Western Conference #1 San Jose Sharks vs. #8 Colorado Avalanche San Jose: 51-20-11, 113 points, Home: 27-6-8 Colorado: 43-30-9, 95 points, Road: 19-16-6 This round features the 4th (Sharks) and 6th (Avs) placed teams in goals scored this season, while the Sharks were 8th best in total goals against and Colorado was 17th. San Jose is notorious for regular season dominance and postseason failures; they have not made it past the 2nd round in nine of their last 10 postseason appearances, despite winning their division four times. The Avs, however, are the best possible matchup for San Jose, as Colorado has only won three of their final 12 games. The Sharks? firepower (Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle) should carry them over an Avs team with an overused goalie (Craig Anderson played 71 of 82 games) and a young roster with little playoff experience. Sharks were 2-1-1 in the season series. Prediction: Sharks 4-1 #2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #7 Nashville Predators Chicago: 52-22-8, 112 points, Home: 29-8-4 Nashville: 47-29-6, 100 points, Road: 23-15-3 Chicago spent most of the season as the top team in the West, only to slump after the Olympic break. Much of that is due to a series of injuries to their very strong defense (Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook, Kim Johnsson). Another key factor is goaltending, where their big money starter Cristobal Huet played himself out of a job, leaving Antti Niemi as ?the man? in the playoffs. Nashville is a middle-of-the-pack team both offensively and defensively without any elite weapons on offence, so the Hawks? solid team defence should cancel out the scare of a rookie goalie without playoff experience. Preds? goalie Pekka Rinne, also without any playoff experience, had a real solid season (32-16-5, 7 shutouts) and is helped by a great blueline with Shea Webber, Ryan Suter, Dan Hamhuis and Denis Grebeshkov. But don?t expect them to contain the depth the Hawks have on offense, led by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Chicago won the season series 4-2; both teams were in the top-5 for least penalty minutes. Prediction: Hawks 4-2 #3 Vancouver Canucks vs. #6 Los Angeles Kings Vancouver: 49-28-5, 103 points, Home: 30-8-3 Los Angeles: 46-27-9, 101 points, Road: 24-14-3 This has the makings of an epic playoff series before it even begins. Art Ross winner Henrik Sedin leads a very deep offensive attack along with brother Daniel, Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler; Van-City was 2nd in the league in goals for. The Canucks also have the goaltending advantage, with gold medalist and team captain Roberto Luongo backstopping them. The hope is that with the Olympic win, the ?can?t win the big game? knock on Luongo will be gone and he will be more comfortable. Unfortunately, they have been knocked heavily by injuries to their defense. The Kings are strong up and down the lineup, though they are largely inexperienced in the postseason because of their youth. Veteran Ryan Smyth should provide solid leadership for the young guns as he has a lot of playoff experience and has played in a Cup Final. Sophomore phenom Drew Doughty proved to be a big stage player in the Olympics and never seems rattled, while team captain Dustin Brown is one of the best fore-checkers in the game, making plenty of room for high scoring center Anze Kopitar. This series could come down to the inexperience of Kings? goalie Jonathan Quick, who had a breakout year but slowed a little down the stretch (he has not won a regulation game since March 22nd). Vancouver took 3 of 4 games in the regular season. Prediction: Canucks 4-3 #4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings Phoenix: 50-25-7, 107 points, Home: 29-10-2 Detroit: 44-24-14, 102 points, Road: 19-14-8 The NHL-owned Coyotes could not have been more unlucky, drawing the red hot Red Wings for their first postseason appearance since 2002. Phoenix?s Cinderella season has been made possible by fantastic goaltending by Ilya Bryzgalov, who has put in an MVP caliber season (42-20-6, 8 shutouts). The issue they have is offense, where their leading point-getter (Wojtek Wolski, 65 points) was ranked a mere 41st in the league; they are the lowest scoring team in the Western playoffs bracket, and 24th in the league overall. The one positive, is that Bryzgalov has playoff experience with Anaheim, posting a 9-5 record with a 1.68 goals against average. Unfortunately, they draw a Wings team that climbed all the way up from 9th place as recently as February, largely on the back of stellar rookie goalie Jimmy Howard (37-15-10, .924 save percentage). Detroit was also able to finally get healthy after an inordinate amount of injuries to key players this year (Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Holmstrom, Valterri Filpulla, Henrik Zetterberg). They also posted the best record since the Olympic break, second best record since the half-way point of the season, and have a roster full of playoff experience ? most recently by reaching back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals (winning two years ago). Look for Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom to elevate their games on the big stage here in the playoffs both offensively and defensively. During the season, Detroit won two games in regulation over Phoenix, and lost two games in overtime. Look for them to show that experience does matter. Prediction: Red Wings 4-2 Eastern Conference #1 Washington Capitals vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens Washington: 54-15-13, 121 points, Home: 30-5-6 Montreal: 39-33-10, 88 points, Road: 19-17-5 Washington put together one of the most impressive regular seasons in recent memory. With 121 points, they were only the 2nd team since the 1995-96 Red Wings to amass over 118 points (the other, was the 2005-06 Red Wings who had 124 points). As a team, they scored 313 goals, 45 more than 2nd place Vancouver, and average just under four goals per game (3.82). They had eight more points than any other team, had the most wins, and have the deepest team from top to bottom with three lines that can score at will. Their defense is one of few question marks. There is no doubt they get offense on the back end with Mike Green and Joe Corvo, but will they be able to stop the better teams in the league? Because their forwards, aside from a couple, don?t like to back-check. Jose Theodore has had a great year and will likely start in goal on a short leash (again). They shouldn?t have any worries against Montreal though, who really labored down the stretch. Yes, they split the season series and played a couple of overtime games, but there is no way the Habs can put up enough offense to win four games against the Caps; in fact, Montreal ranked 26th in goals scored. Washington also tied with Vancouver for the most home wins in the NHL with 30. Expect a short series. Prediction: Capitals 4-0 #2 New Jersey Devils vs. #7 Philadelphia Flyers New Jersey: 48-27-7, 103 points, Home: 27-10-4 Philadelphia: 41-35-6, 88 points, Road: 17-21-3 This is the most intriguing matchup in the East. It is a lot like the Vancouver/LA series in that the fan base of the favorite is likely more than a bit worried. Philadelphia actually took five of six games during the regular season, and now have a healthy Jeff Carter back in the lineup. There is veteran leadership and solid two way play. But the playoffs are a new season, so that 5-1 record is in the past. What it boils down to is goaltending, and Martin Brodeur is miles ahead of Brian Boucher in terms of talent, credibility and experience. Boucher did not crack a .900 save percentage this season, and while he does have some playoff experience, he doesn?t have Brodeur?s track record of Olympic gold and Stanley Cup victories. While Brodeur isn?t as phenomenal as he was five years ago, he is still one of the top-5 goalies in the league. The Devils will also benefit from the addition of Ilya Kovalchuk, who coincidentally needs a very strong playoff performance to solidify himself as a winner heading into free agency. His addition gives New Jersey two potent scoring lines that can play with the top lines of any other team. The difference for the Devils, is their forwards are also above average defensively. They also play much better team defense than almost any other team in the league, averaging three fewer shots against than shots taken per game. New Jersey will be helped by a healthy Paul Martin on the blueline. Look for Zach Parise to have a breakout postseason as the Devils should be able to make it to the Conference Finals. Prediction: Devils 4-3 #3 Buffalo Sabres vs. #6 Boston Bruins Buffalo: 45-27-10, 100 points, Home: 25-10-6 Boston: 39-30-13, 91 points, Road: 21-13-7 This has all the makings of a tight checking, low scoring series; I think there will be a lot of 3-1/2-0 hockey games. The Bruins were the worst team offensively in the entire league, with a league-low 196 goals (the only team under 200). On the other hand, they gave up the 2nd fewest goals in the league on the back of a strong performance by Tuukka Rask, who single-handedly saved the team after Tim Thomas flopped. They have a strong defense, but their leading scorer had less than 60 points (Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci had 52), the only team in the playoffs with that distinction. Buffalo was no slouch defensively either, 4th in the league in goals against due to Vezina favorite and Olympic hero Ryan Miller. Offensively, Buffalo was surprisingly tied for 9th in the league, and did it on a balanced attack from Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Tim Connolly, Jason Pominville and Calder candidate Tyler Myers on defence. Though Boston took 4 of 6 games during the regular season, I don?t think they will be able to score enough goals to win a series in the playoffs, and they will really miss Marc Savard because of this. Prediction: Sabres 4-2 #4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Ottawa Senators Pittsburgh: 47-28-7, 101 points, Home: 25-12-4 Ottawa: 44-32-6, 94 points, Road: 18-21-2 The one stat that jump outs for this series: Ottawa has allowed 13 more goals than they have scored this season, worst among playoff teams and one of only two in the playoffs to allow more than they scored this season. They have a very unproven Brian Elliott between the pipes, having taken over for a slumping Pascal Leclaire in net. Needless to say, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin should prove to be far too much for the Sens to handle. Crosby, of course, tied for the league lead in goals with 51, and tied for 2nd in points with 109 in one of the better all-around seasons of his career. With Malkin having an injury plagued year (28 goals, 77 points and a -6 in 67 games), Crosby did his best to single-handedly win the division for his team. But finishing 2nd in the division could prove to hurt the Pens in later rounds, just not this one. Pittsburgh was great at home this year, while Ottawa was brutal on the road, finishing with the 2nd fewest wins on the road out of all playoff teams. The Sens are not good enough defensively, especially at the forward positions aside from Daniel Alfredsson, to contain the Pens, and thus I don?t expect this series to last long (even though they split the season series). Prediction: Penguins 4-1 Nick can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter at @nickobergan