Justblueshirts reviews its Conference Semi-final predictions

1. New York Rangers vs. 7. Washington Capitals
Prediction: Rangers in 7
Actual: Rangers in 7
What else is new with the Rangers?

5. Philadelphia Flyers vs. 6. New Jersey Devils
Prediction: Flyers in 5
Actual: Devils in 5
Whoops. After looking so underwhelming against Florida in the first round, and needing Game 6 and Game 7 OT victories just to stave off elimination, I didn't think the Devils were a great matchup against a well rested Flyers team that was chock full of confidence leading into this semi-final matchup. I couldn't have been more wrong. The Flyers had a difficult time against the Devils forecheck and something called defensemen. The Flyers inexplicably couldn't hold nor capitalize any time they went ahead on the scoreboard, going 1-10 in all playoff games in which they scored first. The turning point for me in this series had to be the four goal - third period the Devils dropped on the Flyers in Game 2. The Flyers' swagger we saw in the Penguins series as well as the latter 3 periods (including OT) Game 1 in this series never returned after Game 2, as the Flyers were the more undisciplined, unprepared team.

2. St. Louis Blues vs. 8. Los Angeles Kings
Prediction: Blues in 6
Actual: Kings in 4
I can safely say NO ONE expected this result. A few completely wrote off Los Angeles going into this round after dispatching Vancouver in the first round without their best player in Daniel Sedin. LA was supposed to be the team that had fantastic goaltending and these big time goal scorers, who couldn't score. Not only did they get fantastic goal scoring in this series from Vezina trophy finalist Jonathan Quick, their goal scorers woke up as well. LA scored 15 goals in just 4 games. It wasn't as though 1 or 2 guys on the Kings suddenly woke up and took the series over either. The Kings had 10 different goal scorers in this series alone. With the balanced scoring as well as lights out goaltending from Quick, the Kings are going to be one tough out (if at all) for somebody.

3. Phoenix Coyotes vs. 4. Nashville Predators
Prediction: Nashville in 7
Actual: Coyotes in 5
Admittedly, I did not watch too much of this series besides the 3rd period of Game 5. When I made my prediction I thought the Preds were the better defensive team, with the shutdown pair of Weber and Suter combined with Pekka Rinne backstopping to cover up any mistakes. Turns out there's still some magic in those old legs of Coyotes' captain Shane Doan and Ray Whitney who can still fly (using that term loosely) now at the age of 40.

ECSF vs. WSH G6: lethargic Rangers sleepwalk in DC, fall 2-1

I'm never overly critical of the Rangers but tonight's game was just downright embarrassing. Sure it helped the Caps that they were afforded the bounces, particularly on Chimera's goal, but you cannot win playoff games by sleepwalking for 59 minutes. The Rangers showed zero killer instinct and no willingness to push the envelope and impose their will on the Caps. The fact that the Caps have outplayed the Rangers since Game 4, its a borderline miracle that this series is going 7 games.

Stralman in particular was abused tonight by Chimera, who had no answer for his speed along the boards, Del Zotto failing to keep the puck in the offensive zone on numerous occasions, Torts' lineup decisions outside of his top line were just brutal and I was critical of them even before Game 5. Kreider's bad Game 4 has cost him a boat-load of ice time in these past 2 games and the Rangers could've used him, especially 2 goals down and attempt to generate some kind of offense outside of the top line. Kreider TOI tonight: 6 mins and 6 seconds. If the Rangers had a best forward tonight, it was John Mitchell, who has become more visible in Kreider's absence.

The Rangers owe it to themselves to play a good 60 minute game we haven't seen them play since Game 1 of this series. If it doesn't show up, I'm going to be talking draft and July 1st soon. The Rangers do play their best with there backs against the wall and I'm going to expect nothing different Saturday night.

Thoughts from Game 4 and why the sky isn't falling

I just want to go over a few things from Game 4 since I was extremely busy this weekend and never had the chance to write a review for the game. First, I thought that the Caps played their all around best game of the series on Saturday. The Caps consistently beat the Rangers to pucks, bullied the Rangers along the boards, had a ton of puck possession especially in the first period which set the tone for the game, blocked  nearly 30 Ranger shots and lastly made less mistakes than the Rangers did that allowed them to send the series back to New York for Game 5. 

Lets be honest, the first two goals against the Rangers were on Kreider. No explanation needed for Ovechkin's blast that made it 1-0, but Kreider was responsible for picking up Backstrom, who passed the puck around the net, not before what was basically a stiff arm to a charging Anisimov, which planted Artie firmly on his rear. Backstrom made a simple move from the corner to the low slot where he was wide open to shoot the puck past Hank which he did. To be noted as well that Kreider did not have his stick in the passing lane either to break up the centering feed.

It was a shame after the game to see so much Kreider hate on twitter and various message boards. He's a big reason why the Rangers advanced past Ottawa to begin with so lets not kill the kid. Plus I think Kreider is entitled to a little learning curve. If you want to bash the kid, do it next season after he's had a offseason with the team plus training camp. If he still is making the same defensive mistakes, then he is open to criticism. Kreider is going to be a fantastic hockey player for this team for the next several years, so lets quell the 'trade him and half of the Rangers to Columbus for Rick Nash' chatter.

Moving forward, I hope the fans aren't naive enough to think that the series is now over because they looked terrible in Game 4. The Rangers have always responded well to bad games this season and I would be surprised if tonight was any different. The Rangers know that they have to win tonights' game to avoid what they went through against Ottawa. They also have to start to learn to be a little more selfish with the puck. The Rangers made far too many passes in transition that allowed the Caps to get set up defensively and led to their heavily inflated shot blocking totals in Game 4. I expect the Rangers to come out flying at the start tonight in front of their home fans and come away with a win.

ECSF vs. WSH G1: Chris Kreider turns the Garden into his playground

I'm never going to get sick talking about Chris Kreider who had his coming out Garden party today, scoring the game winner at 7:00 of the third period and assisting on Brad Richards' goal 90 seconds later to ice the game. Today's game was one of the ugliest playoff games I can remember watching as just 32 shots combined were taken today. The second period 5 on 3 the Rangers had to kill changed the entire complexity of the game and will be remembered as a big point in the series. Artem Anisimov opened the scoring at 12:38 on a wraparound goal that found its way behind Holtby. The Caps began to press a little towards the end of the second period and managed to get a puck past Lundqvist with just 4 seconds left with Chimera converting a sick saucer pass from Brooks Laich.

The game was seemingly still up for grabs heading into the third period, with numerous back and forth chances and following the pass through the neutral zone from Derek Stepan to Kreider, blasted a shot past Holtby, who came way out of his crease to challenge Kreider to no avail. With the Rangers buzzing following the go ahead goal and cycling in the Washington end, Kreider found Brad Richards in alone in front of the net and beat Holtby five-hole to ice the game.

Whether fatigue or not was an issue today, the Rangers are a no excuses team. They didn't seem concerned that Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky didn't dress for today's game and the extra forward spot went to a defenseman. They didn't panic during the 5 on 3 PK and they didn't panic coming out of the locker room for the third period after Washington tied it up. This is a team that has what it takes to beat anyone that steps up to them. The Rangers are clearly on a mission to do some big things this spring.

Thanks Brendan Shanahan.

East & West Conference Semifinals Predictions

1. New York Rangers vs. 7 Washington Capitals
The Rangers now are vastly different group from the team that was knocked out by the Capitals quickly and quietly last April. This time, the Rangers will have their true captain in the lineup unlike last year when Callahan was sidelined with the broken ankle that he sustained blocking a shot a week before the start of the playoffs. Callahan's injury really took the wind out of the Rangers sails, both in the locker room as well as the fan base. The Rangers, through call-ups and FA acquisitions, now have the pieces to the puzzle to the system Torts wants to employ. On top of all this, you would expect motivation to play a huge factor for the Rangers in the series. Hopefully for the Rangers, motivation doesn't turn into frustration if things don't bounce their way.
The Caps are a different team since last season too. Unfortunately, the Caps fired Bruce Boudreau in the middle of the season, so the Ranger fans won't be able inquire directly to the coach if he can hear the crowd noise during the game. Jokes aside, the Caps changed up their entire approach to hockey and are now attempting to be the team the Rangers already are. The Caps goaltending was expected to be an issue when Neuvirth went down to injury. Unfortunately for Washington's opponents, it has led to the emergence of Braden Holtby, whom at times has looked unbeatable.

Keys for the Rangers:
1. Bodies in front of Holtby, bang home rebounds.
2. Start winning some offensive zone faceoffs, no more Konopka to worry about.
3. Forecheck, Forecheck, Forecheck.
4. Caps coach Dale Hunter has kept his own star forward on the bench during key times during his tenure, now its up to the Rangers to make Ovechkin a non factor.
5. Until the Rangers have a miniscule of OT playoff success, win these games in regulation.

I think the Rangers will be fine, but the team will make fans call their cardiologist more than a few times this series. Rangers in 7.

5. Philadelphia Flyers vs. 6 New Jersey Devils
My prediction is basically predicated on the fact that I have no faith in the Devils PK slowing down the Flyers power play. The Panthers with the man advantage, scored at a 33% clip against the Devils across the seven game series and now go up against a Flyers team that scored 12 power play goals in addition to 3 shorthanded goals in six games against the Penguins. Remember how many shorthanded goals the Devils allowed this season? If you guessed 13 you're correct, a mark that is worst in the league. One thing that remains to be seen is how rusty the Flyers may be who haven't played meaningful hockey for exactly one week while the Devils were in double OT, 72 hours prior.  The week off allowed the Flyers to get some of their banged up defensemen back in the form of Nic Grossmann (concussion) & Andrej Meszaros (back surgery). The Devils on the other hand matchup with the Flyers as far as top 6 forwards are concerned, but the Flyers have 3 lines that can score and will wear quickly on the Devils blueliners. What is quite sad about this series is that it wouldn't surprise me if the Devils were able to go the distance with Philly, but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if the Flyers steamrolled NJ. My prediction is somewhere in the middle. Flyers in 5.

Western Conference Predictions

Blues in 6
Nashville in 7

Justblueshirts blog ECQF Prediction Review

1 New York Rangers vs. 8 Ottawa Senators
Prediction: Rangers in 6
Actual: Rangers in 7
The Ugly: I did say in my prediction column the Rangers weren't going to make it easy and the certainly accomplished that task. The Rangers' Chris Kreider proved to the world he can play with the big boys and was the difference Game 6 & Game 7. The Sens are left wondering if their captain is going to come back for one more year but the future elsewhere is very bright in Ottawa.

2 Boston Bruins vs. 7 Washington Capitals
Prediction: Bruins in 6
Actual: Capitals in 7
The Ugly: Whiffed badly on this prediction. Braden Holtby was the single reason why the Caps are advancing as he was able to outduel Tim Thomas at the other end of the ice. Disappointing end to the season for the defending Cup champs but all the pieces for another run are still there.

3 Florida Panthers vs. 6 New Jersey Devils
Prediction: Devils in 5
Actual: Devils in 7
The Ugly: Devils were quite fortunate to move on as they tried hard to gift-wrap the series to the Panthers.  Goaltending wound up being the difference in the end. Florida needs to find a goaltender badly if they want to compete in the near future.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Philadelphia Flyers
Prediction: Penguins in 7
Actual: Flyers in 6
The Ugly: When I had wrote that Marc Andre Fleury was nothing special in the regular season, I didn't expect Fleury to let puck after puck go by him repeatedly for the first 3 games of the series. A 4.63 GA and a save percentage of .834 will not win you many playoff games. Fleury finally showed up in Game 5 but the effort was too little too late. Bryzgalov was not great either at the other end either but it was the Flyers special teams that was the difference. 12 power play goals and 3 shorthanded goals in 6 games.

ECQF G6 vs. OTT: Rangers PP wakes up, difference in 3-2 win

Just a fast rundown tonight:

• Kreider had the game winner that really shouldn't have been the game winner & Stepan with 3 points are absolute studs. Throw in Callahan on the right side makes for the best top 6 the Rangers have seen in years.
• Speaking of Kreider, he was the best forward on the ice for two periods. Congrats to the kid on his first goal of many with the Rangers. The pass from Stepan and the snipe by Kreider beating Anderson on the short side was an incredible display of skill.
• The one real goal against Lundqvist was a fine setup on Ottawa's part. Two forwards were parked in front of Lundqvist's crease any time Ottawa was in their offensive zone for the entire first period and a practice they largely gave up on for the remainder of the game until things got desperate late. The Rangers defense and shot-blocking by the forwards tonight was incredible.
• If the Rangers are to advance further into the playoffs, Brad Richards needs to copy his 2004 Conn Smythe performance. His go ahead goal on the 5 on 3 was as clutch as you can ask for.
• I'm not one to call out the refs, but the officiating was flat out brutal tonight. Prust was crosschecked in front of the Ranger net at one point I believe by Chris Neil not long after he was called for the same thing early in the second period. I'm not going to go insane over Ottawa's third goal as we all know the obvious wasn't called. 
• Speaking of public enemy number 1, Chris Neil was a ghost in the second period and the Rangers scored 3 goals. Not a coincidence people.
• Zenon Konopka continues to dominate in the faceoff circle against the Rangers. Sad when the previously mentioned Senators are the half of the reason why this series has gone 7 games. Spezza and Karlsson the other half.
• Game 7 Thursday night back at the Garden.