Tonight's Picks CHI 0 WPG 2 FLA 2 WSH 0 LAK 0 CGY 2 NJ 1 NYR 2 NYI 2 TOR 1 OTT 0 TB 2 STL 2 COL 0 LV 2 EDM 1
Another exciting weekend of hockey and we are now less than 10 days from the MOST WONDERFUL TIME of the YEAR...The opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!
And what does that mean? It means the annual "WHO WANTS TO PLAY WHO?" story.. Why? Because this matters a ton. Every year, success in the playoffs come down to three main factors.
1. Goalies 2. Power Plays 3. Matchups
Of course you can't really make it that simple...but you sometimes can.
We will get to Goalies and Power Plays, but let's start with some likely matchups and how they could play out. What I have found is that matchups don't usually affect the top teams as much as they can benefit an underdog...We have seen teams like Nashville, Carolina, Edmonton, Philly, Montreal and more pull playoff upsets because they had their opponents number...
The only matchup we know for certain right now is:
San Jose vs. Vegas: Advantage Golden Knights Of course this is a rematch of last year's playoffs which Vegas won in 6. In regular season battles Vegas has won 5 of 8.
Likely match ups...
Boston vs. Toronto: Advantage slightly Bruins Another playoff rematch. The Bruins won last year's series in 7, but it was the Leafs goaltending that really cost them the series. Over the past two years in eight games in the regular season the teams have split winning 4 each. This year Boston won 3 of 4.
The Conference Winners...Tampa and Calgary... Who has the best shot at toppling the best in each conference? (all records in these will be last two seasons meetings)
On Tampa... Tampa vs Columbus. Adv:STRONG Tampa 6-0 Tampa ..Outscoring Columbus 29-7
Tampa vs Carolina. Adv:STRONG Tampa 5-1 Tampa
Tampa vs Montreal. Adv:STRONG Tampa 6-1 Tampa
Tampa vs Pittsburgh. Adv:Tampa 4-2 Tampa
on Calgary...
Calgary vs Colorado ADV: STRONG Calgary 5-1 Calgary
Calgary vs Arizona ADV: Calgary 5-3 Calgary
Calgary vs Minnesota ADV:EVEN Teams are tied 3-3 over the last two years.
In my next blog I will tackle the rest of the matchups...and there are some VERY interesting surprises...
Now for your UPDATED PROJECTED STANDINGS>>>
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017