feeling Tampa Bay wins this one.
Prediction : Lightning in 7.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 8. Chicago Blackhawks=
This should be a good series as the Blackhawks aren't your typical eighth seed team. Who would expect the defending Stanley Cup Champions to be in eighth? Unfortunately for Chicago, I can't see them beating a team that is built solid from head to toe. Canucks goaltender Roberto Loungo is better than Chicago's tandem goalies. The Blackhawks also lost a lot of their depth after last season's run. Vancouver has a lot of depth featuring some very good players even with injuries to Manny Maholtra and Dan Hamhius. Vancouver is my favorite to win the Stanley Cup and the first victim is Chicago where the former champs go home this year.
Prediction : Canucks in 6.
=2. San Jose Sharks versus 7. Los Angeles Kings=
We have another battle between divisional foes, but this one comes from the Pacific Divsion. The Sharks remind me of the aforementioned Canucks just without all the great chemistry. The goaltender who foiled their run last year in the Western Conference Finals is now backstopping them. That goalie, Antii Niemi, gained a lot of experience during the Chicago Blackhawks run to the Cup which has to be useful. Los Angeles has been making great strides and should be a force for awhile in the Western Conference. They do have some very talented forwards and defenseman. However, with no Anze Kopitar, I just can't see them beating a team that features the depth that the Sharks carry. If the Sharks play to their potential and Joe Thorton doesn't disappear as he tends to during the playoffs, the Sharks should win this series fairly easily.
Prediction : Sharks in 5.
=3. Detroit Red Wings versus 6. Phoenix Coyotes=
Detroit is a team that plays very well together and is still very dangerous as a third seed. They do have some great talent on the team, but it really doesn't matter because the chemistry of the team is even better. The only weakness I see with the Wings is their goaltending. It could be their Achilles heel, but I don't think the Coyotes will be the team to expose it. Phoenix was able to land a playoff spot and is generally a pretty good team. I attribute a lot of their success to goaltender Iyla Bryzgalov. That's the only part of this team that I think is better than the Red Wings. Bryzgalov steals a couple of games, but the Wings take this one.
Prediction : Red Wings in 6.
=4. Anaheim Ducks versus 5. Nashville Predators=
Anaheim enters the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. They've been playing incredible so far. Nashville's only shot against Anaheim will be behind it's defensive minded brand of hockey. The Predators have many talented defenseman and a quality goaltender in Pekka Rinne. Where Anaheim absolutely dominates the Predators is in scoring. Nashville just doesn't have much of it. The Predators certainly could win this series, but I just don't see it. They lack a convincing forward to do a bulk of their scoring. I see the Predators winning a couple of games, but the Ducks move forward with ease.
Prediction : Ducks in 6.
So.....
Capitals vs Rangers ==> Capitals
Flyers vs Sabres ==> Flyers
Bruins vs Canadiens ==> Bruins
Penguins vs Lightning ==> Lightning
Canucks vs Blackhawks ==> Canucks
Sharks vs Kings ==> Sharks
Red Wings vs Coyotes ==> Red Wings
Ducks vs Predators ==> Ducks
Best of luck to whatever team you're going with this playoff season. Wednesday can't come soon enough!
* Mass Playoff Prediction *
This here is my best guess for the entire playoffs. From quarterfinals all the way through finals. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is just for fun. My official picks will be made as each round progresses. As an additional note, I will be handing out my usual nightly awards after each round. For example, rather than having a Dumbest Pick of the Night, I'll just do a Dumbest Pick of the Round. Pretty simple I hope. Anyway, here is my best guess at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Round 1 : Conference Quarterfinals (highest seed listed first)
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Rangers => Capitals
Flyers vs Sabres => Flyers
Bruins vs Canadiens => Canadiens
Penguins vs Lightning => Lightning
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Blackhawks => Canucks
Sharks vs Kings => Sharks
Red Wings vs Coyotes => Red Wings
Ducks vs Predators => Ducks
Round 2 - Conference Semifinals
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Lightning => Capitals
Flyers vs Bruins => Flyers
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Ducks => Canucks
Sharks vs Red Wings => Sharks
Round 3 - Conference Finals
-Eastern Conference-
Capitals vs Flyers => Flyers
-Western Conference-
Canucks vs Sharks => Canucks
Round 4 - Stanley Cup Finals
Canucks vs Flyers => Canucks
So, there you have it. I'm going with the Vancouver Canucks over the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup. That's an amazing club they have in Vancouver. They were pretty unstoppable all season and I don't see how anyone will come in their way. I don't have too much else for the moment. I'll be updating in a couple of days with results of games and hopefully to talk about a Flyers victory.
Night!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Playoffs Are Here !!! : 4/10 Results, Conference Standings, Final Stats
* Results *
Well, that was your 2010-2011 NHL Regular Season. Sunday answered the question of who would be the last team to join the Western Conference playoff mix. For many, with their teams eliminated, hockey is five to six months away from returning unless they pick an adoptive team to follow. Others, myself included, will be waiting for the playoff schedule to be released so we know when to tune in next to watch our respective teams. The NHL Playoffs are always fun to watch. It means more to the players and fans that losing could bring your season to an end very soon. You have a day to tune any mistakes rather than weeks and months. The skill and intensity are amped up when compared to the regular season. I can't wait to watch some playoff hockey.
With the obligatory introduction out of the way, let's cover the results for Sunday. We start in Chicago where fans of the Dallas Stars were surely tuned in. If Chicago gained even just a point from this game, the Dallas Stars would be eliminated. It was a very physical game between the two teams with plenty of scoring considering. Detroit would not be beat though, as Chicago's last minute bids couldn't find the net. The Blackhawks were still alive so long as the Dallas Stars lost or won their game in a shootout. As the Dallas and Minnesota game was the last of the night, I can imagine the nerves in Chicago were on edge.
In New Jersey, the Devils were able to beat the Boston Bruins at home for their final game of the season. I don't think Boston was pushing themselves this game as they were already slated to play Montreal in the first round of the playoffs. The Devils had an amazing finish to what was looking to be an absolute mess in New Jersey. It was commendable how they managed to crawl back into the NHL Playoff talks nearing the end of the season.
In Colorado, Avalanche fans were able to bid farewell to Adam Foote who was playing his final NHL game. The game featured the league's worst teams in the league in the Oilers (the worst) and Avalanche (second worst). The game went to overtime which almost seems fitting given the previously mentioned circumstances. In the end, Colorado was able to end Foote's career on a high note and end a losing streak. Both Edmonton and Colorado end the season with the the worst records in the NHL but with the highest probability of landing the top pick in the lottery drawing for the first pick in the draft. If Edmonton lands that pick, it will be their second consecutive year of drafting first overall.
In Atlanta, the Thrashers finished their mediocre season with a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. Atlanta was already eliminated from the playoffs and was just capping off yet another season with no playoffs. There were positive strides in Atlanta, but I imagine fans are getting tired of the same old results by their Thrashers. For the Penguins, there wasn't much to play for. The Philadelphia Flyers locked down the Atlantic Division yesterday, which in turn locked the Penguins into the fourth seed of the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
Finally, the final game of the night was between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild. The Stars only had to win this game in either regulation or in overtime so that they could claim the final seed in the Western Conference. Detroit did them a huge favor by beating the Chicago Blackhawks. Though Dallas remained competitive in the game, the Wild pulled ahead 4-3 in the third period. This was eventually padded by an empty net goal making the final 5-3 for the Wild. The Stars and their fans have to be disappointed to blow a huge opportunity. In Chicago, a collective sigh of relief had to have been hard when the Minnesota Wild hit the empty net for a 5-3 Wild lead.
My night was fairly terrible but I suppose I'm in a pretty good mood knowing the playoffs are right around the corner. I finished the night 1-4 which makes my season total 245-190. I was able to keep a 55 game margin between my wins and losses which is pretty impressive to me. If you've been reading this, thanks for doing so. The page has more hits than I would expected to receive for a project that was really aimed to take advantage of the NHL Center Ice package that I was subscribed to. That I followed through for over two months amazes me. I hope to try an entire season. Anyway, the results for Sunday are below. For my grand total stats (from when I began this up until today) and my plans for the playoffs, keep reading further.
4/10/2011 - Sunday
Red Wings at Blackhawks : Pick - Blackhawks : Result -- 4-3 Red Wings : Wrong : 244-187
Bruins at Devils : Pick - Devils : Result -- 3-2 Devils : Correct : 245-187
Oilers at Avalanche : Pick - Oilers : Result -- 4-3 Avalanche : Wrong (OT/L) : 245-188
Penguins at Thrashers : Pick - Thrashers : Result -- 5-2 Thrashers : Wrong : 245-189
Stars at Wild : Pick - Stars : Result -- 5-3 Wild : Wrong : 245-190
-Results Format-
Game : Pick : Result : Pick Result (OT or SO W or L based on my pick) : My Season Record
OT/W or OT/L - My pick won or lost in OT.
SO/W or SO/L - My pick won or lost in a shootout.
=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Penguins at Thrashers : Not surprised I lost this one. It all depended if Pittsburgh was going to rest their players. It would have been wise to go with Pittsburgh though as they're clearly a better team. One team is going to the playoffs (Pittsburgh), while the other is just finishing their season. Pittsburgh is still a good team even if they did rest their players. Should have put a little more thought into the pick.
=Easiest Pick of the Night=
None. I only won one game and it wasn't really an easy pick.
=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Red Wings at Blackhawks : Detroit had nothing to gain by winning, but I still expected them to play a tough game. They could help make it harder for Chicago to gain entry into the playoffs. Chicago really wanted to win this game since it would have saved them the nerves of waiting to see if the Dallas Stars won later on or not. I originally went with Detroit but scratched them out to place the Blackhawks as the winning team. A lot of those games that could go either way have scribbles in my pick area. This was one of them.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Game of the Night=
Stars at Wild : The Dallas Stars were thrown a giant bone when Detroit beat Chicago in regulation. All Dallas had to do was win in regulation or in overtime (a Dallas shootout victory would have given the tie breaker to Chicago). The Stars weren't able to do that against a team they probably should have beaten. The should and could parts of the equation were definitely there against a team like the Wild. The loss sent Dallas home two points short with plenty of questions regarding next season unanswered (like where Brad Richards will go). Tough loss for Dallas.
* Final Stats *
I began this blog officially on February 9th but had started my idea of picking the winners of NHL hockey games every night on February 7th. My stats cover February 7th until the last day of the regular season which would be today April 10th. You'll see all the numbers below, but my grand total of games that I picked was 435 which spanned 64 nights. I ended up winning 245 of those 435 games which is about 56.3%. The perfectionist in me was hoping for something closer like 60 to 70%, but really I'm proud of that figure. Out of those 64 nights, I had six nights where I made all the right picks for the night. I'm proud to also say that I only picked all the games incorrectly just once which was a night that had only three games played. I guess what makes me feel happy about my season is that if I was betting on these games, I would have won money. Not much, but at least I didn't go under .500 for the season. I do plan on keeping this blog together for next season. I want to make a run to get a whole season under my belt. I'll keep new stats for next season and compare them to this season's stats. It'll be fun to see if I get any better or if luck just varies. I'll also be sure to keep a "career" set of my stats. With all of that said, here is my stats for the part of the 2010-2011 season that I covered.
Game Nights : 64
Games Picked : 435
Wins : 235
Losses : 190
Win % : 56.3%
OT/W's : 31 (The amount of my wins that were via overtime. So in this case 31 out of 235 were in overtime.)
OT/L's : 28 (Same as above, except losses that were via overtime.)
SO/W's : 24 (Think you get the point now.)
SO/L's : 28
Perfect Nights : 6 (Nights where I picked the games correctly.) High : 5 games Low : 2 games
All-Wrong Nights : 1 (Where I picked all the game incorrectly.) High/low : 3 games
* Playoffs *
Below you'll see the top eight teams of each conference that made the playoffs with their points and opponent listed beside them. I'm not making prediction in this edition of my blog. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not going to make predictions for each individual game. I think it would get a little redundant (as if what I did for the last two months wasn't) rather than just picking the team I felt was going to win the series. I'll keep track of the games in similar fashion to what I do now by updating scores and how my picks are coming along. I probably won't write every night, but might go with every other night instead. As far as my stats, I'll keep track of the how many series I pick, how many I get right, how many I get wrong, my winning percentage, how many rounds I was perfect (similar to picking all the games right on one night), and how many rounds I wasn't (guessed wrong on all series of a round). Same concept, just a little consolidated.
As far as picking the series in the playoff, I'll make an overall pick of the playoffs. I'll release a post with my picks from the quarter finals all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. This won't be official. In other words, it'll just be a cool thing to look back on. I'll make my official picks as each round progresses so that I can at least make educated picks. If my overall pick of the NHL Playoffs is correct, I'll obviously proclaim myself a genius and delete the previous sentence from the post. Lol. Anyway, that's really what I've figured out thus far. I'll update with my picks very soon. Here are those NHL Conference Standings as promised.
Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals - 107 points - play #8 New York Rangers
2. Philadelphia Flyers - 106 points - play #7 Buffalo Sabres
3. Boston Bruins - 103 points - play #6 Montreal Canadiens
4. Pittsburgh Penguins - 106 points - play #5 Tampa Bay Lightning
5. Tampa Bay Lightning - 103 points - play #4 Pittsburgh Penguins
6. Montreal Canadiens - 96 points - play #3 Boston Bruins
7. Buffalo Sabres - 96 points - play #2 Philadelphia Flyers
8. New York Rangers - 93 points - play #1 Washington Capitals
Western Conference
1. Vancouver Canucks - 117 points - play #8 Chicago Blackhawks
2. San Jose Sharks - 105 points - play #7 Los Angeles Kings
3. Detroit Red Wings - 104 points - play #6 Phoenix Coyotes
4. Anaheim Ducks - 99 points - play #5 Nashville Predators
5. Nashville Predators - 99 points - play #4 Anaheim Ducks
6. Phoenix Coyotes - 99 points - play #3 Detroit Red Wings
7. Los Angeles Kings - 98 points - play #2 San Jose Sharks
8. Chicago Blackhawks - 97 points - play #1 Vancouver Canucks
I'll have my picks and season history between teams and their opponents coming up. This will likely be on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, so be sure to keep an eye out if you read this. Again, if you do read this, thanks a bunch for reading or even just checking this out. It's been an awesome two months.
Night!
Well, that was your 2010-2011 NHL Regular Season. Sunday answered the question of who would be the last team to join the Western Conference playoff mix. For many, with their teams eliminated, hockey is five to six months away from returning unless they pick an adoptive team to follow. Others, myself included, will be waiting for the playoff schedule to be released so we know when to tune in next to watch our respective teams. The NHL Playoffs are always fun to watch. It means more to the players and fans that losing could bring your season to an end very soon. You have a day to tune any mistakes rather than weeks and months. The skill and intensity are amped up when compared to the regular season. I can't wait to watch some playoff hockey.
With the obligatory introduction out of the way, let's cover the results for Sunday. We start in Chicago where fans of the Dallas Stars were surely tuned in. If Chicago gained even just a point from this game, the Dallas Stars would be eliminated. It was a very physical game between the two teams with plenty of scoring considering. Detroit would not be beat though, as Chicago's last minute bids couldn't find the net. The Blackhawks were still alive so long as the Dallas Stars lost or won their game in a shootout. As the Dallas and Minnesota game was the last of the night, I can imagine the nerves in Chicago were on edge.
In New Jersey, the Devils were able to beat the Boston Bruins at home for their final game of the season. I don't think Boston was pushing themselves this game as they were already slated to play Montreal in the first round of the playoffs. The Devils had an amazing finish to what was looking to be an absolute mess in New Jersey. It was commendable how they managed to crawl back into the NHL Playoff talks nearing the end of the season.
In Colorado, Avalanche fans were able to bid farewell to Adam Foote who was playing his final NHL game. The game featured the league's worst teams in the league in the Oilers (the worst) and Avalanche (second worst). The game went to overtime which almost seems fitting given the previously mentioned circumstances. In the end, Colorado was able to end Foote's career on a high note and end a losing streak. Both Edmonton and Colorado end the season with the the worst records in the NHL but with the highest probability of landing the top pick in the lottery drawing for the first pick in the draft. If Edmonton lands that pick, it will be their second consecutive year of drafting first overall.
In Atlanta, the Thrashers finished their mediocre season with a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. Atlanta was already eliminated from the playoffs and was just capping off yet another season with no playoffs. There were positive strides in Atlanta, but I imagine fans are getting tired of the same old results by their Thrashers. For the Penguins, there wasn't much to play for. The Philadelphia Flyers locked down the Atlantic Division yesterday, which in turn locked the Penguins into the fourth seed of the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
Finally, the final game of the night was between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild. The Stars only had to win this game in either regulation or in overtime so that they could claim the final seed in the Western Conference. Detroit did them a huge favor by beating the Chicago Blackhawks. Though Dallas remained competitive in the game, the Wild pulled ahead 4-3 in the third period. This was eventually padded by an empty net goal making the final 5-3 for the Wild. The Stars and their fans have to be disappointed to blow a huge opportunity. In Chicago, a collective sigh of relief had to have been hard when the Minnesota Wild hit the empty net for a 5-3 Wild lead.
My night was fairly terrible but I suppose I'm in a pretty good mood knowing the playoffs are right around the corner. I finished the night 1-4 which makes my season total 245-190. I was able to keep a 55 game margin between my wins and losses which is pretty impressive to me. If you've been reading this, thanks for doing so. The page has more hits than I would expected to receive for a project that was really aimed to take advantage of the NHL Center Ice package that I was subscribed to. That I followed through for over two months amazes me. I hope to try an entire season. Anyway, the results for Sunday are below. For my grand total stats (from when I began this up until today) and my plans for the playoffs, keep reading further.
4/10/2011 - Sunday
Red Wings at Blackhawks : Pick - Blackhawks : Result -- 4-3 Red Wings : Wrong : 244-187
Bruins at Devils : Pick - Devils : Result -- 3-2 Devils : Correct : 245-187
Oilers at Avalanche : Pick - Oilers : Result -- 4-3 Avalanche : Wrong (OT/L) : 245-188
Penguins at Thrashers : Pick - Thrashers : Result -- 5-2 Thrashers : Wrong : 245-189
Stars at Wild : Pick - Stars : Result -- 5-3 Wild : Wrong : 245-190
-Results Format-
Game : Pick : Result : Pick Result (OT or SO W or L based on my pick) : My Season Record
OT/W or OT/L - My pick won or lost in OT.
SO/W or SO/L - My pick won or lost in a shootout.
=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Penguins at Thrashers : Not surprised I lost this one. It all depended if Pittsburgh was going to rest their players. It would have been wise to go with Pittsburgh though as they're clearly a better team. One team is going to the playoffs (Pittsburgh), while the other is just finishing their season. Pittsburgh is still a good team even if they did rest their players. Should have put a little more thought into the pick.
=Easiest Pick of the Night=
None. I only won one game and it wasn't really an easy pick.
=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Red Wings at Blackhawks : Detroit had nothing to gain by winning, but I still expected them to play a tough game. They could help make it harder for Chicago to gain entry into the playoffs. Chicago really wanted to win this game since it would have saved them the nerves of waiting to see if the Dallas Stars won later on or not. I originally went with Detroit but scratched them out to place the Blackhawks as the winning team. A lot of those games that could go either way have scribbles in my pick area. This was one of them.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Game of the Night=
Stars at Wild : The Dallas Stars were thrown a giant bone when Detroit beat Chicago in regulation. All Dallas had to do was win in regulation or in overtime (a Dallas shootout victory would have given the tie breaker to Chicago). The Stars weren't able to do that against a team they probably should have beaten. The should and could parts of the equation were definitely there against a team like the Wild. The loss sent Dallas home two points short with plenty of questions regarding next season unanswered (like where Brad Richards will go). Tough loss for Dallas.
* Final Stats *
I began this blog officially on February 9th but had started my idea of picking the winners of NHL hockey games every night on February 7th. My stats cover February 7th until the last day of the regular season which would be today April 10th. You'll see all the numbers below, but my grand total of games that I picked was 435 which spanned 64 nights. I ended up winning 245 of those 435 games which is about 56.3%. The perfectionist in me was hoping for something closer like 60 to 70%, but really I'm proud of that figure. Out of those 64 nights, I had six nights where I made all the right picks for the night. I'm proud to also say that I only picked all the games incorrectly just once which was a night that had only three games played. I guess what makes me feel happy about my season is that if I was betting on these games, I would have won money. Not much, but at least I didn't go under .500 for the season. I do plan on keeping this blog together for next season. I want to make a run to get a whole season under my belt. I'll keep new stats for next season and compare them to this season's stats. It'll be fun to see if I get any better or if luck just varies. I'll also be sure to keep a "career" set of my stats. With all of that said, here is my stats for the part of the 2010-2011 season that I covered.
Game Nights : 64
Games Picked : 435
Wins : 235
Losses : 190
Win % : 56.3%
OT/W's : 31 (The amount of my wins that were via overtime. So in this case 31 out of 235 were in overtime.)
OT/L's : 28 (Same as above, except losses that were via overtime.)
SO/W's : 24 (Think you get the point now.)
SO/L's : 28
Perfect Nights : 6 (Nights where I picked the games correctly.) High : 5 games Low : 2 games
All-Wrong Nights : 1 (Where I picked all the game incorrectly.) High/low : 3 games
* Playoffs *
Below you'll see the top eight teams of each conference that made the playoffs with their points and opponent listed beside them. I'm not making prediction in this edition of my blog. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not going to make predictions for each individual game. I think it would get a little redundant (as if what I did for the last two months wasn't) rather than just picking the team I felt was going to win the series. I'll keep track of the games in similar fashion to what I do now by updating scores and how my picks are coming along. I probably won't write every night, but might go with every other night instead. As far as my stats, I'll keep track of the how many series I pick, how many I get right, how many I get wrong, my winning percentage, how many rounds I was perfect (similar to picking all the games right on one night), and how many rounds I wasn't (guessed wrong on all series of a round). Same concept, just a little consolidated.
As far as picking the series in the playoff, I'll make an overall pick of the playoffs. I'll release a post with my picks from the quarter finals all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. This won't be official. In other words, it'll just be a cool thing to look back on. I'll make my official picks as each round progresses so that I can at least make educated picks. If my overall pick of the NHL Playoffs is correct, I'll obviously proclaim myself a genius and delete the previous sentence from the post. Lol. Anyway, that's really what I've figured out thus far. I'll update with my picks very soon. Here are those NHL Conference Standings as promised.
Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals - 107 points - play #8 New York Rangers
2. Philadelphia Flyers - 106 points - play #7 Buffalo Sabres
3. Boston Bruins - 103 points - play #6 Montreal Canadiens
4. Pittsburgh Penguins - 106 points - play #5 Tampa Bay Lightning
5. Tampa Bay Lightning - 103 points - play #4 Pittsburgh Penguins
6. Montreal Canadiens - 96 points - play #3 Boston Bruins
7. Buffalo Sabres - 96 points - play #2 Philadelphia Flyers
8. New York Rangers - 93 points - play #1 Washington Capitals
Western Conference
1. Vancouver Canucks - 117 points - play #8 Chicago Blackhawks
2. San Jose Sharks - 105 points - play #7 Los Angeles Kings
3. Detroit Red Wings - 104 points - play #6 Phoenix Coyotes
4. Anaheim Ducks - 99 points - play #5 Nashville Predators
5. Nashville Predators - 99 points - play #4 Anaheim Ducks
6. Phoenix Coyotes - 99 points - play #3 Detroit Red Wings
7. Los Angeles Kings - 98 points - play #2 San Jose Sharks
8. Chicago Blackhawks - 97 points - play #1 Vancouver Canucks
I'll have my picks and season history between teams and their opponents coming up. This will likely be on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, so be sure to keep an eye out if you read this. Again, if you do read this, thanks a bunch for reading or even just checking this out. It's been an awesome two months.
Night!
Philadelphia Flyers Atlantic Division Champs! : 4/9 Results, 4/10 Picks
* Pre-Skate *
Rather than going straight to the results with the exciting Saturday results, I'll go over them a bit first here. Today was filled with absolute climatic hockey games, namely Philadelphia, New York, and Carolina. Above all else, we finally have a clear picture on the playoffs. There is only one spot to be determined Sunday and that will be figured out by the Red Wings and Blackhawks game as well as the Stars and Wild game. If the Blackhawks do win, they will jump to the fifth seed and clinch a spot in the playoffs. If Dallas wins, the Western Conference seeding will remain exactly the same with Dallas taking Chicago's current eighth place spot.
Let's start with the biggest game of the night for me with the Philadelphia Flyers. Going into the game I was worried whether or not the Flyers were going to bring their game to face the New York Islanders. If they won, they clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference. If not, they would have to hope the Pittsburgh Penguins lost in regulation on Sunday. I wouldn't typically see a team like the Islanders beating the Flyers. Unfortunately, it's been awhile since the Flyers played good consistent hockey even against the lesser teams of the NHL. I was feeling very confident when the Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first minute of the hockey game. Yes, the first minute of the game. Two quick goals and the Flyers looked golden. Not so fast. New York responded by scoring three straight goals before Philadelphia responded with a third of their own in the first period. I wasn't watching the game on TV (at work) so I was going by the stats that I could see at work. I was calling for the pulling of Philadelphia's goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The goals weren't all his fault but I figured the young guy had to be shaky after those. Peter Laviolette must have agreed as he pulled Bob for Brian Boucher. Boucher would play stellar the rest of the way only letting in one goal on good deal of shots. New York opened the second period by scoring another goal to take yet another lead. I really thought the Flyers were going to let this one get away. By the third period, Philadelphia climbed to a 6-4 lead which eventually led to a 7-4 lead behind a empty net goal. Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros was an absolute beast for Philadelphia tonight. He had two goals and two assists helping Philly clinch the Atlantic Division title and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. While I'm not too thrilled with the four goals part, I can't be too upset because they did win and they were putting goals up on the board. The Flyers will see the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky is slated to start for the Flyers in goal against Buffalo. If Peter Laviolette, I have to at least consider Boucher at this point. I'm not trying to say Bobrovsky sucks, he doesn't, I'm just a little concerned about the pressure and some of the raw talent he still has yet to develop. He's a rookie and he hasn't seen much North American hockey as he came over from the KHL. Boucher is obviously not a star netminder, but I like the fact that he has experience and more calm demeanor. We'll see in the coming days what the Flyers decide to do.
The battle for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference was also decided today. The New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers battled one another in an early game. The Rangers needed to win this game or else they were not making the playoffs, regardless of whether the Carolina Hurricanes won or not. New York won the game convincingly with a 5-2 score. As it was an earlier game in the NHL, they would have to wait until the Hurricanes played later in the evening. Can't imagine how the nerves of those guys were. Thankfully for New York, Carolina was beat down by the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. Carolina did an incredible job at getting back in this race and making it as close as they did. With that said, the eighth seed belongs to the New York Rangers who will face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. Not exactly a team I'd like to face, but hey, better to be in the playoffs than not.
So, with that said here is the standings for both conferences. If you aren't familiar with how seeds go, it's pretty simple. The top three seeds are all the division winners placed in order of points. That's why you can see teams that are placed fourth that might have more points than one in the top three. The seed format is like this...the number one seed plays the eighth seed, the second plays the seventh, the third plays the sixth, and the fourth plays the fifth. You keep your seed through the playoffs. The higher seed gets home ice advantage in a best of seven format. Win four games and you move on. Lose four and you're out. The standings could change depending on a few games tomorrow, but I'll update it then. Some teams plays tomorrow as well, so their points could also change.
Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals - 107 points
2. Philadelphia Flyers - 106 points
3. Boston Bruins - 103 points (1 game remaining)
4. Pittsburgh Penguins - 104 points (1 game remaining)
5. Tampa Bay Lightning - 103 points
6. Montreal Canadiens - 96 points
7. Buffalo Sabres - 96 points
8. New York Rangers - 93 points
Western Conference
1. Vancouver Canucks - 117 points
2. San Jose Sharks - 105 points
3. Detroit Red Wings - 102 points (1 game remaining)
4. Anaheim Ducks - 99 points
5. Nashville Predators - 99 points (could move to sixth spot if Chicago wins)
6. Phoenix Coyotes - 99 points (could move to seventh spot if Chicago wins)
7. Los Angeles Kings - 98 points (could move to eighth spot if Chicago wins)
8. Chicago Blackhawks - 97 points (1 game remaining, could lose spot to Dallas...could also move up to fifth seed with a win)
9. Dallas Stars - 95 points (1 game remaining, with Chicago loss or OT/L and a win they clinch the eighth spot)
* Results *
I'm very thankful for a pretty good hockey day. My Flyers won and I finished the night 7-4. A couple of my losses were a little bad on my part, others I didn't see coming. The Rangers beating the Devils was a tough one. Much like the Flyers, I wasn't sure if the Rangers would play desperate hockey. They certainly did winning 5-2. My pick of the Bruins over the Senators panned out. I almost wanted to go with Ottawa but just went with the better team. In Carolina, I figured the Hurricanes would win knowing they would be in the playoffs. I had counted on Tampa Bay not really trying too hard. Wrong on both. The Lightning whipped the Canes 6-2. As mentioned earlier, the Flyers were able to get things together and hold off the Islanders 7-4 (just noticed the score matches my record for the night, nice). In Toronto, the Canadiens made me look like a smart man. I had began writing in the Maple Leafs to win it but instead felt like Montreal should be placed as my pick. The Canadiens did win 4-1. Phew. An upset I didn't see coming was the Washington Capitals losing to the Florida Panthers 1-0. The Caps didn't sit any of their typical players though I'm sure they weren't pushing themselves though either. Regardless of that, I figured that even they could win against a team like Florida. Nope. In Columbus, the Blue Jackets stumbled once again as the Sabres won 5-4. Went with Buffalo so I won that one. My trusty Blues beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 in St. Louis. Those Blues had an amazing finish to their season. In Calgary, I nearly made off with a decent pick except the Vancouver Canucks were able to win in overtime. I figured Vancouver wouldn't put up much of a fight, but I was wrong again. I was correct by going with the Ducks over the Kings who won 3-1. They jumped to the fourth seed in the Western Conference with the win. They're scorching hot and have had an incredible run to the fourth spot. Finally, I went with the Sharks to get revenge on the Coyotes (Coyotes won on Friday against the Sharks) which worked out. San Jose won 3-1 which clinched the second seed in the Western Conference. Here are the results for Saturday.
4/9/2011 - Saturday
Devils at Rangers : Pick - Devils : Result -- 5-2 Rangers : Wrong : 237-183
Senators at Bruins : Pick - Bruins : Result -- 3-1 Bruins : Correct : 238-183
Lightning at Hurricanes : Pick - Hurricanes : Result -- 6-2 Lightning : Wrong : 238-184
Islanders at Flyers : Pick - Flyers : Result -- 7-4 Flyers : Correct : 239-184
Canadiens at Maple Leafs : Pick - Canadiens : Result -- 4-1 Canadiens : Correct : 240-184
Capitals at Panthers : Pick - Capitals : Result -- 1-0 Panthers : Wrong : 240-185
Sabres at Blue Jackets : Pick - Sabres : Result -- 5-4 Sabres : Correct : 241-185
Predators at Blues : Pick - Blues : Result -- 2-0 Blues : Correct : 242-185
Canucks at Flames : Pick - Flames : Result -- 3-2 Canucks : Wrong (OT/L) : 242-186
Ducks at Kings : Pick - Ducks : Result -- 3-1 Ducks : Correct : 243-186
Coyotes at Sharks : Pick - Sharks : Result -- 3-1 Sharks : Correct : 244-186
-Results Format-
Game : Pick : Result : Pick Result (OT or SO W or L based on my pick) : My Season Record
OT/W or OT/L - My pick won or lost in OT.
SO/W or SO/L - My pick won or lost in a shootout.
=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Canucks at Flames : I did go with the Flames thinking Vancouver would rest up for the playoffs. Still, it's kind of dumb to not go with the best team in the entire NHL to beat a team that is going to miss the playoffs. I tried to look smart, almost was able to look smart, but it's still dumb.
=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Canadiens at Maple Leafs : I wasn't sure that Toronto was going to bail on the their last game of the season or not. Same with Montreal since they had their playoff spot secure. A lot of the games on the night were like this. I had originally gone with the Toronto Maple Leafs at first until I scribbled them out and wrote in the Canadiens. My gut instinct was right, but it was a difficult decision nonetheless.
=Easiest Pick of the Night=
Sabres at Blue Jackets : The Blue Jackets have been pretty awful lately. They've even put up some good efforts and still managed to lose. I didn't see Buffalo losing to a team like that, especially after their huge win against Philadelphia yesterday. Writing Buffalo in was one of the easier decisions for the night.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Game of the Night=
Lightning at Hurricanes : Carolina had home ice to ice their rights to the eighth spot of the Eastern Conference. All they had to do was win. Instead of doing so, they choked very badly in front of their home crowd. Tampa Bay is very talented and tough team, but this was a must win. They let a big opportunity slide away from them.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Night=
Predators at Blues : Been awhile since I've used this one, but I felt this game was one of those that I created this little "award" for. Nashville is far and away the better team between the two. When I looked at the scores of the games, I actually thought I went with Nashville at first. After seeing that I went with the Blues, I was pretty impressed that I'd go with the Blues here and didn't lose. Knowing how well St. Louis has been playing, I was able to feel confident with them over the playoff bound Nashville Predators.
* Picks *
Well, this is it, the last day of the season. Can't believe I've made it this far. Absolutely a blast writing and making picks. Can't wait to get the playoffs started. I'll have the standings and seeds set up for tomorrow. I'll also have my final stats for the regular season. I'll eventually get my picks for the playoffs out this week as well. The only games for Sunday that actually have any serious factoring in the standings are the Red Wings at the Blackhawks and the Stars at Wild. So, once again, I'm making some of these picks with the belief that playoff teams will rest their better players and provide extra minutes to other players on the team. We'll start in Chicago. I see the Blackhawks beating the Red Wings so that they can keep a spot in the playoffs. Detroit has a few injured players and nothing to gain from winning. In New Jersey, I see the Devils beating the Boston Bruins. Boston, much like Detroit, is already locked into a playoff spot and has nothing to gain either. In Colorado, we have game between too horrendous teams. I feel the Colorado Avalanche will lose to the Edmonton Oilers. Colorado hasn't won in four games, so I'm not convinced they'll win. In Atlanta, I feel that Thrashers will beat the Penguins. Pittsburgh is already down Malkin and Corsby, so I doubt they'll want to risk some of their better players since they're also locked into fourth in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta has played good hockey in parts so why not a win to finish the season? Finally, I see the Stars beating the Wild, but it'll be worthless according to my picks as Chicago will clinch the last playoff spot. If Chicago does win, I see Dallas playing some desperate hockey to clinch the eighth spot in the Western Conference. It's been an absolute pleasure writing during the regular season. Here are the final picks of the regular 2010-2011 season.
4/10/2011 - Sunday
Red Wings at Blackhawks ==> Blackhawks
Bruins at Devils ==> Devils
Oilers at Avalanche ==> Oilers
Penguins at Thrashers ==> Thrashers
Stars at Wild ==> Stars
Night!
Rather than going straight to the results with the exciting Saturday results, I'll go over them a bit first here. Today was filled with absolute climatic hockey games, namely Philadelphia, New York, and Carolina. Above all else, we finally have a clear picture on the playoffs. There is only one spot to be determined Sunday and that will be figured out by the Red Wings and Blackhawks game as well as the Stars and Wild game. If the Blackhawks do win, they will jump to the fifth seed and clinch a spot in the playoffs. If Dallas wins, the Western Conference seeding will remain exactly the same with Dallas taking Chicago's current eighth place spot.
Let's start with the biggest game of the night for me with the Philadelphia Flyers. Going into the game I was worried whether or not the Flyers were going to bring their game to face the New York Islanders. If they won, they clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference. If not, they would have to hope the Pittsburgh Penguins lost in regulation on Sunday. I wouldn't typically see a team like the Islanders beating the Flyers. Unfortunately, it's been awhile since the Flyers played good consistent hockey even against the lesser teams of the NHL. I was feeling very confident when the Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first minute of the hockey game. Yes, the first minute of the game. Two quick goals and the Flyers looked golden. Not so fast. New York responded by scoring three straight goals before Philadelphia responded with a third of their own in the first period. I wasn't watching the game on TV (at work) so I was going by the stats that I could see at work. I was calling for the pulling of Philadelphia's goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The goals weren't all his fault but I figured the young guy had to be shaky after those. Peter Laviolette must have agreed as he pulled Bob for Brian Boucher. Boucher would play stellar the rest of the way only letting in one goal on good deal of shots. New York opened the second period by scoring another goal to take yet another lead. I really thought the Flyers were going to let this one get away. By the third period, Philadelphia climbed to a 6-4 lead which eventually led to a 7-4 lead behind a empty net goal. Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros was an absolute beast for Philadelphia tonight. He had two goals and two assists helping Philly clinch the Atlantic Division title and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. While I'm not too thrilled with the four goals part, I can't be too upset because they did win and they were putting goals up on the board. The Flyers will see the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky is slated to start for the Flyers in goal against Buffalo. If Peter Laviolette, I have to at least consider Boucher at this point. I'm not trying to say Bobrovsky sucks, he doesn't, I'm just a little concerned about the pressure and some of the raw talent he still has yet to develop. He's a rookie and he hasn't seen much North American hockey as he came over from the KHL. Boucher is obviously not a star netminder, but I like the fact that he has experience and more calm demeanor. We'll see in the coming days what the Flyers decide to do.
The battle for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference was also decided today. The New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers battled one another in an early game. The Rangers needed to win this game or else they were not making the playoffs, regardless of whether the Carolina Hurricanes won or not. New York won the game convincingly with a 5-2 score. As it was an earlier game in the NHL, they would have to wait until the Hurricanes played later in the evening. Can't imagine how the nerves of those guys were. Thankfully for New York, Carolina was beat down by the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. Carolina did an incredible job at getting back in this race and making it as close as they did. With that said, the eighth seed belongs to the New York Rangers who will face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. Not exactly a team I'd like to face, but hey, better to be in the playoffs than not.
So, with that said here is the standings for both conferences. If you aren't familiar with how seeds go, it's pretty simple. The top three seeds are all the division winners placed in order of points. That's why you can see teams that are placed fourth that might have more points than one in the top three. The seed format is like this...the number one seed plays the eighth seed, the second plays the seventh, the third plays the sixth, and the fourth plays the fifth. You keep your seed through the playoffs. The higher seed gets home ice advantage in a best of seven format. Win four games and you move on. Lose four and you're out. The standings could change depending on a few games tomorrow, but I'll update it then. Some teams plays tomorrow as well, so their points could also change.
Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals - 107 points
2. Philadelphia Flyers - 106 points
3. Boston Bruins - 103 points (1 game remaining)
4. Pittsburgh Penguins - 104 points (1 game remaining)
5. Tampa Bay Lightning - 103 points
6. Montreal Canadiens - 96 points
7. Buffalo Sabres - 96 points
8. New York Rangers - 93 points
Western Conference
1. Vancouver Canucks - 117 points
2. San Jose Sharks - 105 points
3. Detroit Red Wings - 102 points (1 game remaining)
4. Anaheim Ducks - 99 points
5. Nashville Predators - 99 points (could move to sixth spot if Chicago wins)
6. Phoenix Coyotes - 99 points (could move to seventh spot if Chicago wins)
7. Los Angeles Kings - 98 points (could move to eighth spot if Chicago wins)
8. Chicago Blackhawks - 97 points (1 game remaining, could lose spot to Dallas...could also move up to fifth seed with a win)
9. Dallas Stars - 95 points (1 game remaining, with Chicago loss or OT/L and a win they clinch the eighth spot)
* Results *
I'm very thankful for a pretty good hockey day. My Flyers won and I finished the night 7-4. A couple of my losses were a little bad on my part, others I didn't see coming. The Rangers beating the Devils was a tough one. Much like the Flyers, I wasn't sure if the Rangers would play desperate hockey. They certainly did winning 5-2. My pick of the Bruins over the Senators panned out. I almost wanted to go with Ottawa but just went with the better team. In Carolina, I figured the Hurricanes would win knowing they would be in the playoffs. I had counted on Tampa Bay not really trying too hard. Wrong on both. The Lightning whipped the Canes 6-2. As mentioned earlier, the Flyers were able to get things together and hold off the Islanders 7-4 (just noticed the score matches my record for the night, nice). In Toronto, the Canadiens made me look like a smart man. I had began writing in the Maple Leafs to win it but instead felt like Montreal should be placed as my pick. The Canadiens did win 4-1. Phew. An upset I didn't see coming was the Washington Capitals losing to the Florida Panthers 1-0. The Caps didn't sit any of their typical players though I'm sure they weren't pushing themselves though either. Regardless of that, I figured that even they could win against a team like Florida. Nope. In Columbus, the Blue Jackets stumbled once again as the Sabres won 5-4. Went with Buffalo so I won that one. My trusty Blues beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 in St. Louis. Those Blues had an amazing finish to their season. In Calgary, I nearly made off with a decent pick except the Vancouver Canucks were able to win in overtime. I figured Vancouver wouldn't put up much of a fight, but I was wrong again. I was correct by going with the Ducks over the Kings who won 3-1. They jumped to the fourth seed in the Western Conference with the win. They're scorching hot and have had an incredible run to the fourth spot. Finally, I went with the Sharks to get revenge on the Coyotes (Coyotes won on Friday against the Sharks) which worked out. San Jose won 3-1 which clinched the second seed in the Western Conference. Here are the results for Saturday.
4/9/2011 - Saturday
Devils at Rangers : Pick - Devils : Result -- 5-2 Rangers : Wrong : 237-183
Senators at Bruins : Pick - Bruins : Result -- 3-1 Bruins : Correct : 238-183
Lightning at Hurricanes : Pick - Hurricanes : Result -- 6-2 Lightning : Wrong : 238-184
Islanders at Flyers : Pick - Flyers : Result -- 7-4 Flyers : Correct : 239-184
Canadiens at Maple Leafs : Pick - Canadiens : Result -- 4-1 Canadiens : Correct : 240-184
Capitals at Panthers : Pick - Capitals : Result -- 1-0 Panthers : Wrong : 240-185
Sabres at Blue Jackets : Pick - Sabres : Result -- 5-4 Sabres : Correct : 241-185
Predators at Blues : Pick - Blues : Result -- 2-0 Blues : Correct : 242-185
Canucks at Flames : Pick - Flames : Result -- 3-2 Canucks : Wrong (OT/L) : 242-186
Ducks at Kings : Pick - Ducks : Result -- 3-1 Ducks : Correct : 243-186
Coyotes at Sharks : Pick - Sharks : Result -- 3-1 Sharks : Correct : 244-186
-Results Format-
Game : Pick : Result : Pick Result (OT or SO W or L based on my pick) : My Season Record
OT/W or OT/L - My pick won or lost in OT.
SO/W or SO/L - My pick won or lost in a shootout.
=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Canucks at Flames : I did go with the Flames thinking Vancouver would rest up for the playoffs. Still, it's kind of dumb to not go with the best team in the entire NHL to beat a team that is going to miss the playoffs. I tried to look smart, almost was able to look smart, but it's still dumb.
=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Canadiens at Maple Leafs : I wasn't sure that Toronto was going to bail on the their last game of the season or not. Same with Montreal since they had their playoff spot secure. A lot of the games on the night were like this. I had originally gone with the Toronto Maple Leafs at first until I scribbled them out and wrote in the Canadiens. My gut instinct was right, but it was a difficult decision nonetheless.
=Easiest Pick of the Night=
Sabres at Blue Jackets : The Blue Jackets have been pretty awful lately. They've even put up some good efforts and still managed to lose. I didn't see Buffalo losing to a team like that, especially after their huge win against Philadelphia yesterday. Writing Buffalo in was one of the easier decisions for the night.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Game of the Night=
Lightning at Hurricanes : Carolina had home ice to ice their rights to the eighth spot of the Eastern Conference. All they had to do was win. Instead of doing so, they choked very badly in front of their home crowd. Tampa Bay is very talented and tough team, but this was a must win. They let a big opportunity slide away from them.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Night=
Predators at Blues : Been awhile since I've used this one, but I felt this game was one of those that I created this little "award" for. Nashville is far and away the better team between the two. When I looked at the scores of the games, I actually thought I went with Nashville at first. After seeing that I went with the Blues, I was pretty impressed that I'd go with the Blues here and didn't lose. Knowing how well St. Louis has been playing, I was able to feel confident with them over the playoff bound Nashville Predators.
* Picks *
Well, this is it, the last day of the season. Can't believe I've made it this far. Absolutely a blast writing and making picks. Can't wait to get the playoffs started. I'll have the standings and seeds set up for tomorrow. I'll also have my final stats for the regular season. I'll eventually get my picks for the playoffs out this week as well. The only games for Sunday that actually have any serious factoring in the standings are the Red Wings at the Blackhawks and the Stars at Wild. So, once again, I'm making some of these picks with the belief that playoff teams will rest their better players and provide extra minutes to other players on the team. We'll start in Chicago. I see the Blackhawks beating the Red Wings so that they can keep a spot in the playoffs. Detroit has a few injured players and nothing to gain from winning. In New Jersey, I see the Devils beating the Boston Bruins. Boston, much like Detroit, is already locked into a playoff spot and has nothing to gain either. In Colorado, we have game between too horrendous teams. I feel the Colorado Avalanche will lose to the Edmonton Oilers. Colorado hasn't won in four games, so I'm not convinced they'll win. In Atlanta, I feel that Thrashers will beat the Penguins. Pittsburgh is already down Malkin and Corsby, so I doubt they'll want to risk some of their better players since they're also locked into fourth in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta has played good hockey in parts so why not a win to finish the season? Finally, I see the Stars beating the Wild, but it'll be worthless according to my picks as Chicago will clinch the last playoff spot. If Chicago does win, I see Dallas playing some desperate hockey to clinch the eighth spot in the Western Conference. It's been an absolute pleasure writing during the regular season. Here are the final picks of the regular 2010-2011 season.
4/10/2011 - Sunday
Red Wings at Blackhawks ==> Blackhawks
Bruins at Devils ==> Devils
Oilers at Avalanche ==> Oilers
Penguins at Thrashers ==> Thrashers
Stars at Wild ==> Stars
Night!
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