B/R NHL Staff Predictions for Panthers-Bruins and Kraken-Avalanche Game 7s
Game 7.
It's two magical words that raise the excitement level for any sports fan. Fortunately for NHL fans, we'll have two on Sunday night.
The Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins were an overtime goal away from eliminating the Panthers in Game 5. But two gutty performances extended the Cardiac Cats' lives to set up a dramatic Game 7 showdown at TD Garden. Will the upstarts from Florida silence the home crowd for a third time this series and end a magic carpet ride of a season for Boston?
Over in the Western Conference, the second-year Kraken have given the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche all they can handle, pushing them to the brink of elimination. The Avs responded in Game 6 on Friday night, saving their season with a convincing 4-1 win away from home and bringing things back to the Mile High City for what should be an epic showdown.
We're calling the B/R NHL Staff together to get their picks for Game 7. Make sure your voice is heard in the comments section of the B/R app and give us your winners.
Panthers vs. Bruins
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The momentum has swung in favor of the underdog Panthers after overcoming a 3-1 deficit to tie the series. Much of that is due to shaky goaltending by Boston starter Linus Ullmark and uncharacteristically sloppy defensive play by his teammates. If the Bruins don't address those issues, this could become one of the biggest upsets in NHL playoff history.
Prediction: Panthers win Game 7
- Lyle Richardson
As unexpected as this series going to seven games is, here we are. As Lyle referenced, uncharacteristic turnovers in the wrong zone and a less-than-clutch overall performance from Vezina contender Ullmark have been the main reasons Boston has lost the last two games. That said, to paraphrase Taylor Swift, the Bruins have seen this film before—but they did like the ending. The Bruins blew 3-1 series leads to underdogs in 2013 and 2018 but came out on top in both Games 7s with the remaining core of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Their veteran presences and the team's overall talent are too good for a first-round exit. The only question: Should head coach Jim Montgomery continue to ride with Ullmark despite some blunders, or should he switch it up with Jeremy Swayman?
Prediction: Bruins win Game 7
-Sara Civian
Full credit to the Panthers for making a real series of this. And with one game left they absolutely can pull off the upset. The Bruins have a strong leadership group, however, and they'll be determined to ensure a historic season does not end in the most anticlimactic fashion. Expect the Bruins to stick this landing despite the turbulence. That is, unless so-called Vezina favorite Ullmark is in net and once again blunders the game in Florida's direction.
Prediction: Bruins win Game 7
- Adam Herman
What is it about teams that set 21st-century records for regular-season wins? The Tampa Bay Lightning did it in 2018-19 and promptly found themselves bounced in the first round in one of the league's all-time playoff upsets. And now, the Bruins find themselves on the brink after squandering the 3-1 lead they'd established a week ago. The sorts of questions not asked all season are coming fast and furious in media sessions, and there's little doubt conversations inside the locker room have changed in tone. But quality matters. Leadership matters. Boston is the better team, and it has more players who've experienced this sort of pressure—Game 7 of the 2011 Cup Final sort of pressure—than the Panthers. That'll matter most.
Prediction: Bruins win Game 7
- Lyle Fitzsimmons
Boy, this one got out of hand, didn't it? At least for the Bruins it did, and they've made the tragic mistake of letting Matthew Tkachuk get hot. The "uh oh" moment was when he scored the overtime winner in Game 5 and momentum found its way to Sunrise. It's hard to not like what the Panthers have going for them right now, but the Bruins are still the Bruins and it's really hard to put that aside when picking a Game 7 winner. I love how the Panthers are not backing down and that they give the Bruins zero peace with the puck. I picked the Bruins to win this series beforehand, but forget it—the Panthers are rolling.
Prediction: Panthers win Game 7
- Joe Yerdon
Kraken vs. Avalanche
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Expect the intensity and physical play that have built up over the course of this series to reach their apogee in Game 7. It could come down to which team can get its power play working. Of the 16 playoff teams, the Kraken are 14th in power-play percentage (14.3), with the Avalanche sitting 15th at a woeful 5.9 percent.
Prediction: Avalanche win Game 7
- Lyle Richardson
An extremely tight series rightfully goes seven games. The Kraken, already over-reliant on depth, will continue to be without their one true difference-making forward in Jared McCann. That's a particularly brutal absence given that the 40-goal scorer is a force on the power play during what is quickly becoming a postseason defined by special teams. Plus, the Avs are on home ice.
Prediction: Avalanche win Game 7
- Adam Herman
The Kraken's playoff success shouldn't be surprising to anyone who watched their 100-point regular season, but it's been fun watching the youngest team in the league take it to the defending Stanley Cup champions and force a Game 7. The injury-ridden Avalanche have been pretty inconsistent this year, but as Devon Toews, Nathan MacKinnon and some of the other usual suspects have shown this series, they have that champion ability to turn it on in a moment's notice. That said, the Kraken feel special this year, the young stars and some unexpected heroes are going off, and it is shaping up to be the Cinderella story of the 2023 playoffs.
Prediction: Kraken win Game 7
-Sara Civian
Denver may be the only NHL city that's rooting for the Avalanche. Getting the defending champions out of the way would be perceived as a gift by fanbases whose teams remain alive in the playoffs. And the fact that the second-year Kraken have pushed MacKinnon, Makar and Co. to the brink is impressive. But it feels like an opportunity was missed with the Game 6 loss. Colorado looked liked the better team in an environment tailor-made for Seattle. The Avs heading home for a Game 7 with a lineup full of players still fresh off a Cup victory seems too daunting for Seattle.
Prediction: Avalanche win Game 7
-Lyle Fitzsimmons
The vibes feel way, way off for the Avalanche and they did all throughout Game 6 in Seattle, and yet they pulled it out. Seattle has been such a pain for Colorado to defend and match up against, and a lot of things we thought we knew from the regular season have totally flipped in this series, which means you throw your hands up in the air and await the chaos. MacKinnon is a really hard guy to bet against in this kind of situation, particularly because he knows all too well what it's like to be out of the playoffs sooner than expected. The Kraken are really good...but the Avalanche have some stronger firepower.
Prediction: Avalanche win Game 7
- Joe Yerdon
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