Final Central standings
1st Carolina Hurricanes 0 36-12-8 80 27 32 179-136+43
2nd Florida Panthers 0 37-14-5 79 26 36 189-153+36
3rd Tampa Bay Lightning 0 36-17-3 75 29 35 181-147+34
4th Nashville Predators 0 31-23-2 64 21 26 156-154+2
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5th Dallas Stars 0 23-19-14 60 17 21 158-154+4
6th Chicago Blackhawks 0 24-25-7 55 15 22 161-186-25
7th Detroit Red Wings 0 19-27-10 48 16 17 127-171-44
8th Columbus Blue Jackets 0 18-26-12 48 12 15 137-187-50
Playoff prediction and Analysis
2 Florida vs Tampa Bay 3
First playoff series between the two teams. Regular season record for each team, Florida 5-2-1, Tampa Bay 3-5-0. With Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos back for Tampa the most intriguing matchup for me would be to see if the new look Panthers offense can get past Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Defense. Thanks to players who signed in the offseason like Verhaeghe, Duclair, Wennberg, and Sam Bennett who they acquired at the trade deadline Florida has a offense that can contend with Tampa, but the Lightning have one of the best goalies in Andrei Vasilevskiy and a D core that has Hedman, Sergachev, and newly acquired David Savard giving Tampa one of the best Defences in the league.
Florida has Advantage offensively
Tampa has Advantage defensively
Tampa has Advantage on goaltending
My Projected lineups for Game 1
Florida
C.Verhaeghe-A.Barkov-A.Duclair
J.Huberdeau-A.Wennberg-S.Bennett
F.Vatrano-N.Acciari-P.Hornqvist
N.Gusev-J.Lammikko-O.Tippett
M.Weegar-B.Montour
K.Yandle-R.Gudas
G.Forsling-M.Nuttivaara
C.Driedger
S.Bobrovsky
Spares
L.Wallmark-R.Lomberg-A.Stralman-S.Knight
Tampa Bay
O.Palat-B.Point-N.Kucherov
A.Killorn-S.Stamkos-B.Coleman
Y.Gourde-A.Cirelli-T.Johnson
P.Maroon-R.Colton-M.Joseph
V.Hedman-D.Savard
M.Segachev-E.Cernak
R.McDonagh-J.Rutta
A.Vasilevsky
C.McElinney
Spares
G.Smith-A.Barre-Boulet-L.Schenn-C.Gibson
My Prediction Florida in 7 games
Reason: I think a lot of people have the defending champion Lightning, but they are a couple of reasons why I think the Florida panthers are going to beat the bolts. First the first three games are crucial to whoever wants to win the series I think Florida comes out hot scoring a lot of goals from players like Verhaeghe and Bennett while Stamkos and Kucherov will be a little rusty after not playing for a while in Kucherov’s case the whole season that will lead to a 2-1 series advantage for Florida. But I think Tampa will adjust as the series goes on Stamkos and Kucherov well find their feet and Vasilevskiy will get back on track and they’ll win two of the next three games to even the series at three. Then in a crucial game seven they will each be really even matched but each team won 20 games on home ice so I told myself whoever wins those last two regular season games and get’s home ice advantage will win the series and Florida gets a gold in the third period to break the tie and advance to the next round.
1 Carolina vs Nashville 4
First Playoff series between the two teams. Regular season record for each team vs the other, Carolina 6-2-0, Nashville 2-5-1. Nashville had to fight their way back from a awful start but the real intriguing battle will be between Nashville’s Defense and Carolina’s offense. Aho, Teravainen and Svechnikov are a force bur add the good play from vetran centers Trocheck and Staal and youngster Necas and they have a pretty good offense. Nashville still has a great top 4 and Saros grew into the starting position this year but will they be good enough to halt Carolina’s offense.
Carolina has Advantage offensively
Carolina has Advantage defensively
Nashville has Advantage in goaltending
My Projected lineups for Game 1
Carolina
A.Svechnikov-S.Aho-T.Teravainen
N.Niederrieter-V.Trocheck-M.Necas
W.Foegele-J.Staal-J.Fast
B.McGinn-C.Paquette-J.Martinook
J.Slavin-D.Hamilton
J.Bean-B.Pesce
B.Skjei-J.Hakannpa
P.Mrazek
A.Nedeljkovic
Spares
M.Geekie-S.Lorentz-J.Gardiner-J.Reimer
Nashville
F.Forsberg-M.Duchene-C.Jarnkrok
E.Tolvanen-R.Johansen-M.Granlund
R.Grimaldi-E.Haula-L.Kunin
N.Cousins-B.Richardson-C.Sissons
R.Josi-R.Ellis
M.Ekholm-D.Fabbro
E.Gudbranson-A.Carrier
J.Saros
P.Rinne
Spares
Y.Trenin-T.Jeannot-M.Benning-K.Kaskisuo
My Prediction Carolina in 5 games
Reason: I think a lot of people will agree with me when I pick Carolina I thought they would wind up winning the division before the season started and they really need to win a round this year Nashville started out awfully and worked their way back into a playoff spot and I think Nashville is a really good team in a really bad matchup, in my eyes this will be Carolinas win in five games. Saros’s goaltending and that great Nashville D will be able to win one game for the Nashville predators but I think Caroline’s high scoring offence the rock solid defence and the ability to use any one of their three goaltenders Will win them the series.
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