NHL Playoff TV Schedule 2012: Predicting Shocking Series Upsets in Round 1

You know it will be coming. It’s only a matter of whom, not when.

There is going to be an upset in the Stanley Cup playoffs—it happens every year. If the road team can steal one of the first two games to latch on to home ice, while riding a hot goalie, the sky is the limit in today’s NHL.

Remember two years ago, when the No. 7 seeded Philadelphia Flyers beat the No. 8 Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals?

Here are two series that have the ingredients for a shocking upset.

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No. 1 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 8 Los Angeles Kings

The Canucks won the Presidents’ Trophy this season thanks in large part to their performance in the first half. Lately the Canucks aren’t playing any better than the Kings.

In Vancouver’s last 35 games, they have scored 72 goals and given up 55, which is almost identical to the goal differential of the Kings (71-57), meaning the two teams have played very similar hockey down the stretch.

The Kings have a goalie in Jonathan Quick who is more than capable of catching fire. He led the league with 10 shutouts during the season and had 15 games in which he allowed two goals or fewer and received the loss. The Vancouver goalie situation couldn’t be more of a toss-up.  

With the health of Daniel Sedin still very much in question after missing almost a month from an elbow from Duncan Keith, the Canuck power play (2-for-35 in past nine games) will continue to be a huge issues for last year’s Stanley Cup runner-up. That plays right into the hands of a Kings team that is fourth in the NHL in killing penalties (87 percent).

As long as the Kings can keep up the offensive resurgence they have displayed lately...it’s going to be upset city.

Prediction: Kings in six

No. 1 New York Rangers vs. No. 8 Ottawa Senators

There is no question that led by goalie Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers defense is elite. They allowed a mere 187 goals this season thanks to Lundqvist finishing in the top five in save percentage (.930), shutouts (eight) and goals-against average (1.97).

But like the Canucks-Kings, Ottawa has played just as well as New York in the last 35 or so games. The Senators have a plus-11 goal differential while the Rangers have just a plus-four mark.

Sure the Madison Square Garden crowd is going to be in a frenzy, but they did drop two of three to close out the regular season as the offense really struggled to find the back of the net.

Before the season you would have laughed at me for suggesting the Senators could shock the top team in the Eastern Conference.

Then the season began and Erik Karlsson morphed into a Norris Trophy candidate and Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek experienced a resurgence of sorts while captain Daniel Alfredsson is back to his old form. Pretty incredible considering he is now 39 years old.

I believe the offensive firepower will be enough to slip more than few past Lundqvist. Once the Rangers find themselves with their backs against the wall, the pressure will rattle a team that has lost a bit of their swagger over the final few weeks of the season.

Prediction: Senators in seven 

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