NHL Playoff Preview – Conference Semi-finals

With one series already started, the other three conference semi-finals will begin this weekend. The amazing Anaheim Ducks will look to play spoiler for a second consecutive series, after knocking off top-seeded San Jose. In the East, No.1 Boston goes up against a cagey Carolina club who won a game seven in New Jersey. Washington came back from 3-1 deficit to ruin the Rangers postseason plans and faces Pittsburgh who is trying to get back to Stanley Cup Finals.

(8)Anaheim vs (2) Detroit

The Anaheim Ducks present a ticklish road block for Detroit, whose path to the Finals has been cleared in part with San Jose dismissed. Though Anaheim doesn’t have as many talented performers from the team that won the Cup two years ago, they still have a solid core of performers, well acquainted with the type of mental toughness needed to play hockey in May and June. Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer are on the top of their game at present and the rest of the Ducks defensemen are likely the strongest group of those remaining. Goalie Jonas Hiller had Sharks players talking to themselves, with .957 save percentage and two shutouts.

Detroit has more depth and talent and can take stranglehold on this series by jumping on the Ducks. Teams off big upsets will often not be able to sustain momentum against new opponent. What makes the Red Wings so difficult is points come from everywhere. They had 11 different players register three or more points against Columbus. Detroit has no problem mixing it up with Anaheim, but takes far fewer penalties, which should give them edge throughout with potent power play.

Though Anaheim will be awfully physical with Detroit, they tend to take too many dumb penalties and the Red Wings do exceptional job screening goaltenders, ask Columbus net-minder Steve Mason. With too much talent and smarts, Detroit is 21-6 as playoff favorites and advance to West Finals.

Pick- Detroit (-320) in five

(1)Boston vs (6) Carolina

This time of year, rest is believed to be a good thing, taking a mental break and let tired bodies recover. However, how much rest is too much when you have nine days between games like Boston? What the Bruins have to watch for is Carolina carrying momentum into series after winning last two games to upset New Jersey and advance. Boston has a plethora of scorers, going four lines deep, with goal scorers. Goalie Tim Thomas is Vezina finalist and Zdeno Chara leads a sturdy group of defensemen. The Bruins are 31-12 on home ice and have been particularly effective late in the season, winning 10 of last 11.

Carolina is a treacherous opponent for Boston and likely anybody in the East. The Hurricanes have won 13 of last 18 to blow into the second round and have piping-hot goaltender in Cam Ward. He should have a great deal of confidence after staring down future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur and downing the Devils. Carolina has Eric Staal who is still a force and Erik Cole might be due to break out after going scoreless against New Jersey. The Hurricanes come into series 9-3 against offensive teams scoring three goals a game in the half of the season.

Two dynamics really standout in this series. How quickly does Boston find its legs against a real opponent, as an injured Montreal team proved to be nothing more than hard practices? If the Bruins lack focus from the get-go, Carolina could catch them off guard. The Hurricanes lost all four games to Boston this season and have dropped five in a row dating back to last year. Will they be able to shake the confidence of Bruins who are not battle-tested in playoff action like they are? Carolina will have no real fear heading to Bean-town having won 20 of last 28 games there.

Pick- Boston (-240) in seven

(2)Washington vs (4) Pittsburgh

The NHL bosses couldn’t have asked for a better set-up to build the drama of the Stanley Cup playoffs than this matchup. This will be the first of what could be several postseason meetings between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. What about the undercard, with Ovechkin facing off against regular season scoring champ Evgeni Malkin?

If that isn’t enough to bring the circus to town, what about the goaltender matchup? Rookie Simeon Varlamov is 21-years old and entered the playoffs in net in Game 2, which turned out to be a gutsy call by Washington coach Bruce Boudreau. Varlamov did his job, however the Penguins snipers are much better sharp-shooters than what the Rangers had. The Capitals were able to comeback against New York when Alexander Semin became a factor. For the series, he scored five times and totaled eight points. Washington starts this best of seven 37-16 as home favorites.

Pittsburgh has responded to coach Dan Bylsma, who lost the interim tag this week. Besides his collection of young, but veteran players, he has goalie Marc-Andre Fleury who is back to playing like he did at the end of last season. The Pens won’t be intimidated by setting, having won six of last seven as +150 or less money line road underdogs.

This series has everything imaginable and how the stars focus on their own team as opposed to the opponent will be critical. Washington won three of four this year; nonetheless the Penguins could start swiftly having emerged victorious five of six in Washington.

Pick- Pittsburgh (-105) in seven

NHL Playoff Preview – Western Conference

Being a higher seed has meant very little since the strike season in the West. In the 12 first-round series, only five of the teams seeded one-four have advanced to conference semi-finals, which included 2006, when not one team survived the opening round. While most would agree that is unlikely to happen, little doubt an upset or two and long series’ are expected to be the norm. All lines courtesy of Bookmaker.com.

(1) San Jose vs (8) Anaheim

It’s not like San Jose doesn’t know the drill, another successful regular season and this year they won the President’s Trophy for having the best record, great, super, whatever, how will the Sharks do in the Stanley Cup playoffs. San Jose has been as good as any team in NHL the last five seasons and the furthest point of advancement is one conference final, not close to good enough. For San Jose, they need to play like real sharks, be coldly efficient, spot the prey and go in for the kill. That is not the mentality of this team, which is why they brought in six players who all have Cup jewelry. San Jose has dynamic power play, ranked third and goalie Evgeni Nabokov is just the sixth backstop to post back to back 40+ win seasons, though is 30-27 in the postseason.

San Jose drew a brutal opening assignment as the top seed in Anaheim. This is the first All-Cali postseason matchup in four decades and the Ducks fly into the playoffs with 13-3 record if you throw after Game 82 after clinching. Anaheim isn’t the same team that won the Cup two years ago; however the roster is still dotted with many of the same stars like Chris Pronger, Francois Beauchemin, Teemu Selanne and the Niedermayer brothers. Many of the flock from these Ducks are wily vets and they won’t fold under pressure.

The Sharks were league best 32-5-4 at the HP Pavilion, but will face hated division rival Anaheim, who buzzed to 7-0-2 close on the road. San Jose won four of six meetings and the road team won last three conflicts. Joe Thornton’s team is 9-3 at home against teams with winning road record, but the Ducks have taken last four of five away from home. This should be a wonderfully played and excruciating series out west.

Pick- San Jose (-290) in seven

(2) Detroit vs (7) Columbus

For those that can’t stand all the success Detroit has enjoyed for years, the Red Wings drawing playoff newbie Columbus is a sickening feeling. Detroit won 50 or more games for the fourth consecutive campaign and has more talent and depth than a typical party at the Playboy Mansion. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are exceptional playmakers and nobody is more frustrating to play than Detroit as they can play “keep away” with the puck. Each year the goaltending is brought up, yet Chris Osgood knows how to elevate his game or Ty Conklin is capable. Thou the Wings closed the season an untidy 2-6, they still are Detroit.

Columbus players trusted coach Ken Hitchcock and he helped direct them to first ever playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets are unknown to even hockey fans, but captain Rick Nash is a keeper, having netted 40 goals and still only 24 and goalie Steve Mason is just 20 and bagged 33 wins with 2.25 goals against average. Mason and his line-mates are going to have to be on high alert, facing the challenge of the league’s best power play in Detroit.

Detroit won’t have an easy time trying to keep the Stanley Cup in Hockey-town, as they have been more inconsistent this season. The weaknesses they have probably won’t manifest themselves against Columbus, who has the worst power play at conversion rate of 12.7 percent. Detroit has won eight off 11 on home ice when interested.

Pick- Detroit (-500) in five

(3) Vancouver vs (6) St. Louis

Picture having to choose between swimsuit hotties Marisa Miller (cheap ploy) or Brooklyn Decker and that gives you an indication how simmering Vancouver and St. Louis have played. The Canucks record on Jan. 31 was 22-20-8 and they were about as close to contending for the Northwest Division as Terrell Owens was to being a Buffalo Bill. Behind the best goaltender in the NHL, Roberto Luongo, Vancouver parlayed his superior play (33-13-7 and nine shutouts) and a wise move by coach Alain Vigneault to 23-7-2 finish. He took Alexandre Burrows and worked him in with the Sedin twins, which placed Ryan Kesler with Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra. This gave the Canucks two effective scoring lines for the first time in eons.

St. Louis wasn’t exactly playing great hockey at the same time as Vancouver either, being eight games under .500, with youth showing and an inordinate amount of injuries. As the season wore on, the Blues got healthier and this youthful squad, whose top four of six scorers are under 26 years old, found a groove and finished 21-7-6 to earn sixth seed. With all the injuries, this team needed goalie who had courage and have him make “stand on his head” efforts and Chris Mason delivered. Almost three months ago to the day, Mason is 17-6-3, with five posted zeros in net.

Mason is playing as well as Luongo at the moment and the Blues have superior special teams, ranking third in penalty kills and eighth in man-advantage situations. St. Louis has a nice mix of veterans and did win once this year in Vancouver, with the teams splitting four contests. The Canucks have better players, yet their forwards have not been clutch players. With two Cinderella’s meeting, backing the one from Saint Louie.

Pick- St. Louis (+190) in six

(4) Chicago vs (5) Calgary

On Mar. 5, Calgary opened a long road trip with a pair of victories, slowing building lead in the Northwest Division. Since that time, the Flames have flamed-out with 7-11 record and fell all the way to fifth seed. Calgary was fired up to initiate trade for center Olli Jokinen from Phoenix and he and captain Jarome Iginla immediately clicked. Since all the early joy, Jokinen has gone from desert hot to Canada cold, with no goals in 13 contests. Remember when Miikka Kiprusoff was the best goalie you never heard of? Well, he’s slipped considerably the last two seasons to ordinary and the Calgary front office has done little to give Kiprusoff some rest that might restore him.

It’s good for hockey to have Original Six teams in the playoffs and Chicago returns for the first time since 2002, making it five total this season. After years of floundering, the notoriously cheap Blackhawks put money into scouting and have drafted wisely with a nice array of young talent. Chicago has youngsters like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, who can strike fear into defenses and GM Dale Tallon brought in gritty vets like Sami Pahlsson, to add experience having championship ring from Anaheim. The Hawks blue-liners are as fast and skilled as any of the teams in the playoffs.

Chicago having the home ice edge has to play relaxed at the United Center, since Blackhawks’ fans will be in full throat. The Hawks are 13-4 against offensive teams averaging 29.5+ shots on goal per game in the second half of the season and crushed Calgary in all four games, outscoring them 19-7. Calgary has lost in the first round each time since making Cup Finals in 2004. They have lost nine of last 11 as visitors and look as fragile as fifth-grader having to make first speech in class.

Pick- Chicago (-150) in seven