NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Tom Schreier's First Round Predictions
There is nothing like playoff hockey.
Hockey is unique in that all 16 teams that qualify for the postseason have a realistic chance to win the championship (I'm guessing that the NBA's Indiana Pacers won't put up much of a fight this year) and the athletes play pro bono—this is not about money, but for the love of the game.
Last year, the Hawks ended a 49-year championship drought.
This year, Nashville could advance to the second round for the first time in franchise history, Vancouver have a chance to get out of the second round, and three teams from California will have a chance to take the West.
Will the Sharks and Capitals make it past the first round?
Can the Lightning beat a Crosby-less Penguins squad?
Are the Coyotes going to bounce Detroit this year?
The following 10 slides provide the answers you need.
Enjoy!
Eastern Conference
1 of 10
On the teams that almost made it:
Carolina Hurricanes (91 pts):
The 'Canes came closer than many would have expected with their late-season push.
This team may have been more dangerous than many would have expected. The organization is notorious for advancing as a late seed—they got to the championship in 2002 and 2006 without a division championship—and the RBC Center is electric in the playoffs.
Jeff Skinner and Jamie McBain are going to be impressive going forward. The Caniacs will have plenty to look forward to going into next season.
Toronto Maple Leafs (85 pts):
I wanted to see this team make it. The Leafs have an incredible fanbase that they are servicing poorly. There's a foundation in Toronto as well, and if the team builds from within, they will eventually have a winner.
They just have to get over the fact that this is hockey, and a team cannot be build overnight by purchasing superstars from downtrodden clubs. They need to draft and develop to reach the top.
No. 1 Washington Capitals vs. No. 8 New York Rangers
2 of 10Expect the Blueshirts to give the Capitals an early scare and win one of the first two games in the Phone Booth. New York is 24-16-1 on the road.
The Rangers, with the same bench boss and similar roster, gave the Caps a scare two years ago and are a capable team. In fact, their plus-35 goal differential is eight points higher than the Capitals plus-27 mark.
However, the Capitals will not be sent home early this year.
They peaked at the right time and have found a defensive edge in their game. They had the league's fourth-best defense in the league and the second-best penalty kill. That will more than make up for Alex Ovechkin's down year.
They can make up for a 1-1 split to start the series and will finish the series in the Garden.
Prediction: Capitals in six
No. 2 Philadelphia Flyers vs. No. 7 Buffalo Sabres
3 of 10
These two teams do not like each other.
Philadelphia defeated Buffalo on their 1975 Stanley Cup run, and the two teams played five series in a seven-year span at the turn of the century.
After winning the Northeast Division last season, the Sabres neglected to build upon their foundation and found themselves in an enormous hole entering the second half of the season.
Tomas Vanek has come into his own this season, netting 32 goals (same number as Ovechkin) and will be the go-to guy in the postseason. Drew Stafford, who had 31, will be able to take some pressure off of the Austrian superstar.
However, it is difficult to see a team that won their division and was eliminated with a top seed last season do better against the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Claude Giroux—not Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, or Mike Richards—leads the team with 76 points.
Ville Leino has proven to be a late bloomer, and James van Riemsdyk is a young star that should not go overlooked. Players like Chris Pronger, Sean O'Donnell and Kris Versteeg have been there, done that when it comes to the playoffs.
The Flyers will be in good shape as long as rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is competent.
Prediction: Flyers in six
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No. 3 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 Montreal Canadiens
4 of 10Although Boston won the division, Montreal won four of the six regular-season meetings this year.
The Habs don't have much in the scoring department. Nobody on the team hit the 30-goal plateau this season. Brian Gionta led the team with 27 goals and only three players netted 20.
However, the team makes up for its anemic defense with outstanding efforts from Jaroslav Spacek (plus-nine), Plekanec (plus-eight), and roman Hamrlik (plus-six).
The Bruins got a tough draw.
Boston has balance scoring, a serious difference maker in Patrice Bergeron and are benefiting from Nathan Horton's breakout performance this season (26g, 53pt).
On the other end of the sheet, Zdeno Chara (14g, 44pt, plus-33) is a force, and Tim Thomas' 2.00 goals against average suggests the team can play both ways.
However, the Habs will be playing this series with a vengeance after Chara's hit on Max Pacioretty and have the B's number.
Prediction: Canadiens in six
No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning
5 of 10
It's nice to see the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the playoffs again.
After a three-year playoff hiatus, the team accumulated 100 points for the second time in franchise history.
The last time the Bolts eclipsed the 100-point plateau, they won the Stanley Cup.
Although Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier remain from the 2004 championship team, the team will rely on production from green Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman to play big roles in the postseason.
Tampa Bay has veteran leadership—Simon Gagne, Ryan Malone and Mattias Ohlund have been around the block—but that will not be enough for to match a Pittsburgh team that has turned into a perennial playoff team.
Despite missing superstars Sidney Crosby (who still leads the team with 32 goals and 66 points), Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal for half the season, the Penguins have managed to tie the rival Flyers with 106 points on the season.
The reason why they win:
Everyone on their roster can score. Everyone on their roster can play defense. Everyone on their roster is a winner.
Prediction: Penguins in seven
Western Conference
6 of 10
On the teams that almost made it:
Dallas Stars (95 pts):
A postseason would have greatly helped this young team.
Loui Eriksson, Trevor Daley and Brenden Morrow are in their prime and have the potential to perform in crunch time. However, because they were not able to get vital wins late in the season, the team is setting up tee times now.
Questions will swirl this offseason regarding veterans Jamie Langenbrunner and Brad Richards. The Stars would love to keep both around, especially Richards who has been phenomenal this season.
Another question is whether there will be fan response. A playoff appearance would have greatly helped, but their performance this season may be enough to put a few more butts in the American Airlines Center.
Calgary Flames (94 pts):
It was close but no cigar on the late-season recovery project for the Flames.
After firing their GM midseason, many experts left Calgary for dead. However, a timely surge put them in the playoff picture...only the team could not come up with valuable wins when they needed them.
Home-ice advantage helped the team—the Flames were 23-13-5 in the Saddledome—but it was not enough in the end.
The downside: Calgary ended up hanging on the Jarome Iginla instead of turning him into prospects, and he could be playing with a contender right now.
No. 1 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 8 Chicago Blackhawks
7 of 10
People in Vancouver are going to hate me, but we all know how this is going to end up.
Chicago might be lucky to be in the playoffs, but the defending champs have Vancouver's number and the President's Trophy winner from the past two years has lost in the first round.
The Canucks will make it three.
Yes, Vancouver has a scrappy team with strong third and fourth lines, Ryan Kesler has been a monster offensively (41g, 73pt), and nobody can stop the Sedin twins.
And, for the record, I expect Roberto Luongo to play well. He gets a bad rep for being a choke artist.
Despite all that, Chicago will advance to the second round.
Jonathan Toews, the heart and soul of the team, always shows up. Unheralded Patrick Sharp has come into his own. And nothing will get past the Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith pairing.
The Hawks win this in the Windy City.
Prediction: Blackhawks in six
No. 2 San Jose Sharks vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Kings
8 of 10
Many experts had the Kings taking the Pacific by a landslide.
Instead, the Sharks won their fourth-straight division title this season.
The biggest difference with this year's team is that they face adversity with a massive losing streak in January, that was overcome, and came into the season without Stanley Cup expectations.
Since February, this team has been red hot and, save for an embarrassing performance against Anaheim in the OC, were blowing opponents out of the water down the stretch.
The Kings have committed to defense this year and always had a solid goal differential but struggled to get wins at times and were out of the playoff picture in the talented Pacific for long stretches during the year.
Anze Kopitar, who leads the team in points and assists, is out for the series, and there is not a 30-goal scorer on the team.
Dustin Brown is a great young leader, Ryan Smyth will play in the dirty areas and there is nothing more beautiful than a Drew Doughty spin move, but this team will have to wait another year before they can advance to the second round.
Prediction: Sharks in five
No. 3 Detroit Red Wings vs. No. 6 Phoenix Coyotes
9 of 10
These teams met as No. 4 and No. 5 seeds last season.
Many expected Detroit to be there this year—they have the most postseason appearances of any team in the four major American sports—few expected Detroit to be there.
It is perhaps more impressive that Dave Tippett got his team back. Anybody can do it once, it takes expertise to do it again.
Phoenix is a tough team that will wear anyone down and has enough veteran leadership—Ray Whitney, Ed Jovanovski, Shane Doan—to provide guidance, but it is not enough to beat Detroit.
Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Co. are sipping from the fountain of youth and have another good series in them.
This team is deep and veteran-laden and, unlike the Coyotes, have been here more than once in the past decade. While I expect a fight from the Desert Dogs, this series will finish up like last year.
Prediction: Detroit in seven
No. 4 Anaheim Ducks vs. No. 5 Nashville Predators
10 of 10
Both of these teams love to play physical hockey. Expect this to be a war of attrition.
Corey Perry, yes Corey Perry, leads the league in scoring with 50 goals...and has 104 penalty minutes. He also plays on hockey's best line with Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf.
Bobby Ryan will provide secondary scoring, Lubomir Visnovsky and Cam Fowler can both score from the blue line, and nobody has a better 'stash than George Parros.
However, this series will go to Nashville.
They play doggedly every game and are no strangers to physical play. Their leading scorers, Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn, may only have tallied 50 points this season, but this team is willing to grind it out to win.
Shea Weber can wreck bodies with his checks and has a slapper that burns through twine, Patrick Hornqvist is a force in front of the net and youngster Colin Wilson is coming into his own.
The Nashville Predators will, for the first time in franchise history, advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Prediction: Nashville in six
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