#4 Seed VS. #8 Seed
Analysis: This series gets started up on Friday in Pittsburgh and features the 4th seeded Penguins against the 8th Seeded Canadiens. After a shocking collapse by the Capitals, this is a dream matchup for the Penguins. While what Montreal did in round 1 was quite impressive, I feel as if the much more composed and team oriented Penguins will be too much for the Canadiens to handle. Crosby will continue his crazy scoring pace in this round, while Malkin will not be far behind. Much of the Canadiens success was because of an awful Capitals power play. Letang and Gonchar add that backend punch that will surely see the Penguins take advantage of power play opportunities. I like that Montreal called up P.K. Subban and his youthful enthusiasm is much appreciated by the Canadiens, and this little playoff stint will give him some big experience headed into next season. Kostitsyn, Pleckanec, and Cammalleri will need to come up huge if the Canadiens have any hope of advancing. Unfortunately for the Canadiens I see this series ending much quicker than the last one. While Halak has clearly played amazing to finish the Capitals, I don’t think he can keep going on the pace that he was. Hal Gill will need to continue to block a crazy amount of shots to help out Halak. Fleury will be better than Varlamov was and thus will keep the Penguins alive.
Prediction: Crosby and the Penguins are much more team oriented and unselfish than the Capitals and this will be a huge factor. I guarantee that the Penguins will light the lamp on the power play and that you will probably see Carey Price at some point this series. I truly feel that this series could be a sweep; however taking sweeps in round 1 burned me so I’m going with PITTSBURGH IN 5.
Key Players: Pittsburgh: Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, Gonchar, And Letang. Canadiens: Halak, Cammalleri, Pleckanec, Gill.
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