Round 1 is done, and boy did I get things wrong. The East was a disaster. I thought the favourites would win but Buffalo, NJ and Washington were all upset. I guess I called MTL’s win a bit, since I thought they had a chance. So I’d give myself 1½/4 in the East. I did a bit better in the West, or at least it played out according to odds better. Again I picked the dark horse correctly so I’ll give myself a 3½/4 and 5/8 in the first round.

For round 2, I think Chicago will beat Vancouver and SJ will beat Detroit in the West. I watched a fair bit of the Canucks games and they didn’t seem that strong, nor is Luongo as good in net this year as in years past so I would favour the Blackhawks. I also saw San Jose a lot, and they played much better than the Avs did (although the score and series didn’t show it). I think they’ll have a harder time with Detroit, but should be able to overcome them.

The East is all messed up because teams aren’t playing like they were in the regular season. Both Boston and Flyers struggled leading up to the playoffs, but it’s difficult to ignore that Philadelphia is now missing two of its top-six forwards. Plus they get to face a hot goaltender, so I think Boston will win that series. I still like Pittsburgh, even if they have to play Halak. Canada beat Halak (eventually) so Sid the Kid should prevail.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: hockey, predictions