Final West Standings and West Playoff preview and Prediction

 Final WEST Standings 

1st Colorado Avalanche      0  39-13-4  82  35  39      197-133+64

2nd Vegas Golden Knights 0  40-14-2  82  30  39      191-124+67

3rd Minnesota Wild             0  35-16-5  75  27  34    181-160+21

4th St.Louis Blues                0 27-20-9  63  19  25     169-170-1

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5th Arizona Coyotes           0  24-26-6   54  19  21      153-176-23

6th Los Angeles Kings     0  21-28-7   49  19  20      143-170-27

7th San Jose Sharks           0  21-28-7   49  15  16    151-199-48

8th Anaheim Ducks          0  17-30-9   43   11  15      126-179-53

2ND Vegas  vs  Minnesota 3RD

This is the first playoff matchup between the two teams. Here is the Regular season record vs each other, Vegas 3-4-1, Minnesota 5-1-2. What intrigues me most in this matchup would be to see which team can score more. Vegas has a elite top 9 as long as Pacioretty is healthy and Minnesota has improved offensively thanks to the addition of Kirill Kaprizov and Minnesota can do just as good offensively as Vegas as shown in the regular season but I would like to see who can get more pucks by the goalie in the playoffs.

Vegas has advantage offensively 

Vegas has advantage defensively 

Vegas has advantage on goaltending

My Projected lineups for Game 1

Vegas

         A.Tuch-C.Stephenson-M.Stone

J.Marchessault-W.Karlsson-R.Smith

         M.Janmark-N.Roy-K.Kolesar

           W.Carrier-T.Nosek-R.Reaves

               B.Mcnabb-A.Pietrangelo

             S.Theodore-D.Coghlan

                 N.Hague-Z.Whitecloud

                          M.Fleury

                          R.Lehner 

                            Spares 

C.Glass-D.Sikura-N.Holden-O.Dansk

Minnesota 

K.Kaprizov-R.Hartman-M.Zuccarello

     K.Fiala-J.Eriksson Ek-J.Greenway 

     Z.Parise-N.Bonino-M.Johansson

    M.Foligno-N.Sturm-N.Bjugstad

                 R.Suter-J.Spurgeon

                J.Brodin-M.Dumba

                C.Soucy-I.Cole

                       C.Talbot

                    K.Kahkonen

V.Rask-K.Rau-B.Hunt-A.Hammond

My prediction Vegas in 7

Reason: I think these two teams are really close in terms of having a complete team and I think it is going the distance. Vegas probably has the more complete unit when healthy. They had the best Goals against per game and the third Goals for per game. Vegas needs a healthy Pacioretty and Martinez if they are to win the series as Martinez was arguably their best D-Men and Pacioretty is one of the top forwards in Vegas. Minnesota’s top 4 defensively should give Vegas problems and Kaprizov leads a improved Wild offense but the difference is in net Cam Talbot is a good goaltender and should start all the games but Vegas having to NO 1 goals that can both play in the Playoffs is why I think Vegas will win.

1st Colorado  vs  St.Louis 4th

This is the second playoff series between the two teams and the first time in 2001 went to the Colorado. Each teams record vs the other, Colorado 5-3-0, St.Louis 3-5-0. I would like to see which goalie can bounce back from last years playoffs. Jordan Binnington went into the 1st round as the starter last year and finished the series on the bench watching Allen play. For Grubauer he was spectacular for Colorado in round 1 last year but was injured in game 1 of the second round vs Dallas and didn’t return. Whichever goalie can play better will give their team the advantage.

Colorado has advantage offensively 

Colorado has advantage defensively 

St.Louis has advantage on goaltending

My Projected lineups for Game 1

Colorado 

G.Landeskog-N.Mackinnon-M.Rantanen

              B.Saad-N.Kadri-A.Burakovsky

C.Soderberg-J.T Compher-J.Donskoi

  P.Bellemare-A.Newhook-V.Nicushkin

                  D.Toews-C.Makar

                   S.Girad-C.Timmins

               P.Nemeth-R.Graves

                       P.Grubauer

                      J.Johansson

                          Spares

T.Jost-K.Sherwood-J.Macdonald-H.Miska

St.Louis

  Z.Sanford-R.O’Reilly-D.Perron

J.Schwartz-B.SchennJ.Kyrou

M.Hoffman-R.Thomas-T.Bozak

 K.Clifford-I.Barbashev-K.Kostin

                  T.Krug-C.Parayko

        M.Scandella-J.Faulk

             J.Walman-R.Bortuzzo

                    J.Binnington

                        V.Husso

                        Spares

S.Blais-M.Maceachern-N.Mikkola-J.Hofer 

My prediction is Colorado in 5 

Reason: Colorado is just to good for St.Louis. St.Loyis is a good team with Perron and O’Reilly along with good youngsters Kyrou and Thomas and when healthy their Defense is one of the best and they did win the cup two years ago but they may be banged up to start the series and no one is dethroning Colorado at least in this round. Colorado’s offense is one of the best in the league they have one of the youngest and best D-Cores and Grubauer when healthy can keep the puck out of his net. St.Louis will find a way to win one game but this is Colorado’s series to lose.