Wednesday, April 29, 2015

2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference Semi Final Preview




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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