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Exactly Who Will Win Round Two |
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Toronto v Florida
The defending Stanley Cup champions humiliated the Tampa Bay Lightning who were the better team coming into this. Lord Stanley cup is with them, and the Cats have the stronger goaltending and Coach. Defense wins championships. Florida has two forwards in the best defensive forward in the running with another Tampa forward.
Toronto has three former Panthers that know their systems — Steven Lorentz on the offense; Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the defense; and Anthony Stolarz between the pipes as the Leafs’ undisputed number one starter, where he was the backup to Bobrovsky.
Florida ran Toronto a few years ago when the fans chanted “We want Florida!” in Maple Leafs’ square. The Panthers have every advantage, but Toronto and Berube will not go down without a fight. This goes the distance.
Florida in 7
Washington v Carolina
The two most rested teams through round one face-off in the Metro Division. The Orlov Bowl begins as the Hurricanes dominated a heavily injured Devils team in round one; where Washington punched their way through bench brawls and Ovechkin history over Montreal.
Washington is a stacked team, from Jack Adams’ finalist Spencer Carberry, to the Gr8 Chase in Ovi, and have the young depth from the back-to-back winningest franchise in the American Hockey League in Hershey.
Carolina has had a soap opera for drama over the 46-day Mikko Rantanen saga that got this squad the space to bring in Logan Stankoven with future assets; Mark Jankowski; and Alexander Nishkin after the trade deadline.
The goaltending is the biggest question make this series, between how healthy Logan Thompson is and how reliable are Frederik Andersen and Pytor Kotchekov.
Washington in 6
Vegas v Edmonton
The 2023 Western Conference rematch is a margin matchup.
Vegas Golden Knights have a strong core of champions in their locker room, but the depth got them through the first round over the Minnesota Wild. The winning and more experienced coach and goaltending and the stronger defense are in Nevada.
Edmonton got lucky with the worst coaching decision I have ever seen in Los Angeles. The switchover to Calvin Pickard also helped with the scoring of Brown and Arvidsson coming alive for the Oilers. Leon Drasatil led in scoring this year, that presence will be necessary to upset Vegas.
Vegas in 7
Winnipeg v Dallas
The Dallas Stars battle the defending Presidents’ Trophy champion Winnipeg Jets.
Winnipeg barely survived over the St. Louis Blues after a double overtime effort at home. Every game won in this series was in front of the home crowd. The curse of Hellybuck and his goaltending performance continues.
Dallas bested Colorado in seven without their best forward and defenseman available. DeBoer is 9-0 in Game 7 series. Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Ratanaen came through for the Stars. The best forward group in hockey will need to keep their foot on the gas pedal to push to the third round.
Dallas in 6
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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