The first round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference is finally over, after the Minnesota Wild defeated St. Louis at home in game six to finish the final series left this weekend. After this writer correctly predicted all four series in the West for the first round, including predicting the number of games it would take Chicago to beat Nashville correctly, this writer will try to have as much luck in round two, and will predict both series for the upcoming round again.
Series One: Anaheim Ducks - Calgary Flames:
Anaheim is fresh off a sweep of the Winnipeg Jets, a series that this writer predicted would last five games in the first round. The Flames are coming off a six game upset over the St. Louis Blues, in a series this writer predicted would last seven games. Anaheim is the one seed in the West, giving them home ice advantage for this series, however that may have little impact as both teams won two games on the road in the first round. Anaheim showed that they could win in a very enthusiastic atmosphere in Winnipeg, while Calgary had a short drive to visit their nearby rival Vancouver, also in a hostile environment. These two division rivals will square off to determine who will make the conference finals for the first time in recent memory, as the L.A. Kings have been preventing these two teams from getting far into the playoffs in recent years. Calgary is lead by Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Jiri Hudler on offense, while they have T.J Brodie, Dennis Wideman, and Kris Russell to lead on defense. Their goaltender for the series is an unknown at this point, as Jonas Hiller or Karri Ramo could start for the Flames. This could be a problem, as neither goaltender has gotten settled in during the playoffs so far, however both goaltenders could improve in the next round. Anaheim is led by Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Ryan Kesler on offense, and Jakub Silfverberg also had a good series - Winnipeg on offense as well. The Ducks also have a decent defense and good goaltender play as well. One note, is that the Flames are actually stastically higher in every advanced and regular category except for Penalty Kill, scoring more goals per game, giving up less goals per game, and have a better power play unit as well. The season series was 3-1-1 in favor of Anaheim, however the most recent meeting Calgary destroyed the Ducks winning 6-3 on March 11th behind two goals each from Johnny Gaudreau and Matt Stajan.
Robbins's prediction: While this looks to be a fantastic series that should have an exhilarating combination of goals and hits in every game, Calgary seems to have quite more advantages going in. The Ducks may be coming off a long rest quite rusty, while the Flames are coming off a huge 7-4 win on Saturday. The Flames have also proven they can win on the road in the playoffs, and most importantly they are a much harder matchup for the Ducks than Winnipeg was. This writer believes that Calgary will pull off the upset in seven games, with at least five goals from Johnny Gaudreau.
Series Two: Chicago Blackhawks - Minnesota Wild:
Chicago is facing off against the Wild after a tough six game series in which this writer accurately predicted would be a six game series win for the Blackhawks in the first round over Nashville, a series whre they changed goaltenders multiple times, won two games in double and triple overtime, and struggled defensively mightily on the road against a Nashville team who was slightly overrated going in, but gave Chicago a big wake up call going into the second round. Minnesota is also coming off a six game series win over the heavily favored St. Louis Blues, that this writer predicted would last seven. Minnesota had one of the less physical series of the first round, which may help give them an advantage over Chicago who has to be somewhat worn out after a demanding series against the Predators. Minnesota had quite the opposite series as Chicago, as instead of winning by scoring a lot of goals, they won by not allowing many goals to be scored. Devan Dubnyk, along with forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter are the main reasons Minnesota pulled off the upset over St. Louis. Had it not been for a six goal series by Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, the series could have been over earlier than seven games, and possibly could have ended in a sweep. Like the other series, while the Blackhawks do have home ice, Minnesota also showed they could win on the road in St. Louis in the playoffs. Winning in Chicago is a different story, but Minnesota has enough talent to look for another upset.
Robbins's Prediction: Chris Robbins believes that Minnesota will take another series in seven games. So far, every single series has come down to goaltending, and the Wild have a clear advantage with Dubnyk over either of the Blackhawks goaltenders.
