NHL 2009 Playoff Predictions
 

All right it's that time again. Place your playoff picks.

Here are the matchups
EAST
Boston(1) vs Montreal(8)
Washington(2) vs New York Rangers(7)
New Jersey(3) vs Carolina(6)
Pittsburgh(4) vs Philidelphia(5)

WEST
San Jose(1) vs Anaheim(8)
Detroit(2) vs Columbus(7)
Vancouver(3) vs St. Louis(6)
Chicago(4) vs Calgary(5)

My picks
Boston in 6 - Montreal always plays Boston superhard but I just don't think the Habs can handle them this year.

Washington in 5 - New York doesn't score, Washington scores ALOT

New Jersey in 5 - Marty is fresh and ready to go.

Pittsburgh in 7 - Gonna be a great series

Anaheim in 7 - I'm picking the HUGE upset here but Anaheim has been redhot lately and this is my upset for round 1

Detroit in 6 - Mason will steal a couple for Columbus but they are just outmatched here

Vancouver in 6 - I like Vancouver to go long this year

Chicago in 6 - Calgary's D is just too beat up.

Make your picks.

Boston in 6- just too physical for the Habs.
Washington in 7-Ovechkin and Green, no response from the Rangers
New Jersey in 5-it's Jersey
Pittsburgh in 6-I hate both teams in this series but I have to pick someone.
San Jose in 5-no idea why I picked this other than Marleau is a machine
Detroit in 6-it's the Wings they'll beat the Jackets
Vancouver in 5-got to stick with the Canadian teams, couldn't take the Habs
Calgary in 7-same reason as above.

- Boston in 6: It's my team... they're going the distance!
- New York in 7: the Rangers started out the year awesome and I think they'll bring some of that back to make it rough on the Caps. This is probably the hardest pick. Either way its going 7
- New Jersey in 4: Throw the towel in for the Hurcs
- Philly in 7: Pitt hasn't played to their potential all year, and I really don't like a team like that. They can be better than Philly, but I feel like its going to be too in and out the take the series
- San Jose in 6: Anaheim will put up a fight, but not much.
- Detroit in 6: Columbus has the potential to surprise, but not by much.
- Vancouver in 5: Vancouver should have this easily.
- Chicago in 6: I like Calgary, but I don't think they'll be able to pull it out in this series.

So far so good for Vancouver! 14 wins left before we can celebrate. :)

As a long suffering Canucks fan, I can't help but think that the stars have aligned for this year. If they don't go all the way now, it's going to be another damn long wait before we see a contender team.

It's about time Washington actually showed up. Guess it's bye bye Montreal.

Yep Montreal is out. Looks like it's up to Vancouver and Calgary to represent Canada.

Leave it to the Habs fans to boo the USA national anthem. It wasn't exactly quiet either... EVERYONE was doing it. I don't boo 'O Canada'. Classless. Enjoy the off-season assholes!

The coach didn't like it either. At least someone has a little dignity in Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens coach/GM Bob Gainey warns fans not to boo U.S. national anthem - ESPN

Yeah way to stay classy Montreal.

You know I thought Vancouver was going to win this one but I didn't expect St. Louis to go out in four.

BTW
Found this on the Bruins site
Beard-A-Thon :: Bruins :: Bruins Home

What no mention of the Blues fans booing the Canadian Anthem?
I'll just use your post and replace words.
Leave it to the Blues fans to boo the Canadian national anthem. It wasn't exactly quiet either... EVERYONE was doing it. I don't boo The US anthem. Classless. Enjoy the off-season assholes!

There we go, now it suits both teams, although no mention of it from St. Louis coach, so I guess no one has dignity in St. Louis.

Well St. Louis sucks, sorry I didn't watch the game because I'm generally uninterested in the Blues getting their ass kicked. I'm not trying to make a US IS BETTER THAN CANADA argument here jay, so don't assume thats what I was talking about because you're from Canada and I'm from the US. I was just saying that's a shitty thing to do no matter where you're from. Here in Boston we leave our cheering and booing for the game and the teams, not the anthems.

I totally agree, it's shitty for any fans to boo an anthem, get a bunch of people together in the same place no matter what country and the asshats will be sure to be heard. Yeah St. Louis does suck, it they wouldn't have been playing a Canadian team I wouldn't have been watching them either.

All that being said:

Break out your brooms ladies, we got ourselves a SWEEP! Most credit due to Ryder, the former Hab himself no less. This game was beautiful to watch. The B's really stuck to a solid team game and kept the plan going. Having Lucic back on the ice was such a good feeling, just having the physicality that he brings. I particularly liked Kessel coming out of the box to breakaway score. Also, Rangers up on the Caps for real! This could be shorter than the 7 I called! I'd much rather take NY in the coming rounds than the Caps.

The one problem you have with the Rangers if they do take it (which they obviously should and will) is the great equalizer, the goalie. Lundqvist has been amazing so far in the playoffs.

Go Wings! Tonight they make a third first round series sweep (unless Mason stands on his head which he just might).

I am with you with the wings, sadly I am not sure if I will be able to view the game on tv.

Wings win! Controversial call at the end, but a fantastic game! :D

Controversial that they made the call, but it was a real call (no one disputes that they had to many on).

Was a great game.

Well guess the West is settled for Round Two.

Detroit vs Anaheim
Vancouver vs Chicago

Bye bye Sharks :) although it's going to be a tough series for my Wings.

East is still up in the air though until tomorrow.

Again San Jose chokes in the playoffs.

Federov comes through in the clutch and the Rangers blow the series lead.........

The NHL brass probably just blew a load in their pants with the second round matchup of Crosby vs Ovechkin.

Marty looked horrible on the winner by Staal, but the Canes played a hard series and deserved the win.

Totally agree, the NHL head office will be going nuts with their golden boys battling it out.

On a side note my picks sucked ass, hope round 2 goes better.

Round 2 picks:

Boston/Carolina - Boston in 4. Again, I'll homer. They're going the distance this year. They are playing superb on all facets.
Pittsburgh/Washington - Aha. The 'matchup of the playoffs' will turn out to be not exactly that. Sure the hits will be hard, but every game has been like that. Caps in 6, and only that long because I think it will be the Caps playing on a much higher level than Pitt, but making some stupid mistakes that will push it to 6.

Detroit/Anaheim - One huge upset was fantastic, but it only gets harder to do as you go along. Wings in 5.
Vancouver/Chicago - I was high on Chicago last round and I'm taking them again, I'll probably take them to go to the finals. Chicago in 6.

Boston/Carolina- I'll go with the Bruins in 6, as Mac said they are playing superb.

Pittsburgh/Washington- Caps in 6- I love Canadian players but I reckon Ovechkin will get into Sid the Kids mind, and Ovechkin will continue with his strong start in the first round.

Detroit/Anaheim- Wings in 4- I reckon the Ducks blew their wad knocking off the Sharks.

Vancouver/Chicago- Canucks in 6- Although as I watch it now the Hawks are making a comeback in the third, down 3-0 and now it's 3-2, should be an interesting series. The Hawks need to get bodies in front of Luongo when they shoot, make it hard for him to see the puck, if he see's the puck he'll stop it most times.

So much for sweeping the canes. Oh well, all I want is a series win really. Cam Ward was fantastic.

Caps lead series now 2-0 over the Penguins.
 

Unbelievable! Double hat tricks by Crosby and Ovechkin in tonight's game, and it barely registered with the national viewing community since it was broadcast on the obscure Versus network.

via MultiChannel News:

Response:

Better teams and matchups this year will equal an upswing in the ratings to no surprise. Sidney Crosby and the Pens are rising, Ovechkin and the Caps are also rising, Rangers represent that large market, Flyers also a large market, Wings are the most popular team in the lague in the states, Blackhawks are back and that’s going to be really good for the NHL down the line, original six Bruins are back, and so many other things are the ingredients to better ratings for the NHL during these playoffs.

Like I said before the NHL is on the verge of a huge peak period coming up so look out for that.

Only problem with the NHL to me are the television deals don’t do justice for this regrowth of the league. Versus would be a good network for the NHL but its too limited in its homes right now and Comcast needs to work on clearing it to 90-95 million homes like ESPN does. The NBC deal is going for them in the playoffs and Stanley Cup but non-existent during the season. They need a deal like the NBA has with TNT airing 40 games in 40 Nights.

Wow, watching the Wings/Ducks game 3 and while I don't want to take away from the great game Hiller had, COME ON REF! Make sure the puck is frozen before blowing the wistle! My Wings got robbed.

Agreed. I'm still upset about it... blowing a call like that has the potential to change the outcome of the series. Ugh.

The real Bruins finally decided to show up. Hope they enjoyed that 3 game vacation.
They have their work cut out for them now. Looking forward to Tuesdays game. See which team shows up.

Seriously. Thanks for finally getting your fucking shit together. Now please continue to play like you're the best team in hockey instead of dicking around.

Game 7 for the Caps and Pens, nice deflection for the game winner, glad to see the guys who pay the price in front of the net get winning goal.

I guess Aaron Ward will be ready to fight next time he tries to act tough, I still can't figure out why he didn't have his gloves off, are those fuckers welded on?

Poor Bettman he's going to put up one hell of a fight to keep Phoenix where they are, that's going to be the legacy the asshole leaves behind, expansion to a market where no one gives a rats ass about the game, fuck I hate Bettman.

I thought the wings would have won in 6, but I will take tonight's win. Great game, now I will say Wings in 6 for the conference title.

Let's go Whalers, let's go........

---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

Canes\Whalers win.......Scotty Walker, that will burn Ward.....

WOW. WHAT THE FUCK. I am stunned at this whole series. That's what I get for calling a sweep. Thanks Carolina, at least you earned it. If the Celtics lose this next game at home, I just might kill myself.

Also, in postgame coverage, NESN definitely aired an Aceticket.com commercial saying that Bruins tickets were on sale for Eastern Conference Finals... Looks like one of the operators wasn't watching the game.

The Canes sure did earn it, I was getting ready for a long OT game, then it was all over on an innocent looking play......just get the puck on the net, too many teams try to get fancy these days and lose the puck, get the bloody thing on the net, good things happen.....

On a shitty note my picks this round blew..........

I was watching a crappy little tv at work. Was that Walker that scored the winner?

Bummed that the B's lost but those last 3 games made up for those stinkers earlier.

Congrats Canes. Good luck against Pittsburg. I'm picking you to go to the Cup.

Yes that was Walker. I'm picking Carolina too. I sure don't want to see another Wings/Pens cup... BORING. Time for something new.

Chicago in 7, Canes in 7.

What? Pens/Wings rematch would be fan-freaking-tastic. I don't think my Wings would roll over them for two games this time either.

Pens in 5
Wings in 6

Although a Pens/Hawks final would be fun too.

Pens fought off a pretty good team in Washington. I think they can beat Carolina as long as Malkin shows up. Chicago took pretty good care of Calgary and I think they shocked the Canucks who looked like they had the series in hand until that weak clearing attempt by Willie Mitchell. That was the turning point in that series. I think the organization and disipline of the Red Wings will be too much for the run and gun Blackhawks this time around. Pens and Wings in the final again.

Sorry. I will never enjoy a repeat finals matchup in any sport. If both teams are the same, thats boring [the only exception being Lakers/Celtics NBA finals (so maybe that makes me a hypocrite)].

I also don't buy into the hype of Ovechkin and Crosby that the NHL plays up so much. Yeah, they're money makers and I understand that, but I just don't like the Pens because of Crosby. Oh well, whatever. I picked the Hawks to go to the finals for the west, so that's who I'm pulling for.