Eight teams came in and four remain in the Eastern Conference race. It’s a real arms race of loaded teams this year, and I’m tipping the 2015 Stanley Cup champion will come from the east. Here is my semi-final preview:
New York Rangers versus Washington
For the fifth time since 2009, the Rangers and Capitals will face off in a playoff series. No other teams have played each other as often in the last seven seasons as New York and Washington, who finished first and second in the Metropolitan Division.
I’m a Rangers fan. Heading into the playoffs I was quietly confident that this might be the year for the Blueshirts, and nothing I saw in the Pittsburgh series, which the Rangers won fairly comfortably 4-1, to make me believe otherwise. New York has it all: offensive weapons up front – Rick Nash, Martin St Louis, Carl Hagelin, Derek Stepan – probably the best top six defencemen in the NHL – team captain Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein, Dan Boyle and Keity Handle – and, of course, Henrik Lundqvist in goal. There are few better goalies in the league than Hank.
Pint-sized forward Mats Zuccarello will be a noticeable omission from the Rangers line-up, out indefinitely with an upper body issue that’s suspected to be a concussion. The onus will be now be on Martin St Louis, who will likely be promoted to the first line. Watch for the Rangers’ third line, the youth movement of Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and J.T. Miller. Also, keep an eye on New York rookie Kevin Hayes and clutch scorer Derrick Brassard.
The Rangers have an advantage of nearly a full week’s rest, which will allow players like Klein extra time to recuperate from a broken arm, whereas the Capitals have trudged out of a tough seven-game series against the New York Islanders. It was a brutal contest, in which nothing came easily.
It was really Washington’s second line that dominated for them offensively against the Islanders. Evgeni Kuznetsov, Jason Chimera and Marcus Johansson accounted for five goals and six assists across the series, but the top line, featuring Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and the grossly underrated Joel Ward, are as good as there is in the NHL. When that line is on-song – and they were against the Islanders – the Capitals can be very dangerous.
Ovechkin, guilty of going missing in recent series, played strongly in the first round, including his physical work off the puck. He’s a behemoth at the best of times, but will need to prove he can operate against a good Rangers defence, which kept Evgeni Malkin scoreless and limited Sidney Crosby to two goals. If Ovechkin (and Backstrom for that matter) is similarly stalled, it’s advantage New York.
Barry Trotz, noted for his defensive prowess during a long tenure in Nashville has gotten the best out of the Caps, who were known more for offensive fireworks and so suffered some ignominious early exits in playoffs of recent years. The defensive corps headed by Mike Green, Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr are veterans in Washington and they know what they’re doing. Brooks Orpic John Carlson are Trotz’s favourite pair as far as playing a shut-down role goes. It almost goes without saying that goalie Braden Holtby will need to play out of his skin to keep the Caps in the series.
Prediction: This should be a wonderfully physical contest, but New York will be two strong, and win in six games.
Montreal versus Tampa Bay
The Canadiens are an interesting team. They had a 3-0 series lead on Ottawa, but the plucky Senators came back and were a Carey Price miracle game away from forcing what would’ve been a very interesting Game Seven. Instead, the Habs can thank their franchise goaltender for not having to face a tough Sens team again. Price stopped forty-three shots in a stellar Game Six performance that was as good as we’ve ever seen from him. The Habs kept it close, winning three one-goal games.
As a wise pundit said, it took some simply stupefying goaltending and a few timely referee calls for the Canadiens to get through. Whether they simply too their foot off the accelerator up 3-0 or the Sens just figured them out, I’m not yet sure. We’ll know more a few games into this series. There’s no doubt that they have the talent to win a Cup. They’re probably as good a team as the Rangers and will be itching for a crack at the team who beat them in the Eastern Conference Finals last year. As will the rabid fan base and hard-charging Montreal press.
First things first, the Canadiens must deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning who struggled through some inconsistency in their first round series against Detroit. The thing about Tampa is, though, that they managed to win a seven-game affair without so much as a single goal from their superstar scorer Steven Stamkos. He won’t stay silent for long, and even if he does, Tampa proved they have secondary scoring from the likes of Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Valtteri Filppula. The Tampa power play can be lethal. The Habs would want to avoid penalty trouble – something they struggled with against Ottawa.
Tampa’s goalie Ben Bishop had his moments against Detroit, and when he was good, he was very good. If he can replicate his positive form, the Canadiens are in trouble. The Lightning also have some solid defenceman to help their net-minder, including Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, who have playoff experience with the New York Rangers, and a guy I’ve always loved, the underrated Matthew Carle. Because they play in a non-hockey market, the Lightning are often overlooked, but this is a very good hockey team.
You look up and down the Canadiens line-up, and although a lot of the media spotlight is shone on Carey Price in net, there is a lot of talent right through. If you’re a hockey fan, you know all about P.K. Subban, a lightning rod for controversy on the blue line. He’s very much Montreal’s talisman, and one of the big talking points of the Ottawa series for an ill-advised slash that led to an ejection.
Montreal’s best forward is probably Max Pacioretty, who isn’t a stranger to controversy himself, but there are guys further down the depth chart like Dale Weise and Torrey Mitchell who can sniff out a goal. The underrated Brandon Prust is another player to look out for. No matter what line they ice, Montreal have scoring threats. It’s very much been a team effort. Subban contributes from the blue line, adding six points in the win over Ottawa.
Defensively, the Habs are loaded, and they are deep, with Subban, Andrei Markob and Alexi Emelin all solid presences on the blue line. Their top three pairs are set in stone, and then there are veterans like Sergei Gonchar who are plugged in wherever necessary. It must be nice to have a guy of Gonchar’s considerable talent to patch holes here and there. Montreal has a formidable roster.
Prediction: Montreal in six games, with a few decided in overtime.
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