With the re-seeding going into the second round, it becomes Detroit (2) vs Anaheim (8) and Vancouver (3) vs Chicago (4) in the Western Conference. The East has Boston (1) vs Carolina (6) and Washington (2) vs Pittsburgh (4). All four match-ups should be pretty exciting, to be frank. Vote in our poll on the right to pick which specific series will be the most interesting.
Boston Bruins
After dominating the Canadiens, the B’s have had a nice break but now it’s time to get back to business. They’ll be going up against a ‘Canes team that will be surging with emotion and momentum after a thrilling comeback win in the final minute of Game 7 vs. the Devils. However, the Bruins depth will be tough for the Hurricanes to handle, for sure, and it’s possible that after a hard fought series vs. NJ, Carolina may be a bit banged up and tired so the B’s will have a chance to capitalize if they can maintain intensity after the layoff.
Viable players: Thomas, Ryder, Kessel, Krejci, Savard, Wideman, Chara, Lucic, Bergeron
Carolina Hurricanes
After a jaw-dropping finish to Game 7 in the first round, it will be interesting to see if they can get back up to that intensity. Carolina will certainly have the momentum but if they’ll be able to sustain it or not is an entirely different question. Carolina always seems to have New Jersey (and Brodeur’s) number in the playoffs, as evidenced by the feats they pulled off in the first round, especially the way they won in Game 7 and also their goal with less than one second left earlier in that same series, where Brodeur goes nuts. Although the Hurricanes are going in on a high, it’s likely that the B’s will give them a lot more trouble than even the Devils did, so expect this to be an intense series.
Viable players: Staal, Whitney, Pitkanen, Corvo, Gleason, LaRose, Jokinen
Washington Capitals
After taking down the Rangers in 7, the Capitals go right into playing a strong offensive team in the Pens, which will be a big difference from the NYR offense. The anemic NY offense that the Capitals fell down 0-2 and then 1-3 to won’t happen against Pittsburgh. Not only do they have a good goalie in Fleury, the Pens also have a MUCH stronger scorers group. The Capitals have to step up their defensive game and make sure they capitalize on their scoring opportunities, or it could be a tough series for them. The pressure will be on young rookie Varlamov. If he can play well then the Capitals will have a shot to at least go toe to toe with another strong offense and they certainly have enough firepower to play a wide open offensive game against the Penguins and they can win at it too.
Viable players: Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Fedorov, Green, Poti
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens come off a nice series win vs. a strong Flyers team and go into another series with a pretty good offense. Pittsburgh has the edge in net with Fleury as he got valuable experience in last season’s run to the finals and should he continue to play well, the Capitals will have their hands full on both ends of the ice. The Rangers had Lundqvist, an elite goalie, and he stood on his head in almost every game and kept the Capitals at bay for most of the series, however Lundy’s offense in front of him let him down; this is unlikely to happen with Fleury and the Penguins. Expect the series complexion to be completely different from the first one, for both the Pens and the Caps. It should be a very entertaining series and the Pens could potentially be heading back to the Eastern Conference Finals again if they can keep up their high level of play thus far.
Viable players: Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar, Letang, Guerin, Kennedy, Fedotenko, Kunitz, Fleury
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