Eastern Conference: Round 2

The first round of the playoffs is (almost) over – save for Game 7 in the Nashville/Anaheim series. Round Two in the Eastern Conference starts tonight, however, with the New York Islanders in Tampa to take on the Lightning.

It’s not really standard NHL playoff protocol to start one round while teams in the other conference are finishing up the previous round, but it happens in the NBA all the time, so maybe we just have to learn to accept it? (It still feels weird to me that there isn’t a 2nd round Western game tonight as well.)

Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Islanders

(For the record, I predicted that the Wings and Panthers would meet in this round, so I’m giving myself a quarter-point for knowing that Game 1 was going to be in Florida. )

Despite being outplayed in 3/5 games against the Red Wings, the Lightning came away from that series victorious. I was surprised, because I thought the absence of both Stamkos and Stralman would negatively impact the Lightning, but I was quite clearly proven wrong. Ben Bishop stole the show, though, so look for him to come up big again this time around.

For the Islanders, it took six games, but they finally won a playoff series (for the first time since 1993), and they did it at home on Long Island in Brooklyn. I was hoping for Jaromir Jagr to make another deep playoff run and I wanted to see Aaron Ekblad’s 3rd round beard, but when the Islanders’ John Tavares scored the winning goal in double OT on Sunday night I was happier than I thought I’d be.

Based on what I saw from the first round, this is going to be a goaltending battle through and through, and it’s highly likely that the Lightning have the edge there. Bishop was lights out in round 1, keeping the Lightning in games they had no business winning. The Islanders got some stellar netminding from Thomas Greiss, but he wasn’t the difference maker for the Islanders. I’m glad for Isles fans that they get round 2 playoff action, but I don’t think it’s going to go beyond that.

Prediction: Lightning in 6

Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins

This is the series I imagine the league would want as the Eastern Conference final.

Washington has been dominant all year long, riding the coat-tails of Braden Holtby’s stellar season. I assumed they’d win Round 1, but I thought the Flyers would be way over-matched. Instead, the Caps ran into a hot goalie in Michael Neuvirth who held them to 2 goals in games 4-6; in case you missed it, Washington won game 6 by a score of 1-0 – it was everything a playoff game should be.

The Penguins, on the other hand, soundly defeated the New York Rangers in five games, outscoring the Rangers 21-10 over the series. Henrik Lundqvist was less than stellar, and the Pens high-powered offence was just too much to handle.

This series is going to come down to two things: Crosby v Ovechkin, and goaltending. Holtby is the odds-on favourite to win the Vezina this year and the Penguins are in the middle of a goalie carousel as they wait for Marc-Andre Fleury to come back. If I was a gambler, I’d probably say that the Capitals’ goaltending is superior and will clinch the series. The other factor, however, is the match-up of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Crosby has obviously won the Cup before and has a bit more playoff experience than Ovie, but I think that the Caps’ captain is going to get over that hump this season and lead his team to the Stanley Cup Finals.

(I sincerely wish this was the Conference Final series, but at least we get this match-up this year.)

Prediction: Caps in 6