2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Preview

We're onto one of the most fun times of the year, but also one of the most gut wrenching. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a wonderful two month stretch of the best hockey of the year.

16 teams have survived the 82 game grind to reach this point, but only one will be hoisting Lord Stanley in June, and they have to win four best-of-sevens to get there. There's a reason many call the Cup the toughest trophy in all of sports to win.

So like I did last year, I am going to go into each round and try to predict a winner. I'm actually going to try and do a little analysis this time as well, and I will close this post out with my prediction for the Stanley Cup Final going into the playoffs as well.

Let's start with the obvious one.


Western Conference

Chicago Blackhawks (47-26-9) vs St. Louis Blues (49-24-9)
Blues won 3 of 5 regular season meetings (2 in OT, 1 in SO)

Photo from Getty Images (photographer uncredited)

Chicago missed out on its chance to potentially steal home ice in this series with its failure to hold onto a late 1-0 lead this past Thursday, and as such have to open in St. Louis. The Blues had another phenomenal regular season to finish second in the Central division and they may finally have the answer in goal. Brian Elliott finished the regular season with a 2.07 goals against average and led the NHL in save percentage at .930. The Blues finished in the middle of the pack in scoring, but boast the league's sixth-best power play (21.5 percent) and second best penalty kill (85.1 percent) while rolling a talented group of forwards led by Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen, while captain David Backes is coming off of an injury. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are getting a ton of guys back from injury in Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa, while Corey Crawford is hoping getting back in rhythm even in an overtime loss at Columbus is enough to get him back into the swing of things. The biggest problem for the Hawks is their defense, which isn't as deep as in years past, especially since Duncan Keith will miss Game 1 while he serves his well-deserved suspension. This gives the Blues a great chance to put the defending champs on the ropes early, but the Blues have to stop the most potent duo in the league in the likely Calder Trophy winner in Artemi Panarin and the Art Ross Trophy/likely Hart Trophy winner in Patrick Kane. The defensive depth and play of Crawford concerns me early, but this Blues team has yet to prove that they can handle the magnitude of playoff hockey. This is their best chance, and they're going to make the Blackhawks earn their way into the next round, but I think the experience will prevail. Blackhawks in seven.

Minnesota Wild (38-33-11) vs Dallas Stars (50-23-9)
Stars won 4 of 5 regular season meetings (3 in OT)

Photo by Bruck Kluckhorn (NHLI via Getty Images)

That last stat is what kind of amazes me, even though these teams haven't met since February when Mike Yeo was still behind the bench in St. Paul. The Wild have gone ice cold of late and have one of the worst penalty kills in the league, something that raises a lot of concern in the State of Hockey. Minnesota does boast a talented goalie in Devan Dubnyk, but he is going to be tested early and often. The Stars have the best offense in the NHL with a league leading 3.2 goals per game while also boasting the fourth best power play in the league. Jamie Benn is going to be a force, and this is the time of year the Stars acquired Patrick Sharp from the Hawks for, especially with Tyler Seguin battling an injury. Unless the Kari Lehtonen/Antti Niemi combination in goal looks absolutely awful for Dallas, they shouldn't have a problem beating their new incarnation. Stars in five.

San Jose Sharks (46-30-6) vs Los Angeles Kings (48-28-6)
Sharks won 3 of 5 regular season meetings (lost 1 in OT)

Photographer uncredited (Retrieved from Bleacher Report)

After a year absence, the Kings return to late April hockey with thoughts of one-upping the Blackhawks' Cup success. Unlike prior years though, the Kings are in good shape in terms of home ice, at least to start. The Kings finished third in goals allowed this season behind the goaltending of Jonathan Quick and the stellar defense of Drew Doughty, who should be in the Norris conversation this year. While the playoff miss last year puts a big dent in any LA "dynasty" talk, the rest they got from missing out last year should serve them well. Meanwhile, the Sharks are back after a one year absence as well following a year where they blew a 3-0 series lead to... the Kings. This year's team isn't the same, but it's still a factor. The big question will be whether Joe Thornton can still produce against Doughty. Defensively, there are some questions as well with Marc-Edouard Vlasic nursing an injury, and former Kings backup Martin Jones will need to outduel his old mentor for the Sharks to have a chance. San Jose will make it interesting, but I think LA has too much talent and experience. Kings in six.

Nashville Predators (41-27-14) vs Anaheim Ducks (46-25-11)
Predators won 2 of 3 regular season meetings

Photo by Jake Roth (USA TODAY Sports)

Those regular season numbers do deserve an asterisk: these teams last met in mid-November. At that point, the Ducks were inexplicably awful before flipping a switch a couple months into the season. The Ducks won the Jennings Trophy, allowing the fewest goals in the league this season, and boast the best special teams in the league, leading the NHL in both power play and penalty kill percentages. They can do this regardless of whether it's Frederik Andersen or John Gibson between the pipes, as both put up excellent numbers this season. They're going to need their scoring to go up though in this series, so Getzlaf and Perry will need to do their thing, but the rest of the lineup needs to contribute as well. The Predators' team rankings are mostly middle of the pack for the season, but they boast a strong defense led by Shea Weber and Roman Josi. Pekka Rinne is also a very goal goalie, and he will need to step up. Nashville's offense was better than Anaheim's for the season, but they're desperately going to need offense from more than just Filip Forsberg. This is probably going to be a tight defensive series, so I'm going to take the team with a little more top line scoring talent. Ducks in six.

Eastern Conference

New York Rangers (46-27-9) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (48-26-8)
Penguins won 3 of 4 regular season meetings (1 in OT)

Photo by Gregory Shamus (Getty Images)

This seems familiar. These two teams meet for the third straight postseason, with the Rangers knocking off the Penguins the past two times. Pittsburgh started the season slowly before turning it on in the second half. They can attribute that to their top end talent, as Phil Kessel helped bring some top end scoring to supplement what Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin can do, helping get Pittsburgh to third in the NHL in scoring. The Pens were no slouches on defense either, finishing sixth in goals against thanks to the excellent defense of Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury being more than serviceable in goal. Fleury is battling a concussion however, which means Matt Murray will likely have to step in, though he's been very good in relief. However, he is also nursing an injury which would mean the Penguins would have to start Jeff Zatkoff, he of 35 career NHL games. I'm not too concerned about Murray, instead looking more at the talent the Rangers have. They were right behind the Penguins in scoring, though they were middle of the pack on defense with Henrik Lundqvist regressing a little bit. They can't rely on the King like they have in years past, but they have some good scoring depth. Ultimately, I think Lundqvist plays well enough in one more playoff series and this Penguins team that arguably should have done more with a once-in-a-generation talent like Sidney Crosby goes home early again. Rangers in seven.

Philadelphia Flyers (41-27-14) vs Washington Capitals (56-18-8)
Teams each won 2 of 4 regular season meetings (Flyers won 1 in OT, 1 in SO)

Photo by Patrick Smith (Getty Images)

The Flyers caught fire in the last month of the season, winning 15 of their final 23 games to supplant Boston as the second wild card out of the East. They get rewarded with facing the President's Trophy winning Capitals, who were all but the wire to wire leaders this season. The Caps finished second in both goals for and goals against as well as top five in both special teams categories behind a 50 goal season from Alex Ovechkin, a breakout supplementary season from second line center Evgeny Kuznetsov and a probable Vezina campaign from Braden Holtby. This is going to be a challenge for the Flyers, who other than Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, don't boast a ton of offensive talent after finishing 22nd in the league in scoring. The Flyers are going to need Steve Mason to stand on his head against elite offensive talent, something I don't really see happening. I think the Flyers at least avoid the sweep, but that's about it. Capitals in five.

Detroit Red Wings (41-30-11) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (46-31-5)
Teams each won 2 of 4 regular season meetings

Photo by Scott Audette (NHLI via Getty Images)

We get another rematch of last year's first round thriller, where the Lightning escaped with a Game 7 win en route to the Stanley Cup Final. Coming into the year I had pegged Tampa as one of the teams most likely to grab a Cup this year. I'm not sure it's going to happen now. Steven Stamkos is out for the forseeable future due to a blood clot, and defenseman Anton Stralman is out with a broken leg. That's only two of your best seven or eight guys; no big deal. Ben Bishop put up excellent numbers once again though and should be able to help keep the Lightning afloat, but they're going to need the Triplets line that was so good last year raise their game again. They'll have to do it against a Red Wings team that hasn't missed the playoffs since I was four months old. The Wings actually have a chance thanks to all the injuries, even though the numbers for this team aren't all that impressive. The Wings are also playing for Pavel Datsyuk, who will return to Russia after this season to finish out his playing career. They'll need the youth on the team to step up under Jeff Blashill, and Jimmy Howard will need to hold his own against what talent remains for the Lightning. Ultimately, I think the injury bug bit the Lightning too much, and this time the Red Wings close things out. Red Wings in seven.

New York Islanders (45-27-10) vs Florida Panthers (47-26-9)
Panthers won 2 of 3 regular season meetings (1 in SO)

Photographer uncredited (retrieved from Sports Chat Place)

The Isles seem to be doing okay in their first year in Brooklyn, and they get a Panthers team that is making the playoffs for the first time in a while. I think few people expected the Panthers to take care of business the way they did, especially under the leadership of veterans like Roberto Luongo and Jaromir Jagr. Not only did Jagr not die in the All Star Game, he led the Panthers in scoring. There's some good young talent as well in guys like Aleksander Barkov, who led the team in goals. If Luongo can keep up the decent pace he was at this season and play like he did for most of the 2011 playoffs, the Panthers will be a tough out. The Islanders counter with a strong penalty kill and the explosiveness of captain John Taveras, but they have to rely on backup Thomas Greiss in goal with Jaroslav Halak hurt. Ultimately though, I think the veteran leadership in Florida combined with home ice will carry the day. Panthers in six.

Stanley Cup Finals Pick

Photographer uncredited (retrieved from OutLoud! Culture)

I'm doing the NHL Bracket Challenge this year, which means I need to have all of my picks in before the postseason starts. I really hope the Blackhawks can repeat this time, but they've played a ton of hockey the last three years. With that and the injuries, I think they'll give whoever they play hell, but I think they fall a little short this year. Dallas knocks them out in Round 2 before falling to the Kings, who get back to the Cup Final for third time in five years. They, however, fall just short to a team that exorcises a ton of demons (that now include me picking them) as the Cup returns to the East for the first time since 2011. Capitals over Kings in six.