What is up guys. Today I am going to make my predictions for this years NHL playoffs. This blog post will be about the Metropolitan division. I will go through each of my predicted playoff matchups and who will win the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Starting off with Carolina vs. Washington.
Last year I thought the Washington Capitals were going all the way and winning the cup for the second time in the last couple years. I was wrong as they lost in the first round. I am not going to make that mistake again. There is a chance for an upset but the Capitals roster is aging and they are missing big parts of their cup win back in 2018. They have less good goalies, for one, and their offense has lost its firepower, besides Alex Ovechkin, who just gets better and better. Ovechkin is a candidate for the Hart trophy this year, because he has so many goals and points. Carolina is just so much deeper though, with Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov scoring and when those two don’t perform Teuvo Teravainen, Seth Jarvis, and their defense can step up. Kotkaniemi could also step up, although he has been relatively quiet this year. Carolina has amazing goaltending, with Frederik Anderson coming back from some below average years in Toronto to one of the best in the league. Their defense is also very good, with Jaccob Slavin leading the way and Ethan Bear, as an addition before the season started, playing good hockey. The Hurricanes are dominating this year and I expect them to continue in the playoffs. Washington did win the only regular season game between the two so far 4-0, but Carolina has to lose some games and when playoff time comes, they have been to the conference final before and they know what it takes to make it past the first round. I am predicting a 6 game series Carolina victory.
The next matchup is Pittsburgh vs. the New York Rangers.
This is a close matchup. Starting at forwards, the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin who will do anything to win. However, they don’t have any other top players besides Jake Guentzel. Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Carter add depth but not very good skill. If Evan Rodrigues is on his game, he can deliver at a point per game, but he has seemed to have fizzled out since that time when he was hot. New York has Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider as amazing top players who are delivering every night. Then youngsters Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere can deliver sometimes as well. Ryan Strome and Barclay Goodrow add depth, and Goodrow knows what it takes to win a cup, as he did it twice with the Lightning. Then if you go to defense, Pittsburgh really only has Kris Letang, and the rest of their lineup in their top 6 is players who should be bottom 2 or scratch defense. New York is not that much better, but Adam Fox, reigning Norris champion, leads the way, with K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba following suit. Then the goalies come in. New York is the clear winner in this category, with Igor Shesterkin currently posting the second best single season save percentage in history, only Jacques Plante beating him. Backup Georgiev is decent for a backup. On the Penguins side, Tristan Jarry can deliver when he needs to but is nowhere near the calibre of Igor Shesterkin. Then they have Casey DeSmith who is not bad for a backup but he is incosistent and not trustworthy in the playoffs in my opinion. In the regular season so far, these two teams have played once and Pittsburgh won but it was off of Malkin’s goal, Sidney Crosby’s assist, in a 1-0 game. If New York shuts down those two key players from Pittsburgh, they can easily get out of the first round without a problem. I am predicting a 5 game series New York victory.
With these two teams moving on, it will be New York vs. Carolina for the Conference Final appearance. This one will be an interesting battle, as it is possible either team could win. The last time they played Carolina won 6-3. That is how the whole series will go, in terms of goals. Both of these teams are high scoring and either of them could win. I think whoever gets 2 wins first will win. The New York Rangers will use their firepower though to win the whole thing. Barclay Goodrow knows what he needs to do to get the team pumped up and ready for a big win. Igor Shesterkin plays amazing when he needs to, and is the most reliable goalie in the entire league. Aho and Svechnikov could try to get a few past him, but the Rangers are going to be able to outscore their problems. Panarin, Fox, Zibanejad, and Kreider will all be able to outscore the Canes. I am thinking it will be a hard fought series, but the defense will not play a big part in it. Neither team’s defense is really that much better than the other, so it comes down to offense and goalies. Anderson is amazing, but Shesterkin is the best, and as I just said, the Rangers offense is better. So I am predicting a Game 7 Rangers victory.
That is the end of my blog, thanks for reading. Here is a link to a cool blog, and also a link to this other awesome blog. Here is the NHL website.
Also, if these matchups don’t happen and the teams play someone else, I still have Carolina and New York winning.