NHL Second Round Preview: Who Should Win?

Image courtesy of www.mytinyphone.com

Wow. That might be the only word to describe the NHL Conference Quarterfinals. Sure some series weren't a total surprise; Chicago took care of Minnesota with relative ease. But Oh My Gretzky, the rest of the series made for an exciting first round.

The Pens struggled to get by the Islanders until they awarded Tomas Vokoun the starting job and pulled the struggling Marc-Andre Fleury. The Bruins needed a miracle to get by the Leafs in seven games, the Senators and Red Wings upset the Canadians and Ducks, respectively and the Canucks dropped to 2-12 in their last 14 playoff games after a sweep at the hands of the Sharks.

So, now what? As usual, the second slate is somewhat unexpected but provides some chance we’ll be treated to a matchup of heavyweights in the Stanley Cup.

(1)Chicago vs. (7) Detroit

Why Detroit should win: The Red Wings toppled the Ducks with solid goaltending from Howard and timely goals from a litany of experienced veterans. After a ho-hum regular season, first-year captain Henrik Zetterberg stepped up his play with eight points in the series. While the team lacks a great scorer, there are a handful of solid scoring options making the offense harder to stop. Plus, Johan Franzen has yet to unleash his annual playoff fury.

Why Chicago should win: They’re not just better than the Wings, they’re nearly perfect. They have elite scoring talent (Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Toews), a stingy defense led by Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook and  Dominik Ha- er um, I mean Corey Crawford in net with the re-animation of Ray Emery’s corpse backing him up.

Verdict: The Wings ended the season on a four-game win streak before upsetting the Ducks. They’re playing with confidence and appear to be dangerous. But only dangerous enough to give the superior Hawks a slight scare. Chicago in six.

(5) Los Angeles vs. (6) San Jose

Why San Jose should win: The Sharks steamrolled the Canucks in four games in the first round. Goalie Antti Niemi has been a brick wall all season and appears to be good enough to match Quick in a seven-game series. The Sharks struggled to find secondary scoring for much of the season and rely heavily on the trio of Logan Coture, Joe Pavelski and Pat Marleau (As an aside, Joe Thornton scored seven goals this year. That’s why he wasn’t included.) .

Why Los Angeles should win: Much like the Sharks, the Kings enter the second round having won four games in a row. Also like the Sharks, the Kings most dangerous weapon is their goalie. Quick allowed only 10 goals in the first round tilt against the Blues. However, the Kings have the edge and scoring range the Sharks lack. Dustin Brown, Dustin Penner, Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Justin Williams and Drew Doughty are all capable of chipping in while Brown, Dwight King and Jordan Nolan create a physical environment which throws finesse-first teams like the Sharks off their game.

Verdict: The Kings are rolling much like they were last season. This team knows how the win in the playoffs and can impose their will on nearly anyone they play. The trick will be getting by the red-hot Niemi. He’s playing well enough to win two for the Sharks.  Los Angeles in six.

Image courtesy of thesportsquotient.com 

(1)Pittsburgh vs. (7) Ottawa

Why Ottawa should win: The Senators rolled the over-achieving Canadians in five games. It’s amazing what getting back a hot goaltender and the league’s best defenseman can do for a team. They have just the right mix of experience (Alfreddson, Gonchar) and youth (Conacher, Turris) to compete with anyone. Oh, and they have Erik freakin Karlsson back.

Why Pittsburgh should win: They have the most talented and offense-heavy roster in the NHL by a mile. They’re sloppy at times but that barely matters when Crosby and Co. can score at ease. Plus they can pair Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz with Crosby on the first line and be fine because he makes everyone better. Coach Dan Bylsma solved his biggest problem by swapping out Fleury for Vokoun, now it appears they’ll be tough for anyone to beat. (And anyone who thinks Fleury deserves another shot this post-season is insane. The Penguins were nearly upset for the fourth post-season in a row because of his incompetence.)

Verdict: The Penguins didn’t get pushed to six by the Islanders just because of Fleury’s incompetence or weird hockey nuances. The Islanders outplayed them at times, outshot them in games, took advantage of huge defensive lapses and controlled the puck far more than the Penguins did. There are some legitimate concerns here especially considering how good Ottawa looked last round. But,  it doesn’t appear the Senators have the scoring talent to keep up with the Pens. Unless Anderson completely stands on his head, this series is Pittsburgh’s. Looks for the Pens to make it as difficult as possible. Pittsburgh in seven.

(4) Boston vs. (6) New York Rangers

Why New York should win: Henrik Lundquist. The Ranger backstop posted back-to-back shutouts to eliminate the Capitals in the first round. Although big-time acquisitions Brad Richards and Rick Nash haven’t impressed so far but a team full of solid veterans and reliable hockey guys (Callahan/Stepan) has picked up the slack. These guys haven’t given coach Torts much of a reason to verbally abuse reporters of late (not that it’s stopped him).

Why Boston should win: Nothing says resilient, veteran team quite like scoring three goals in the final 11 minutes of a game seven to force overtime. The Bruins are always a chore to play as they’re aggressive,  physical and occasionally dirty. They play solid D, hit, score when necessary, hit, have a solid goaltender in Rask and hit. One thing they’ll never do is concede a victory without a fight.  The Bruins are tough but lately they’ve struggled to score (three goals in nearly a nine-period stretch in games 5-7).

Verdict: These teams are similar in many ways. Expect a series full of solid goaltending, plenty of hitting , timely goals, a few fights, a vintage Tortorella press conference and low scores. The slight edge goes to New York because of Lundquist’s capabilities. Rangers in seven.

Stay hungry, my friends.