Saturday saw the 82nd game for every NHL team to finish off the seeding process for the tournament. As I'm not super familiar with every NHL team, I'm not going to do a full series-by-series prediction, other than maybe a cursory mention at the end (we'll see). Instead, I'll stick to the matchup I know about: Hawks-Predators.
Chicago Blackhawks (48-28-6) vs Nashville Predators (47-25-10)
Blackhawks won 3 out of 4 regular season meetings (1 in OT, 1 in SO)
This is still a matchup that concerns me. Nashville has a strong defense led by Shea Weber, and Pekka Rinne is an elite goaltender who helped the Predators finish ninth in the league in goals against. They tried to add offense, and did a decent job by finishing 14th in goals for thanks to additions like James Neal and Filip Forsberg. There's some depth and balance here, and they'll be a tough out.
Meanwhile over on the Chicago side, Corey Crawford helped lead the Blackhawks to their second Jennings Trophy (shared with Montreal) in three years, and had some games where he stood on his head. There's some intrigue on defense with the rotating pieces like Michael Roszival, Kimmo Timonen and David Rundblad, but the top four haven't been bad and will be counted on to contain those strong pieces. Then there's the forwards... you have several elite two-way players like Toews, Hossa, and Saad, the potential for Bryan Bickell to start to catch fire because it's the playoffs, some depth down to the fourth line... oh, and this guy is back.
88 came up 3 times in my first period math lesson today. It's a good sign! @88PKane #Blackhawks
— Kristen Mitzel (@kkmitzel) April 15, 2015
Nashville won't make it easy, obviously. They've been doing a lot to try and "keep the red out" of their arena, which we all know won't work. They'll still pose a challenge, but I think the return of Kane will galvanize a struggling Hawks team. Blackhawks in six.Other Western Conference Series
Minnesota Wild (46-28-8) vs St. Louis Blues (51-24-7)
I'm kind of glad the Hawks didn't win the Central, because then they'd have to deal with a red hot Wild team. Most of that coincides with the arrival of goalie Devan Dubnyk, who has been phenomenal for Minnesota since he was traded from Arizona earlier in the season. St. Louis has plenty of weapons still, but questions in goal. I think this ends in a similar fashion to last year. Wild in six.
Winnipeg Jets (43-26-13) vs Anaheim Ducks (51-24-7)
Winnipeg has the current hot goalie in Ondrej Pavelec, but it's hard to say what else they have going for them. Dustin Byfuglien hasn't seen much playoff hockey since his days torturing the Vancouver Canucks in the Indianhead sweater. I don't know that the Jets will have the firepower to keep up with Anaheim. The Ducks have had an arguably unsustainable run in close games (33-1-7 in one goal contests) but with the playoffs tightening things up, is it sustainable? Hard to say. The atmosphere for games in Winnipeg will be crazy, but I think the Ducks take it home. Ducks in six.
Calgary Flames (45-30-7) vs Vancouver Canucks (48-25-9)
Calgary is out probably their best player in defenseman Mark Giordano, which hurts. This team reminds me a lot of last year's Avalanche in a way; the advanced numbers don't argue well for Calgary. If they can get some gritty goals against whoever's in goal for Vancouver, they could steal the series. In a crazy twist... I think it happens. Call it continued hatred of the Canucks or what have you. It takes seven games, but they pull the upset. Flames in seven.
Eastern Conference Series
Due to time constraints, I'm keeping the East to just series predictions.
Pittsburgh Penguins (43-27-12) vs New York Rangers (53-22-7)
Rangers in four.
New York Islanders (47-28-7) vs Washington Capitals (45-26-11)
Capitals in six.
Ottawa Senators (43-26-13) vs Montreal Canadiens (50-22-10)
Canadiens in five.
Detroit Red Wings (43-25-14) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (50-24-8)
Lightning in six.
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