I have to ask...who among you can actually say they picked Montreal to beat Washington? That was one of the biggest surprises in hockey history! Habs fans across Canada must be thinking “In Halak We Trust!” While the West features 4 teams seeded 5th or higher, the East surprisingly has only 1 team that finished in the top 4 seeds. I cannot wait to see which underdog continues to pull through the Eastern conference!
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens:
Montreal was able to beat the Caps, but the Pens bring a team that has had success in the playoffs and are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Pittsburgh boasts a strong offence, including Olympic hero Sidney Crosby, 2009 Conn Smythe winner Evgeni Malkin, and Selke finalist Jordan Staal. They also have a strong set of defensemen, and a much better goaltender than Washington. For Pittsburgh to continue to have success they will have to find a way to score on Halak, and get shots beyond shot blocking expert, Hal Gill.
For Montreal to win they will have to heavily rely on Halak to be amazing once again. They will also need for Cammalleri to continue to score goals like he did in the 1st round. Another weakness for Pittsburgh was their penalty killing, which was 15th among the playoff teams in the 1st round at a paltry 68.2%. Therefore, if the Habs can continue to have success against the penalty killing unit this may be a longer series than we might have though.
Nonetheless, I think that the Cinderella story ends here. Pittsburgh is just too seasoned of a team to make mistakes like the Caps did.
Come check out FanXchange.com for tickets to what promises to be a memorable series!
Prediction: Pittsburgh in 6
#6 Boston Bruins vs. #7 Philadelphia Flyers
Both these teams failed to live up to pre-season expectations during the regular season. Much of it was because of injuries to key players. However, they now have a chance to make up for their regular seasons’ by moving on to the Eastern conference final with a win in this series.
Boston is a team that has surprised many because of Tuuka Rask’s amazing play, and the fact that he supplanted previous Vezina winner, Tim Thomas in Boston’s net. Boston also was able to get through the first round with limited scoring power, as Marc Savard was out for much of the series. We will have to see if he can bounce back in this series and provide a scoring touch.
Philadelphia also surprisingly got some amazing goaltending in the 1st round from Brian Boucher. He led the 1st round in GAA among all goaltenders. This surprised many, as going into the playoffs most thought goaltending was the Flyers’ largest weakness. In order for the Flyers to win this series Mike Richards will need to continue his playoff success along with Chris Pronger, as Gagne and Jeff Carter are nursing injuries. They also need to hope that Boucher can be as good as he was in the New Jersey series.
I really think that this will be an evenly matched series for the most part. If Boston can score I think they will get through the Flyers easily, however that is a big if!
Prediction: Boston in 7
Have a GREAT weekend Fans!
Team FanX
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