lightning vs islanders
tampa’s been having a really good year and i don’t think it’s all fluke. they defeated some strong teams down the stretch, so unless dipietro plays like theodore did against boston two years ago, the lightning are going to take it in 5.

bruins vs canadians

just a couple years ago, it seemed like theodore was the untested goalie going into the playoffs, now boston’s hoping to ride raycroft to the cup.from the goalie out, boston is pretty solid, altho if thornton stays out for awhile they may be in trouble. montreal needs to get some offense out of kovalev and more playoff heroics from theodore. i’ll give this to bruins in 6.

flyers vs devils
new jersey has the best goalie in the playoffs with brodeur and they’re playing the team with the most goalie problems in the playoffs. so it’ll come down to whether philly can shake off its goal scoring problems that have plagued them in the playoffs and if their returning cast of injuried all stars provide enough firepower to get them past an aging scott stevens and the devils’ defence? i think philly’s got what it takes, but it’ll take them 7 games to do it.

leafs vs sens
toronto’s season finished with 4 straight wins and they have home ice advantage in the first round. from a skill point of view, they can go head to head against any team in the league, but there are many lingering concerns about the health of key players (belfour’s back, nolan gone for the season?) and whether a team laden with veterans has enough stamina to go all the way. ottawa, while having a good team will fall short in game 7.

red wings vs predators
detroit has a great home record, and are getting key players back from injuries (joseph, hatcher) so they should have an easy time over the young and inexperienced nashville. i say detroit in 4.

sharks vs blues
after trading nolan to toronto and losing selanne to colorado, everyone thought that san jose would be in rebuild mode. they ended up winning their conference! st louis have had a difficult season and barely made the playoffs on the last weekend of regular season play. i’d have to give the series in 6 to san jose as they were almost my dark horse pick.

canucks vs flames
if bertuzzi wasn’t suspended, i’d give vancouver more of a chance; but now they’re missing a key player and will be hard pressed to make a long run. calgary’s the team that no one wants play. if kipursoff goes save crazy, calgary will pull this one off, i’ll give it to them in 6.

avalanche vs stars

if colorado had a better start to the season, they would probably have the best record in the league. so it’s with some bad luck that the stars, who started off the season not doing so well but picked it up as things went a long, have to play the ‘lanche in the first round. i say colorado in 6.

dark horse: tampa bay, they have one of the best records in the league but when it comes to the playoffs, they’re unexperienced compared to the conventional powers in the east and west.

stanley cup: colorado vs philadelphia. i think this is philly’s year, they’ll take it in 7.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: hockey