Eight teams came in and four remain in the race for a
Western Conference championship and Stanley Cup glory. Read on for my Western
Conference semi-final preview:
Anaheim versus
Calgary
Memo, Calgary: beware of the third period. That’s where the
Anaheim Ducks are at their most dangerous. They blew Winnipeg away when the
game was on the line, trailing in three games leading into the final frame, and
ended up recording an impressive 4-0 series whitewash over the Jets. Now the
scoring guns of the Ducks – Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler – turn
their attention to another Canadian outfit, the Flames.
For mine, there’s still a worry for the Ducks that, like so
many Bruce Boudreau-coached teams in Washington, they’ll stumble in the
playoffs, but you have to like their form from the Winnipeg series. They got
secondary scoring from Emerson Etem and Jakob Silfverberg, but the reality of
the situation is that if Kesler, Getzlaf and Perry continue as they did against
the Jets, Anaheim will be tough to stop. The team goes as that trio goes.
Flames fans should worry that they’ve lost twenty straight
regular season games at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, including fifteen in
regulation. As much as coaches say that doesn’t count in the playoffs, I
believe it does. There’s a mindset there that’s hard to break out of. Their
rookies accumulated 13 points in the Vancouver series, which Calgary won but
it’ll primarily be the top line of Jiri Hudler, Sean Monahan and impressive
rookie American Johnny Gaudreau who’ll determine whether the Flames can keep up
with the Ducks.
Where the Ducks are improved – vastly so – in comparison to
previous seasons is on defence. Blue line expertise has always been the knock
on Boudreau’s squads. Defence is what wins playoff series’ and championships.
It’s also where a team is shown up to be deficient under the pump of the
postseason. I’ve always been a huge fan of Cam Fowler, whose Winnipeg series
was excellent. His partnership with the steady Simon Despres seems to have
really benefited the American. Watch for Sami Vatanen, especially in power play
situations. His shot is like a cannon and scored two PP goals against Winnipeg.
In net for Anaheim, Frederik Andersen was something special,
improving dramatically on his last playoff outing. He faces a stiffer test against Calgary, who
claim more offensive weapons than Winnipeg. American John Gibson, injured for
the first round, is still a mystery as far as his status for this series goes,
but even if Gibson is healthy, you would assume Andersen, thanks to a solid
Winnipeg series, would get the nod.
At the other end of the ice, Jonas Hiller, a former Anaheim
stater, and Karri Ramo split time in the regular season before an injury to
Ramo saw Hiller elevated. Both players saw action against Vancouver, with Ramo
coming in as relief after Vancouver scored two goals on three shots to open
Game Six. Ramo stopped seventeen of nineteen shots there on out, helping
Calgary to a win. Hiller knows a bit about the opposition, but then, they know
a bit about him, too.
Prediction: The Ducks are too strong across the board, and I
can see their power play really dominating in this series. It’ll be close to
the end, but I see Anaheim advancing in six.
Chicago versus
Minnesota
For the third time in three seasons, these Central Division
rivals will meet in a playoff series and, as the old saying goes, familiarity
breeds contempt.
The Wild were definitely the surprise packet of the first
round in the West. Up against a St Louis squad that I expected would be playing
in the Western Conference Final, if not battling it out for Lord Stanley, the
Wild really dominated, ousting the highly-fancied Blues 4-2.
How, exactly, did they win? By following the old playoff
adage: if you get good goaltending, stout defence and opportunistic scoring,
you’ll win more series than you’ll lose. Devan Dubnyk, a Vezina Trophy finalist
who was also a trade deadline acquisition from the Arizona Coyotes, might well
be the move of the year. He’s been lights out in goals ever since arriving in
the State of Hockey, and a puzzle rarely solved by the Blues. Not once in the
previous two playoff meetings with Chicago have the Wild been so settled in
goal.
The Wild will have seen the flaky nature of Chicago’s
goaltending – the Blackhawks started both Corey Crawford and Scott Darling in
their six-game series victory over the fancied Nashville Predators, and pulled
them both at various times – and believe they can exploit it, at least to a degree.
Having two battle-tested goalies might actually be a blessing for Chicago.
Scoring was a team effort for the Wild, with eight players
scoring at least one goal against St Louis. Of course, the big guns were at the
forefront, with Zach Parise leading all comers, but the secondary scoring of
guys like Jason Pominville and captain Mikko Koivu was impressive, too. Don’t discount
Tomas Vanek, either. If he gets on a run, watch out,
Leading Minnesota’s blue line is Ryan Suter, formerly of
Nashville, as good a defenceman as there is in the NHL. He formed a solid
pairing with Jonas Brodin, the two playing huge minutes against the best
forwards St Louis had and, for the most part, dominated. Only Vladimir
Tarasenko scored more than two goals for the Blues. That speaks to Minnesota’s
defensive depth.
You don’t underestimate the ‘Hawks and their ability in the
post-season. There are too many guys with plenty of big-game experience on the
roster. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are the noted leaders, but Chicago rely
on Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, who both had solid outings in the Nashville
series. Even the fourth line of Marcus Kruger, Andrew Shaw and Andrew
Desjardins, is a threat.
Defensively, Chicago are as good as they come. Duncan Keith
and Brent Seabrook are supestars and Niklas Hjalmarsson is getting there, too.
There’s at least some weakness towards the bottom of the depth chart, in Kimmo
Timonen and Michal Rozsival, and, of course, the goaltending situation I noted
above.
Prediction: A close series between Central Division rivals,
but Chicago probably have just a little more polish, and will win – not without
a fight – in six games.
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