On Thursday, April 30, teams resume their quest for Lord Stanley’s Mug and begin their second round of the 2009 NHL Playoffs. All of the series are best-of-seven. The first two games are played at higher ranked team's home, then two at the lower ranked team's ice. After that, they alternate venues. Using my hard-gained and great NHL knowledge, the following are my predictions for the second round of the NHL playoffs.
For the first round of the 2009 NHL playoffs I was 7/8 which gives me an amazing 87.5% accuracy. However, if you factor in my predictions of game numbers, I didn’t do nearly as well.
Eastern Conference
1 Boston Bruins v. 6 Carolina Hurricanes
This is probably going to be one of the quickest finished series in the second round. The Hurricanes struggled against the Rangers during all of their games, and barely came back in Game 7 to win it Tuesday night. They are tired, weak, and probably feeling a bit dejected. After sweeping through Montreal in the first round, Boston has had time to rest and relax. This has allowed them not only to get the much needed boost of energy, but it also let them study Carolina fully. I believe that this knowledge and energy will be there for Boston, and that Carolina will not show up for even one game.
Boston in four
2 Washington Capitals v. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins
This is sure to be an exciting series as we will see three of the best and brightest NHL scorers facing each other. The Penguins have two, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, which should give them an edge over Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals. That said, however, the goal tending of both teams has been superb throughout the first round, so I expect this to be a long and drawn out series. Expect the games to be home ice winners, and so the Caps get the edge in the fabled seventh game.
Washington in seven
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"and almost lost to a team far below their caliber."
But they were just the best team in the league a few weeks ago. Surely there's no shame in the Wings not completely dominating them four straight :)
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
And today you could say the Sabres are the best team in the league right now. Haven't lost a game in a few weeks.
3 - Jordan Richardson
Carolina didn't play the Rangers in the first round, they played the Devils.
4 - RJ
Red Wings in 6.
5 - Robert M. Barga
El Bicho
I still believe that the bluejackets were the hottest team at that point. Vancouver and St Louis turned it up and mason fell, which dropped CBJ down quite a bit
Also, CBJ played in the playoffs like it was the regular season, hence below calibur
6 - Robert M. Barga
Matt, if you were not my editor i would hate you. The Sabres are out, but they still could, arguably, never be the best team. St. Louis, on the other hand, could be argued for
7 - Robert M. Barga
Jordan
did i say that they did? If i did (couldn't find it) i am sorry
8 - RJ
Wings win! Wings win! Wings win!
9 - Dr Dreadful
Try saying that ten times fast...
10 - Jordan Richardson
Bah, didn't get back to this before now. Sorry:
The Hurricanes struggled against the Rangers during all of their games, and barely came back in Game 7 to win it Tuesday night.
There it is, Robert. Third-ish paragraph on the first page.
Anywho, looks like you went one for four in the predictions. This was a hard round to pick and there were some upsets. You aren't the only one to completely underestimate the Canes, trust me.
And wow, three out of the four series' going to seven games! That's awesome stuff. Incidentally, on my own blog I went one for four as well. The only prediction I got right was the Canes upset.
:)
11 - Robert M. Barga
i feel so stupid, after dominating in the first round i am nailed in the second
well, third perios time, hopefully that is up tonight