matchup armchair III
May 6th, 2008 by Ian3-1 in the 2nd round, stupid Habs. that makes me 9-3 overall and on a really good pace for the playoffs. even if i get the last 3 wrong then i still finish at .600, nice. let’s go for .800 though eh?
Philadelphia (6) vs. Pittsburgh (2) - sometime in January or so the Flyers sat in 1st place in their division and i made the prediction that they wouldn’t relinquish that for the remainder of the season. they proceeded to go on a losing streak for close to a month (i forget, what was it 12 games?) that coincided with some injury issues for Mike Richards and some general struggles for many of their team. i think it’s fair to say that this Flyers squad is back in stride with what they were doing prior to that losing streak. they’re playing smashmouth hockey like few in the entire league can play. will it be enough? i’m still saying no. i picked the Pens for the final back when this whole playoff thing started and i’m sticking with that. the Pens are highly skilled, more skilled than the Habs; they skate better, pass better, cycle down low and their D and MAF are at least equal to what the Flyers have been putting out. one could certainly argue that the Flyers could do to Sid and Gene what they did to the vaunted Habs offense but i argue that they beat the Habs by stopping their power play and the Pens are a lot less dependant on their power play. the Pens can hurt you a lot easier at even strength than the Habs can or could. have you watched Malkin with the puck? Sid seems a bit dinged up still but even when he has the puck there’s a definite determination to control every element of the game. Biron was a hero against the Habs but i see Gene and Sid finding the chinks in the armour. Pens in 6.
Dallas (5) vs. Detroit (1) - that Dallas team can surprise, but they won’t. Marty Turco has been amazing but the Wings give up so few shots/game that all they’ll need is 2 goals a game and this is over. the Wings are the class of the West and now that the Dom “experiment” is over then Ozzy will be just enough to make sure the Wings get to where they’re destined to be. with all the hype around Johan Franzen last round i think we’re going to see more out of Pavol Datsyuk this round and he and Zett will prove themselves the best forwards on that team by a mile. this won’t be a big scoring series. Wings in 5.
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