In the first round, I gave a fairly detailed analysis of each series and got seven of eight correct. The only one I didn't pick correctly (Dallas-Vancouver) I did get the number of games to decide the series right, although it did manage to throw off the seedings in the one place I laid out all my playoff picks in order.
However, in this space, I do feel the need to regroup my picks and simply go with my gut for the Conference semifinals.
Eastern Conference
(1) Buffalo over (6) New York Rangers - The Sabres know now that everyone is gunning for them. This series will be exponentially tougher but there's no reason barring major injury that Buffalo won't win.
(2) New Jersey vs (4) Ottawa - Five million Ontarians and the other two-thirds of the New Jersey-New York fan base would love to think the Devils are ripe for the plucking, but merely wanting revenge for 2003 won't be enough. Witness the breakup of the Senators as the Jersey juggernaut moves on.
Western Conference
(1) Detroit vs (5) San Jose - The Sharks would be more of an appetizing pick save for one thing: A pathological inability to win in Detroit since the franchise's inception. They'll have to win all three games in Silicon Valley to have a shot. You'll start seeing Octopi again.
(2) Anaheim vs (4) Vancouver - A deathtrap series to analyze if there ever was one. The gut says Anaheim has more firepower than Vancouver, the regular season stats proved it, and since the gut right now craves leftover spaghetti and meatballs for lunch, how can I argue?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment