We have a schedule and we have a game night… the quarter-finals ended last night with a pair of exciting game sevens in the east, tonight the Western Conference Semi-Finals begin in the desert with the Phoenix Coyotes hosting the Nashville Predators at Jobing.com Arena. The Predators have had a whole week off after dispatching the Detroit Red Wings in five games, completing the series last Friday.
Preds Head Coach Barry Trotz has been trying to apply lessons learned last season to get his team engaged going into game one. He has mixed off days with hard skating, up tempo practices that, to this observer, has the team ready. I got a feeling of “caged animal” from the team in the two practices I attended, just waiting to be released. I do expect the team to come out flying tonight.
Home ice has not been kind to teams in these playoffs for the most part. In the season series between these two teams, the road team won each game. The Predators only faced Phoenix netminder Mike Smith once, they put four by him and won in a shootout on March 12.
The special teams comparison tilts heavily toward the Predators, it is to be considered that the Predators power play only converted at a 9.1% clip in round one, after having the most potent power play in the NHL during the regular season. Quite a bit of time was spent in practice on making sure special teams get back to prior performance levels.
Phoenix has struggled to hold on to leads in their series with Chicago, surrendering third period leads enough times to cause some heartburn. Goaltender Mike Smith has simply been Johnny on the Spot when needed and these Desert Dogs have gotten timely scoring from players like Mikkel Boedker and Antoine Vermette.
The waiting is almost done… game time is 8pm with coverage on NBC Sports Network. The Voice of the Nashville Predators, Pete Weber and Terry Crisp have the call on the Predators Radio Network flagship station 102.5 the Game. Pre game starts at 7pm with Willy Daunic and Tom Callahan.
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Before I get into my fearless Semi-Final Predictions… lets’ take a look at my take on the first round, I predicted the following…
- Rangers in five – OK… it took seven…
- Bruins in five – Who knew the Caps had the kinda stones they showed in game seven?
- Panthers in seven – I was one Martin Brodeur bobble away from being right here…
- Penguins in seven – I always have trouble with predicting series that the Flyers are in, I always over-compensate for my heart trying to make the call.
- Canucks in five – Never have I been more happily wrong, who saw this one coming? In retrospect, I should’ve.
- Sharks in six – Picked the wrong upset in the west… St. Louis avoided the “just glad to be here’s”
- Blackhawks in six – Another one that not many saw coming. You knew that Chicago’s goaltending was weak, but wow…
- Predators in seven – I expected the Red Wings to win at least one at home.
Three out of eight… glad I didn’t bet the farm… now let’s look at the four Semi-Final series…
#1 New York Rangers vs. #7 Washington Capitals – The capitals have owned the Rangers in their recent playoff history, they have met twice in the past three years with the Caps winning in seven and in five. It is a different look Ranger team, with a different attitude. A real John Tortorella team with work ethic and heart, the Capitals seemed to have found some heart as well in their first round upset of the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins. Henrik Lundqvist will be a major factor in this series but rookie Braden Holtby may be an X-Factor in the Washington net. I will be interested in how the quick turnaround for these two teams impacts the series, I do believe it will limit the “we’re just happy to be at the party” factor.
Offense – Slight Advantage Rangers
Defense – Advantage Capitals
Goaltending – Advantage Rangers
Special Teams – Even
Coaching – Advantage Rangers
Prediction – Rangers in six
#5 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils – from one heated rivalry, to another, these two division rivals have met four times in the playoffs, the Devils winning their first two meetings, the Flyers winning their last two. The rest vs. rust factor will come into play in Game One on Sunday, the Flyers had an entire week off. They split the season series, they won in each other’s barn. The key in this series in defense. The Flyers have been scoring goals in bunches, but their blueline has been unsteady at best, getting Nicklas Grossman back in the lineup will be big for the Flyers. The Devils have their own defensive struggles, but they are minor compared to Philly’s. The other big story here is in net, the ageless Martin Brodeur cam up big last night in Florida but has shown cracks, the Flyers Ilya Bryzgalov doesn’t have to steal the series, but he does need to be solid.
Offense – Advantage Flyers
Defense – Advantage Devils
Goaltending – Advantage Devils
Special Teams – Advantage Flyers
Coaching – Advantage Flyers
Prediction – Flyers in six
#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings – Good goaltending, solid defense and teams that know how to play their system. That is the story of this series. Coaches that have “been there, done that” and two teams that aren’t afraid to bring the body. This will be a tight-checking, physical series that may end up with a survivor, rather than a winner. The X-Factor in the series may be consistency. The Blues were a model of consistency in the regular season where the Kings were up and down, both teams changes in mid-season to coaches with significant Cup experience… this one is going to be good.
Offense – Advantage Kings
Defense – Slight Advantage Blues
Goaltending – Even
Special Teams –Advantage Blues
Coaching – Even
Prediction – Blues in seven
#3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #4 Nashville Predators – A mirror match if there ever was one. Two teams that can roll four lines with solid defense, scoring by committee, good coaches and ridiculously great goaltending that like to counter punch and wait for their opponent to make mistakes. Both played that strategy to perfection in round one. Keep a close eye on game one, this could be the harbinger as the reaction to being in the second round will be apparent in this match. Will Nashville be rusty? Will Phoenix be completely engaged after their first playoff series win since they were the Jets. On paper, the Predators have more weapons on both sides of the puck and more playoff experience in key roles, but the Coyotes just seem to find a way to get things done.
Offense – Advantage Predators
Defense – Slight advantage Predators
Goaltending – Slight advantage Predators
Special Teams – Advantage Predators
Coaching – Even
Prediction – Predators in six
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Ron’s Diabetic Assist Dog Update
As 7am this morning, pledges stand at
$3,690. Let’s keep this going as the real cost is now reflected in the goal on Ron’s page… we are 46% to goal… please keep spreading the word. Social media is driving this effort, and the generosity has been amazing!
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Playoff Look
East
NYR vs. WSH – Series starts Saturday
PHI vs. NJD – Series starts Sunday
West
STL vs. LAK – Series starts Saturday
PHX vs. NSH – Series starts tonight
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Random Notes…
- Prime-time spotlight game for the Predators tonight, only game of the evening.
- Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith faced 241 shots in six games against Chicago. An average of just over 40 shots per game.
- Hal Gill returning to the lineup tonight will solidify a Preds PK that simply wasn’t up to snuff in round one and the Coyote power play does not have the firepower of Detroit. A big positive for the Preds.
- The trade deadline additions for both teams make comparing these teams by regular season results almost useless. They both look very different.
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- I know I’m a day late on this but… Note to stupid racist Twitter posters commenting on Joel Ward… Joel is the best guy you will ever meet. He would be welcome back in Nashville anytime… Pred Nation is proud of Joel and completely unsurprised that he came up big in the clutch. What a bunch of losers…
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