On the Fly, NHL Roundtable: 2nd-round predictions
On the Fly, theScore's NHL roundtable series, continues with predictions for each of the second-round playoff series, which, for the sake of this post, rather inconveniently began a few hours before the first round concluded Wednesday night.
The path's been cleared for a new champion.
theScore's NHL editors had mixed-bag results after the Stanley Cup Playoffs experienced a collective role reversal in Round 1. We correctly predicted the Blues dethroning the Blackhawks, but also whiffed on consensus selections of the Kings, Panthers, and Ducks.
Here's who we like in Round 2:
Western Conference
Stars vs. Blues
| Editor | Pick |
|---|---|
| Cuthbert | Blues |
| Gold-Smith | Blues |
| Hagerman | Blues |
| McLaren | Blues |
| O'Leary | Blues |
| Vaswani | Blues |
| Whyte | Blues |
Total: 7-0 Blues
A series that appears incredibly close on paper yields a unanimous result. St. Louis needed an extra game to bury the Blackhawks, but quite clearly had the more impressive of the two holds in Round 1. The Stars might have earned more detractors with their six-game victory over Minnesota.
Sharks vs. Predators
| Editor | Pick |
|---|---|
| Cuthbert | Sharks |
| Gold-Smith | Sharks |
| Hagerman | Sharks |
| McLaren | Sharks |
| O'Leary | Sharks |
| Vaswani | Sharks |
| Whyte | Sharks |
Total: 7-0 Sharks
With the state of California suddenly their responsibility to defend, the Pacific Division runs through the Sharks and San Jose. We, like Anaheim, ESPN, and everyone else, appear to be underestimating the Predators.
Eastern Conference
Capitals vs. Penguins
| Editor | Pick |
|---|---|
| Cuthbert | Penguins |
| Gold-Smith | Capitals |
| Hagerman | Capitals |
| McLaren | Capitals |
| O'Leary | Penguins |
| Vaswani | Capitals |
| Whyte | Penguins |
Total: 4-3 Capitals
The only thing that can really separate the Capitals and Penguins are the first two months of the season, which, of course, hardly matter now. A seven-game series deserving of hardware handed out at the end earns a split decision from us.
Lightning vs. Islanders
| Editor | Pick |
|---|---|
| Cuthbert | Lightning |
| Gold-Smith | Lightning |
| Hagerman | Lightning |
| McLaren | Lightning |
| O'Leary | Lightning |
| Vaswani | Lightning |
| Whyte | Islanders |
Total: 6-1 Lightning
The Bolts appear primed to come out of their side of the bracket and return to the Eastern Final even without captain Steven Stamkos (or so we thought). But if the pucks continue to bounce favorably for the Islanders (or Ben Bishop can't recover his Vezina form) the Isles could be that first crossover, moonlighting as an Atlantic Division entity.