Gee whiz, where to start!
The second round playoff winners were relatively convincing winners—none of the four series went the journey.
The Red Wings steamrolled the poor old Avs, and the Stars clinched their series in the wee hours of the morning. The Penguins marched past the Rangers, and Philadelphia flew past the top-seeded Canadiens.
In a reversal of fortune, I picked two out of two in the west, but zero out of two for the east. Mind you, I picked the Rangers as an upset.
But I'm much more proud of a different 'prediction' I made.
Shortly after I posted my second round predictions, I received a comment regarding the Detroit-Colorado series.
After stating that the Red Wings were the benchmark team all season, and that they swept Colorado in the regular season series, the commenter mentioned that the Avs have bolstered their roster since then. They would be a bigger threat.
But I replied by saying Detroit has a lot of underrated depth players and used none other than Johan Franzen as an example. He scored nine times in four games in the series.
Not bad eh?
Anyways, back to business, here's some number crunching for the conference finals:
2. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 6. Philadelphia Flyers
The battle of Pennsylvania should be a ripper. Philadelphia took the honors in the regular season series, winning the first four between the teams, and the final game. If my memory serves correct, it cost Pittsburgh the chance to win the Eastern Conference.
The series was dominated by the home team seven games to one with the Flyers winning in Pittsburgh in their first game of the season series, 3-1.
It was a high scoring series—53 goals no less. That's an average of 3.3 goals each per game. There were some close games. Each time registered a 4-3 victory against the other, and there were some blowouts.
The Flyers won 8-2 in one game, and then three duels later, the Penguins won 7-1.
The main culprits were R.J. Umberger and Evgeni Malkin, who scored six goals each. Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul had five, while Petr Sykora netted four times.
In terms of playoff numbers, Pittsburgh's leading scorers are Sidney Crosby (2G, 12A), Malkin (6G, 8A, 4PPG), and Marian Hossa (5G, 5A). All have played nine games.
Philadelphia's leading scorers are Daniel Briere (8G, 6A, 5PPG), Vaclav Prospal (3G, 9A), Mike Richards (4G, 7A), and Umberger (9G, 2A). They have played 12 games.
The battle in net will be between Marc-Andre Fleury (8-1, 1.76 GAA, .938SV%, 2SO) and Martin Biron (8-4, 2.72 GAA, .914SV%, 1SO). The numbers are skewed in favor of Fleury, but Biron has made big saves at crucial times.
Both teams have been potent on the power play, but Pittsburgh has a much better penalty kill in the playoffs, 89.5 percent to 77.2 percent.
The numbers are in favor of Pittsburgh, but Philadelphia is high on belief after eliminating the No. 1 seed Montreal. My prediction is lots of goals, and Pittsburgh to win it in six games.
1. Detroit Red Wings vs. 5. Dallas Stars
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