Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Second Round Predictions-West

1) Firstly we want to congratulate all the first round winners. As we mentioned in our first round West Predictions post, it would be unfortunate that a good team or two would be eliminated in the tightly contested/superior Western Conference. FAUXRUMORS got 3 of the 4 series dead on! Only on the SJ/Nashville series did we err.(Credit to our blog contributor, Antzmarching for getting ALL the series correct) We didn't anticipate the no show of Forsberg/Kariya. Like the Wadell watch in Atlanta, the 'Trotz watch' is on! Its time to go Barry. Going 4-12 in the playoffs isn't gonna cut it!


2) Now on to the Final 4 West team match ups:

  • DETROIT vs SAN JOSE- The Sharks ate the Red Wings' for breakfast during the regular season, but that means nothing now. Their nasty series with the Preds aside, they did win early giving them a decent, earned rest. SJ really impressed us at FAUXRUMORS. Marleau has become a clutch playoff performer. Though that can't be said yet of Thornton, he did have a decent first round. The Sharks will need Big Joe to step it up even more to beat the Wings. As for the Red Wings who had to go 6 hard fought(literally at times) games before dousing the Flames, they were the team that could have used the extended rest between rounds. Our original prediction had the Wings going to the conference Finals. However, that was predicated on playing Nashville in the second round. We don't like this match up for Detroit. The Sharks can and will skate with the Wings, and probably have more overall offensive depth than Team-Geriatric. Nabokov seemed up to the task in the first round. Though we're still not big fans or sold on him as a clutch playoff goalie. Hasek played well but was NOT the difference in the Flames series. Should be an exciting/entertaining good skating series. Sharks in 6

  • ANAHEIM vs VANCOUVER- Battle of the Brian Burke assembled teams! His prints are all over both squads as he was the GM for the Canucks before taking the same position with the Ducks. He is largely responsible for quite a few of the players on the Canucks, especially his draft day coup of obtaining BOTH Sedin twins. His impact on the Ducks was almost immediate. Turning around a floundering cartoon-like franchise and transforming them into a tough as nails Cup contender. Building depth with energetic young players and complimenting them well with additions like Pronger and Niedermeyer. As predicted here the Ducks easily dispatched the Wild and are well rested/relatively healthy You have to think the Canucks will be worn to the bone after being pushed to a Game 7 before finally winning. Luongo finally got his chance to shine, and shine he did for the Canucks. Making Nonis look good/Keenan look bad for trading Roberto. Anaheim surpisingly is using a goalie rotaion so far. We feel ultimately they want to go with Giguere who has more experience in the playoffs. Both he and Bryzgalov are quite capable, but not in Luongo's class. Despite having a slight edge in goal with Luongo we see this series as being a bit of a mismatch. Ducks in 5

13 comments:

T. Lloyd said...

Hasek is gonna carry the RedWings all the way!! Nabokov sucks!
Who cares about the East! The west is where the cup winner is gonna come from anyway!

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) We can't disagree that the West is the stronger conference overall this season... BUT
2) That has probably been the case he last few years and the East has a stranglehold over the Cup recently. Winning the last 3.
3) Why? Some have suggested the tough schedule(time difference/MORE travel) of many west teams as a reason. Wearing them down more than their Eastern counterparts. Also, with so many good competitive teams, by the time the Western Conference has its champ, they are very tattered/worn and easier to play against
4) Whatever the reason 1 series alone can't determine which conference is best. It would NOT be surprising to see the Cup stay in the East again

Lyle said...

We are in agreement with all the series except I see the Rangers winning.
Ryan Miller didn’t play well in the first round, and the Sabres d-men aren’t very physical they can be out-muscled. I will admit that the Sabres have considerable speed advantage and as you wrote plenty of offensive depth, so I'm not taking them lightly. But the Rangers have two decent scoring lines of their own, a good checking system, and ofcourse a goalie of the callibre of Henrik Lundqvist who’s been the difference the past few months. The main concern I have about the Rangers is the 1st line-Jagr's line. If he gets checked closely or goes into a slump, the Rangers have NO chance. However, I sense an upset here. I could be wrong, but I believe the Rangers have what it takes to win, I do believe though that it’ll be a long, tough series. Rangers in 7!

Antzmarching said...

DETROIT in 7
ANAHEIM in 6

Antz' stone cold locks!!!!

Antzmarching said...

Rags in 7??? C'mon Lloyd... Girardi, Mara, Malik, Rozsival, Tyutin, and Pock... Enough said!!!

Lyle said...

It wasn't Lloyd who thought the rangers in 7, it was me Antz. You have a point about the Ranger defense, but the Sabres defense and goaltending hasn't been that great either in the playoffs

T. Lloyd said...

Antz, aint me who thought the Rangers would win! I could care less about the boring east games. the redwings are gonna win it all!!

Antzmarching said...

Sorry Lyle - my bad... And YOU are correct regading the Buffalo defense and goaltending, but you mustn't discount the 82 games prior to those... Also, as poorly as they played, they still won 4 out of 5... The Sabres best is yet to come - the Rags are merely in their way...

VLAD THE IMPALER said...

Goaltending wins! Pick the team with the best goalie, and you will be in the money every time!
As I see it the winners based on that will be:
Rangers
Devils
Canucks
Detroit

Antzmarching said...

Ok Vlad, don't "impale" me for this comment, but according to your theory, ONLY the Devils can win the Cup... Brodeur MUST be given the nod over Hasek (he's old) and Luongo (limited playoff experience)...

VLAD THE IMPALER said...

I only impale Turks or those who double cross me!
forþele otomane capturate Buda, oraºul principal statului unguresc. Transylvania care a fost sub controlul unguresc la timpul a fost s-a transformat în semi-autonom un stat sub controlul domnilor locali ungureºti.

....and is a Devils Cup win far fetched? Brodeur and Luongo were the 2 best goalies this year. Therefore they should see eachother in the Finals.
Some say Luongo had a slightly better year. He had to face better teams more often abd still had stats equal to Marty.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) An FYI for you goalie-lovers out there(Vlad/Antz) Anaheim was the only team Roberto Luongo faced this season that he did not beat. He beat the other 13 Western Conference opponents at least once.
2) Sure the regular season is meaningless now, but that is a telling stat in our opinion

Antzmarching said...

NOT far fetched at all if either Vancouver or the Devs win the Cup... Even though I didn't pick them, do not overlook the Red Wings... In fact, ONLY the Rags winning the Cup would surprise me... I reiterate - Mara, Malik, Roszival, Pock, Giradi, and Tyutin... THREE journeymen d-men, TWO rookies, and ONE average second year guy...

 
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