NHL Playoff predictions- Eastern conference

Another NHL season has come and passed and it is time for the fun to begin. The playoff are set to begin on April 15th and some of the match-ups are very interesting. There is young team, old teams and teams that have surpassed expectations. For this blog I will break down the Eastern conference playoff match-ups by comparing who i think has the edge in offense, defense and goaltending as well as touching on x-factors for the series.


The match-ups are as follows:

*conference rank in brackets

(1) Boston Bruins vs (8) Montreal Canadiens

(2)Washington Capitals vs (7) New York Rangers

(3) New Jersey Devils vs (6) Carolina Hurricanes

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (5) Philadelphia Flyers


First off the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia series.

This might be the trickiest series off all to pick in the East. Pittsburgh obviously has an explosive offense with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They also have players such as Jordan Staal and other contributers. With Crosby as well as Malkin it seems as though they would win in the offense catagory but Philly is balanced. With players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter Daniel Briere and balanced scoring through their whole line-up its is closer then many people believe.

Advantage in offense- Pittsburgh because Crosby and Malkin are two of the three best players in the league.

Defense wise neither team is very strong. Pittsburgh has Sergei Gonchar who will provide some extra offense but both teams are weak in this aspect.

Advantage in defense- Ill give this to Philly because i believe that Philly is a better team defense team and the penguins offensive stars tend to get lost sometimes.

Goaltending- Pittsburgh by far. Marc-Andrea Fleury is a solid young goaltender that has tremendous athletic ability. Philly's goaltending is very streaky.

Advantage in goaltending- Pittsburgh.

Series winner- Pittsburgh in seven games. I think Crosby and Malkin will be to much for the flyers to handle.

X-factor- If Martin Biron plays like he can be capable of the flyers have a very real chance at winning this series.

Next up- New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals

Offense- Washington wins the offense category simply because of two players, Alexander Ovechkin and Mike Green, who is a defensemen. Ovehckin will tear up New Yorks shoddy defense and will single handed defeat the rangers.

Defense- Again Washington wins this because of Mike Green and solid team defense. The rangers are a very european team whose offense players seem to not know how to backcheck.

Goaltending- This one i will give the edge to New York. King Henrik is a better goaltender then Jose Theodore. Theodore however, does have the chance to be the x-factor if he can get on his game.

Winner- Washington in 5. i do believe that the rangers can win one game, but thats it. This is the most lopsided series in the first round.

Next up- New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes.

Offense- This is a very even offensive match-up. Both teams have very balanced scoring but New Jersey has Zach Parise scored 46 goals which is more then any player on Carolina.

Advantage- New Jersey. A balanced attack with a serious threat like Parise makes them tough to match-up against.

Defense- New Jersey wins this. The Devils have always been a defense first team. Their team defense is top in the league and no team can match-up with the defensively.

Goaltending- New Jersey. Martin Brodeur that is all that needs to be said.

Winner- New Jersey in 6 games. The devilsare balanced and have arguably the best goalie in the world between the pipes.

Last up is Montreal vs Boston.

I saved this match-up for last because it is the most intriguing.

Offense- Boston defied the odds this year by finishing first in the Eastern conference when no one expected them to. Their offense is very balanced but is also very young. Montreal is a very european type of team. They will skate around the outside and bury you with their speed, but do not underestimate their ability to play with grit.

Advantage- Montreal, but barely.

Defense- Montreal has suffered from injuries on their defense core and sometimes their offense tends to forget to back check. Boston is a solid team defense team who has an anchor named Zedeno Chara on the back end.

Advantage- Boston

Goaltending- This is the hardest area to pick between the two teams. Carey Price is a young goalie who performed well last year, but has struggled since the all-star break. Tim Thomas has shot onto the scene after being a back-up goaltender for much of his career. I believe however that soon enough Thomas is going to wake up, realize he is Tim Thomas and go back to being the goalie he has always been, solid but not great.

Advantage- Montreal, but only if the real Tim Thomas does stand up

Winner- Montreal is a heavy underdog in this series. Most experts have Boston in this series even as quickly as 4 games. I am picking Montreal in 7. I believe that if Montreal shows up and plays hard in the first two games that Boston will start to think about the previous troubles they have had with the Canadiens and will slowly start to fade.

There you have it my Eastern conference playoff predictions.