My 2RD predictions

My playoff predictions for the 2RD round

Recap, first round 

My Predictions 

Toronto in 7

Florida in 5

New York R in 6

Carolina in 6

Colorado in 5

Minnesota in 7

Dallas in 7

Los Angeles in 6

What actually happened 

Tampa Bay in 7

Florida in 6

New York R in 7

Carolina in 7

Colorado in 4

St.Louis in 6

Calgary in 7

Edmonton in 7

I went 4 for 8 in predicting teams

I went 2 for 8 in predicting series length

West

Pacific 

1P Calgary vs Edmonton 2P

This is the 6th all time matchup between Calgary and Edmonton and Edmonton has won four of the previous five series including the most recent battle of Alberta which was over 30 years ago where the Oilers won a 7 game series over the Flames in 1991.

Regular season record vs each other:

Calgary 2-2-0 17-16+1

Edmonton 2-2-0 16-17-1

My X-Factors for each team for the series: Connor McDavid vs Johnny Gaudreau. Both of these players are leading their respective teams in points in the playoffs and are arguably their respective teams best players and are going to need to produce if they are going to have a shot at winning. Gaudreau started off shaky only having 1 point in the first 2 games but now has a five game point streak and had the game 7 OT winner over Dallas, and if he can play well and lead his team in scoring then the Flames have a shot at winning this division, but if he dries up like past series and the Flames aren’t getting much production from their top line then this could be a very short series. Same thing goes for McDavid and the Oilers as he had a multipoint game in 6 of the 7 games in the last series and gave them a chance to win every night and will keep on giving them chances if he continues to produce but if he is shut down and they have to rely on depth scoring then Edmonton’s chances are really hurt, but in these playoffs it is always said you need your best players to play the best and I think the one who produces the most points in this series will get their team to the Confrence final.

Who has the advantage in my opinion: 

Offensively: Edmonton. This is a lot closer then either team had in their first round series but I think that not only do Edmonton have the best 2 forwards in this series but they also have a lot more depth that can score in tight games then their Albertan rivals so with that I give the edge to the Oilers.

Defensively: Calgary. Both teams have really good defensemen and play a really good defensive game but I think the Flames have a bit of a better D-Corp given the fact that I think their veterans played a lot better in round one and showed just how good they can win defensive games so I am going to give Calgary the leg up on this one. 

Goaltending: Calgary. The Flames have a great net minder in Markstrom and after that series against Dallas he has some of the best stats out of any playoff goalie and I would say he is a way better goalie then Smith even though Smith has a good series against LA so I believe the net is a advantage for Calgary.

Matchup I am most intrigued by: the goalie battle. Calgary as I mentioned up there probably have the better goalie who I would want in my net in tight games in Markstrom. But I think both goalies have really high upsides as Smith (apart from a shaky game 1 and 5) played really well in the series against LA and both of these goalies are top 5 in SV% and top 6 in GAA so with some amazing offenses ahead of each goalie, I am really keen on seeing which goalie can shutdown the other teams offense better.

 My Prediction is CAL in 7 games.

Reasons: both teams are coming off of recent 7 games series and are going right back into the fire with a big battle of Alberta to go to the Confrence final but there are a couple reasons I chose to go with Calgary. First I feel that the goaltending as much as many people don’t think is a factor in this series, will be in my opinion. And if it ends up like last series for Calgary were it is a goalie battle I feel that Markstrom after the series he just had will be stellar in net and will make quite a few saves in this series and I think Smith just won’t be able to keep up. Secondly is that after the defensive battle the Flames just had against Dallas I feel that they would be the unit to shutdown the opposing teams forward group a lot more then Edmonton because even though both D-Corps are really good, I think that Edmonton can score more with their defence but when it comes to defending I am not betting against Calgary. And finally I suspect this will be a gruelling seven game series and with the fact that this series will be a long one I feel that the Flames top line over a seven game series would actually outscore McDavid’s line in a series and even though McDavid has put up a ton of points I feel that the Lindholm line will punch the Flames to a 7 games series victory.

                

Central 

1C Colorado vs St.Louis 3C

This will be the third all time meeting between the Avalanche and the Blues and Colorado has won the previous 2 meetings, including a sweep in the most recent series last year. 

Regular season record bs each other:

Colorado 2-1-0 12-11+1 

St.Louis  1-2-0 11-12-1

My X-Factors for each team for the series: David Perron vs Nazem Kadri. These two veteran forwards are going to need to produce in almost every game if their respective teams want a chance to win. For Kadri he didn’t have much points in the first round only getting 3 but he will need to be sharp in round two. The Blues won their first round by shutting down Minnesota potent second line that included Fiala and held him to 0 points, so given that Kadri is their best forward not on the top line he will need to be productive and help his teammates be productive so that they take off the pressure on the Mackinnon line. As for Perron, he leads the Blues in points with 9 and was brilliant in the first round vs Minnesota, but they even more amazing stat was that the Blues were 3-0 in games he had a point so I’d he can get going really early in the series and produces fast and often, I would definitely give the Blues a chance in the series.

Who has the advantage in my opinion:

Offensively: St.Louis. The Blues I believe just have a bit more depth then the Avalanche, because just like the last series for St.Louis you have guys like Schenn, Kyrou and Barbashev playing on the 3rd line and with that sort of depth it is hard to bet against them.

Defensively: Colorado. Now this is also close, but a few factors that went into this one is first that the Avalanche have Makar who is not only a great defender but has the most playoff points by any defensemen and has only played four games, and another factor is that the Blues may not have a fully healthy defence for this series and with these I just feel that the Avalanche have the edge on defence.

Goaltending: Colorado. The Avalanche I would give the slight edge to in net due to the fact that I would take Kuemper over Binnington any day of the week and even though Binnington won all three of his starts in the previous series I just feel if it comes down to a goalie battle that Kuemper would outplay Binnington.

Matchup I am most intrigued by: Blues defence against Avalanche depth scoring: these two factors played big roles in each teams respective wins, for Colorado even though they didn’t really need the depth scoring with how good Makar played, the depth scoring did help them beat up on Nashville and will be very important in this series, and for St.Louis they shutdown basically all depth scorers for Minnesota in their series so even though Kaprizov had a monster series the Wild didn’t have enough to get past St.Louis so I am really wondering which side will win this battle.

 My Prediction is COL in 6 games.

Reasons: these two teams are both really good and while Colorado ran right through Nashville, St.Louis won 3 straight after falling behind 2-1 to Minnesota to win the series but their are a couple reasons I picked Colorado. One is that the Avalanche are coming off a long break and I know that in years past a long break could spell disaster for a team, I do believe that the 8 day layoff for the Avalanche will do tons better then the Blues only 4 day layoff. Secondly is the Avalanches abilities to score from the Blueline, especially Norris trophy finalist Cale Makar. Makar currently has 10 points which is only 5 points less then the entire Blues D-Corp had in their first round series and St.Louis played 2 more games then the Avalanche so with just Makar the Avs defence is better and when you incorporate players like Toews and Manson this Avs defence will be a high scoring D-Corp. And finally the fact that the Avalanche top end talent is a lot better then the Wild’s top talent on offence and given that the Blues gave up 17 points to the Kaprizov line, even though the Blues did a fantastic job shutting down the Wild depth, the Avalanche are a much better team then the Wild and not only is Mackinnon’s line more productive then Kaprizov’s line but their depth is also better and will give St.Louis more problems and with all of these reasons I have the Avalanche winning in 6.

                       

East

Atlantic 

1A Florida vs Tampa Bay 3A

This is the Second ever playoff matchup between the Panthers and Lightning and 2nd in consecutive seasons as the Lightning won their first and only playoff series against each other in 6 games last year.

Regular season record vs each other:

Florida 2-1-1 19-15+4

Tampa Bay 2-2-0 15-19-4

My X-Factors for each team for the series: Carter Verhaeghe vs Andrei Vasilevskiy. Both of these players were key to their team winning their respectivefirst round series and will have to continue to play amazing hockey to help their team advance. For Verhaeghe he was basically the hero of the first round has he has 12 points and 6 goals in the first round including 2 OT winners and 3 games winners, and his production crucially helped the Panthers beat the Caps and if he can continue to play like this against his former team then I have no doubt the Panthers will have a shot to win. Meanwhile Vasilevskiy started off shaky but really recovered and while his 3.04 GAA and .897 SV% are not great numbers, his play during the last few games against the Maple Leafs not only were good, but also helped the Lightning win that series and if he can bring the same level of play that he had in the final 3 games of their first round series then the Bolts are going to have a legit shot to get back to the Confrence final.

Who has the advantage in my opinion:

Offensively: Florida. Just like in their series with Washington I don’t think it is really a contest. It is a lot closer then with Washington but the depth on that team and the fact that they can just buy new guys in and do a bit of line shuffling gets injured and hole the Bolts would have a lot more trouble if there was a injured player, so due to this fact I believe that the Panthers offense is better and more pote et then the Bolts.

Defensively: Lightning. These defences are a lot closer then most people probably think but I am going to give the Bolts the edge just because their top three defensemen are better then the Panthers top 3 and the Lightning’s depth at defence has me believing they have the better all round D-Corp.

Goaltending: Tampa Bay. Both goalies have been playing out of their minds this year and were both essentially to their respective teams victory but I think it would still be the wrong move to bet against Vasilevskiy and cause I would rank Vasilevskiy ahead of Bobrovsky I have the goaltending in favour of the Bolts but only slightly.

Matchup I am most intrigued by: Panthers offense vs Bolts defence. Florida had their offense fizzle to start their first round series but found it later into the series (especially Verhaeghe) and now look a lot better and I would like to see how they do against the Bolts defence and goaltending as the Lightning had the difficult task to halt the Maple Leafs top end offense when it mattered most and they did so now I would love to see how the Panthers potent offense will fait in this series against Hedman, Vasilevskiy and the Bolts D-Corp. 

 My Prediction is TB in 7 games.

Reason: the Bolts and Panthers both had really good tight first round series with the Bolts winning in 7 over Toronto and the Panthers beating the Caps in 6 games but the tor are a few reason I feel Tampa gets out of this series. First I feel that the Panthers star forwards will underperform and put up less points then the Lightning. The Panthers top forwards of Barkov and Huberdeau were held to 9 points in the first round, 3 less then Stamkos and Kucherov in Tampa, but betond that besides Verhaeghe and Giroux none of the Panthers were able to put much offense up in the first round and while they did have a few lucky breaks, if they can hardly score on Florida I can’t see them score much on Tampa. Secondly I think that as much problems as Vasilevskiy had in the first round he will outplay the Panthers goalie in Bobrovsky. Vasilevskiy has done spectacular in the playoffs especially after a loss and even though his numbers aren’t pretty he will end up being the better goalie. And finally i think the experienced the Bolts given they won the last two Stanley Cups and that no team has won the cup after winning the president trophy in 8 years are all factors I see leading to the Lightnings narrow 7 games series victory over the Panthers.

Metro

1M Carolina VS New York R  2M

This will be the 2nd all time meeting between the two teams and the Hurricanes won the only other series they played in the qualifying round of the 2020 bubble. 

Regular season record vs each other: 

Carolina 3-1-0 14-10+4

New York R 1-3-0 10-14-4

My X-Factor for each team for the series: Chris Kreider vs Tony DeAngelo. Both these guys will need to continue to bring the offensive touch to the second round for their respective teams. For Kreider it took him and his line with Zibanejad a little while to get going especially in the first 5 games but when it mattered most they broke out and Kreider had 3 goals in the final two games, including the game winner in Game 6 and if the top line and especially Kreider can play well and produce then they have a shot to win this series, and for Carolina defensemen Tony DeAngelo is going to play the team who didn’t resign him last year after a skirmish with another Rangers player and not only is he playing his former team but also is tied for the lead in points for Carolina and I feel that if he can still produce at a high level then Carolina would have a better chance to win this series, but whatever happens I feel these two are going to be key to series victories.

Who has the advantage in my opinion: 

Offensively: New York R. The Rangers have a much deeper group in my opinion then the Canes do offensively and even though I think the Canes have a bit better quality top 6 and maybe even top 9, I think that as a group I would have the Rangers ranked higher then the Canes on offense.

Defensively: Carolina. The D-Corps are also pretty close between these two teams and both have pretty great depth at the position, but I would say the Hurricanes have a better ability to produce points from the backend then NYR because even though the Rangers have Fox who can produce very well, I think that the Canes as a group have better offensive talent then the Rangers and that is why I give Carolina the edge.

Goaltending: New York R. The Rangers I think have the better goalie in this series regardless if Andersen is able to come back. Shesterkin had a shaky start but definitely rebounded to help the Rangers win the series and even though Raanta played well in round one and Andersen would be a major upgrade on Raanta I just feel that if it is a tight game I would trust Shesterkin more and that is why I gave NYR the edge.

Matchup I am most intrigued by: which team can have a more productive top line. The Rangers and Canes both had their top lines not be very productive in round one and while their depth scoring and defensive scoring did the trick I think both will need to be on top of their game to have a shot to win because Carolina’s top line only put up 14 points, and while the Rangers top line did put up 23 points, 10 of those came in the final two games so I would like to see which side can have a more productive series.

 My Prediction is CAR in 6 games.

Reasons: the Hurricanes and Rangers are both coming off of long 7 games series win and while I feel that both teams are good and deserve to go to the Confrence final but I think there are a couple of reasons to pick Carolina here. First I think that the Canes are going to get a big boost from their defence as the Canes have been able to get some scoring help from their defence when their offense has dried up at times this year and I think that the defence will be playing a really big part for the Canes. Secondly I think that while Raanta will definitely not outplay Shesterkin, he will be a big factor in a Canes won like in the first round series. Raanta is not a starter but has shown he can be a good backup goalie and when called upon in the playoffs he has not disappointed and I think that in a tight game or two he can play well enough that the Canes can win. And finally I think that the Hurricanes will shutdown the Rangers top line enough so that they can out score the Rangers. Carolina hasn’t got too much production from their top players yet and I think they could break out against NYR but we also saw how if the top line of NYR is shutdown then their scoring abilities decrease drastically so while the Rangers have a deep roster, Carolina will shut it down and these are all reasons for me picking the Canes in 6 games.