Even if Toe Blake said that predictions were for "gypsies" and hockey uber-analyst Bob McKenzie refuses to make them, I figured that I'd give it a shot in a post that was published before play began in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Here's a quick recap of how I made out with my picks.
Western Conference
Vancouver vs. Chicago.
My call: Vancouver in 5
Outcome: Vancouver in 7
After jumping out to a commanding 3-0 series lead, it looked as though the Canucks were poised to exorcise the demons of previous playoff losses against the Blackhawks in fairly short order.
That is until Chicago mounted a heroic comeback. In fact, the Hawks stretched the series all the way to overtime in a seventh game. The pressure on the Canucks to win this series as the final game began was tremendous as it seemed that all of British Columbia came close to crumbling amidst a collective panic attack.
Enter Alex Burrows. Not only did the combative forward score the winning overtime goal, he also scored the only regulation time Vancouver goal. He also missed a penalty shot and was involved in the turnover that caused Chicago to tie things up late in the 3rd period. Talk about being involved in a game.
And now everyone in B.C. can breathe again.
San Jose vs. Los Angeles
Call: San Jose in 6
Outcome: San Jose in 6
As predicted, the Sharks were ultimately too big, too fast, and too talented for the Anze Kopitar-less Kings to handle.
It was nice to see Joe Thornton get the series ending overtime winning goal. Maybe this will help silence some of his critics.
Or not...
Detroit vs. Phoenix
Call: Detroit in 6
Outcome: Detroit in 5
I mentioned that for the Coyotes to have any hope of winning against a deep, veteran, Stanley Cup playoff experienced team such as Detroit, they would need their goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to be outstanding.
He wasn't and the Coyotes lost.
Anaheim vs. Nashville
Call: Anaheim in 7
Outcome: Nashville in 6
Clearly this series didn't quite work out the way that I thought it would. But in my defence I did call Nashville "the team that no one wants to meet in the playoffs", so I can take some solace in that.
Nashville's Shea Weber showed us all why he's consider by most observers to be one of hockey's best defencemen. But the player of the series turned out to be Jordin Tootoo.
As a former resident of Nunavut and a fan of redemption, Tootoo's performance in the first round (he was named the NHL's player of the week) was particularly sweet.
Anaheim's ouster, however, is rather painful because it brings the loss of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Lubomir Visnovsky to my Stanley Cup playoff pool.
Eastern Conference
Washington vs. New York Rangers.
Call: Washington in 5
Outcome: Washington in 5
You have to love it when things work out. The Rangers faltered down the stretch and it continued through to the playoffs. Alexander Ovechkin looks like a player on a mission.
Philadelphia vs. Buffalo
Call: Buffalo in 7
Outcome: Philadelphia in 7
This one boiled down to the main factors.
1- The Flyers had too much big game experience for the Sabres in Game 7.
2- Chris Pronger returned to play.
3- The Philadelphia goaltending platoon system may be better than most seem to think.
Boston vs. Montreal
Call: Boston in 6
Outcome: Boston in 7
Another great series in a long line of great series between these two Original Six teams. The goaltending was, as was expected, superb. In the end, the difference was that Boston was able to convert in overtime.
I had mentioned to look for Chara and Lucic to have a big series. Neither really did.
Tampa Bay vs. Pittsburgh
Call: Tampa Bay in 7
Outcome: Tampa Bay in 7
Another one which worked played out pretty much expected. In the end, the absence of Crosby and Malkin proved too much for the Pens to overcome.
General Recap:
Series winners predicted: 6 out of 8
Series outcome predicted exactly right: 3 out of 8 (Wash, SJ, TB)
Not bad, but as they say "don't give up your day job".
Wait, I don't have a day job...
No comments:
Post a Comment