2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Playoffs start on Wednesday. Make predictions, talk about the games, whatever.

My pretty uninformed predictions are:

West

#1 San Jose over #8 Anaheim
#2 Detroit over #7 Columbus
#3 Vancouver over #6 St. Louis
#5 Calgary over #4 Chicago

San Jose over Calgary
Detroit over Vancouver

Detroit over San Jose

East

#1 Boston over #8 Montreal
#2 Washington over #7 New York
#3 New Jersey over #6 Carolina
#4 Pittsburgh over #5 Philadelphia

Boston over Pittsburgh
New Jersey over Washington

New Jersey over Boston

Finals

Detroit over New Jersey in 7

Ok here is mine
West

#1 San Jose over #8 Anaheim in 4
#7 Columbus over #2 Detriot in 7
#6 St. Louis over #3 Vancouver in 6
#4 Chicago over #5 Calgary in 6

San Jose over Columbus in 5
Chicago over St. Louis in 6

San Jose over Chicago in 6

East

#1 Boston over #8 Montreal in 4
#2 Washington over #7 New York in 5
#6 Carolina over #3 New Jersey in 7
#4 Pittsburgh over #5 Philadelphia in 6

Carolina over Boston in 6
Pittsburgh over Washington in 7

Pittsburgh over Carolina in 5

Finals

San Jose over Pittsburgh in 7

West

#1 San Jose over #8 Anaheim
#2 Detroit over #7 Columbus
#6 St. Louis over #3 Vancouver
#5 Calgary over #4 Chicago


East

#1 Boston over #8 Montreal
#2 Washington over #7 New York
#3 New Jersey over #6 Carolina
#5 Philly over #4 Pittsburgh


Finals

Boston over SJ in 6. :cool:

Boston over all

Calgary-Chicago will be a fun first round matchup.

I personally don't see the Bruins winning the cup, too young. Tim Thomas will have to keep up his magnificent play for Boston to do anything in the playoffs.

My predictions:

San Jose over Anaheim in 5-As good as Giguere is, the Ducks haven't found their defensive identity and the Sharks love to score goals.

Detroit over Columbus in 6-The feel good story of the Blue Jackets comes to an end. They push it to six with sloppy goaltending from Osgood who hasn't played that well all year but the Red Wings are just too strong.

Vancouver over St. Louis in 7-The Blues are another great story for the NHL coming out of no where this season. Luongo is just too good however and the Blues get beat by an experienced, tough squad in Vancouver.

Calgary over Chicago in 6-The Blackhawks are young and fun to watch, they play good team hockey but Calgary just got too hot and too good near the end. With the addition of Jokinen to the offense and Kiprusoff starting to play well watch out for this Flames group.

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East:

Boston over Montreal in 4-Previous Canadian demons are exorcised in a quick sweep by the Bruins.

Washington over New York in 5-The Rangers underachieved this year and the Capitals are finally coming into their own. They are one missing piece away from a Stanley Cup ring but this series should be easy as the best player in the world Alexander Ovechkin goes off.

New Jersey over Carolina in 4-Not a lot of people know that this Devil's squad might be one of their best and came close to a franchise record for wins. The Hurricanes are walking into a trap in this one with Brodeur playing some excellent hockey and even without him the Devils have been playing amazing hockey all season long.

Philadelphia over Pittsburgh in 7-Pittsburgh played good hockey to finish the season but the Flyers have been playing well ALL season. The Pens don't have Hossa to spark a magical run to the cup this year and two of the bet in Crosby and Malkin can't hold down the other three lines. Philly is deeper and for this they win game seven.

sj
det
van
cal

sj
van

van


bos
nyr
nj
pit

bos
nj

nj

nj over van in 6

surely this is bad news for the devils

Well since everyone else is picking all the way through I'll do the same.

Semis:

San Jose vs. Calgary-San Jose in 7. The Flames are the hottest team in the league while San Jose has been dominant all season. The injury problems San Jose has had are improving which gives me enough confidence to get by Calgary in seven games.

Detroit vs. Vancouver-Detroit in 6. Vancouver is good, but Detroit is the most talented team in the playoffs. If their goaltending can hold up it should be a quick and easy series for Detroit. Vancouver just doesn't have quite enough.

Boston vs. Philadelphia-Philly in 7. The Flyers are a deep, veteran laden squad full of talent. They went to the conference finals last year and there is no reason they shouldn't beat the Bruins this year. Tim Thomas would have to play perfect for the Bruins to win and the Philly dominance gives them another shot at the Eastern conference title.

Washington vs. New Jersey-Jersey in 7. The Devils are deep, stacked and have the best goalie of all time playing for them. Ovechkin is great, one of the greatest ever but the Devils defense and goaltending give them a series win in probably the most entertaining series of the playoffs.

Finals:

San Jose vs. Detroit-San Jose in 6. The Sharks love to score and the Wings goaltending has been mediorce this season. If the age question doesn't catch up to the Sharks they will walk to the western conference championship in a good six game set.

New Jersey vs. Philadelphia-New Jersey in 5. The Flyers are deep enough to surprise a young squad like the Bruins but a veteran squad like the Devils will not be fooled and will trounce Philly in this series. It won't be competitive and the Devils will dominate.

Stanley Cup Finals:

New Jersey vs. San Jose-New Jersey in 7. Finally, a great series for the finals to have. The Devils are a dynasty in this NHL and continue to play well year after year and now against a great San Jose team they get yet another cup on the road in game seven. The Sharks are great and have a number of vets to get them through the ups and downs of a Finals series but it all comes down to an X factor: Martin Broduer. The greatest goalie of all time wins another cup and most likely another Conn Smythe.

Go Blues!

#1 San Jose over #8 Anaheim. Even with the Sharks struggles in the playoffs, this should be an ass kicking.
#2 Detroit over #7 Columbus. Maybe Mason steals a game.
#3 Vancouver over #6 St. Louis. REALLY close...give it to the Canucks for their goalie.
#5 Calgary over #4 Chicago. Just have a feeling about this one. This could be the best series of the first round.

San Jose over Calgary
Detroit over Vancouver

Detroit over San Jose

#1 Boston over #8 Montreal. Habs have been inconsistent all year.
#7 New York over #2 Washington. Henrik Lundqvist > Jose Theodore.
#3 New Jersey over #6 Carolina. Devils are rolling right now.
#4 Pittsburgh over #5 Philadelphia. This one could easily go either way.

Boston over New York
New Jersey over Pittsburgh

New Jersey over Boston

Detroit over New Jersey in 6 to win the Cup.

Pickin against Ovie Arctic?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OregonDuck1989

Pickin against Ovie Arctic?

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I like to pick one big upset every year. I just don't like Theodore in goal...the guy has completely lost it when it comes to big playoff situations. New York didn't score NEARLY as well as they should have, but they have the talent to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arctic Blast

I like to pick one big upset every year. I just don't like Theodore in goal...the guy has completely lost it when it comes to big playoff situations. New York didn't score NEARLY as well as they should have, but they have the talent to.

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Theodore did excellent in the first round last year for Colorado which was the main reason they upset Minnesota.

His play in Detroit was bad because he had the "flu" but who knows.

We'll see, Goalies do make the playoffs like guards make the NCAA tournaments.

Which is why I'm not picking Detroit. Osgood has been so inconsistent this year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OregonDuck1989

Theodore did excellent in the first round last year for Colorado which was the main reason they upset Minnesota.

His play in Detroit was bad because he had the "flu" but who knows.

We'll see, Goalies do make the playoffs like guards make the NCAA tournaments.

Which is why I'm not picking Detroit. Osgood has been so inconsistent this year.

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True enough on Osgood. I've just seen too many times in the past when Osgood plays like crap all year then turns it on once the postseason starts.

The **** is a Canuck?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeffy25

The **** is a Canuck?

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I believe it's slang for Canadian.

Much like a Canajun.