Hello friends! Today is the day that diehard NHL fans including myself call their Christmas as today marks the start of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs! So with that please enjoy the 1st of my 2 previews as right now I will be giving you my thoughts on the Eastern Conference's 1st round matchups and then in a bit I will give you my thoughts on the Western Conference's 1st round matchups! Get it? Got it? Good now let's begin!
(1) Washington Capitals vs. (8) New York Rangers
So for the 2nd time in 3 years the Ovechkins and the Blueshirts meet in the 1st round of the playoffs! In that 2009 series the Rangers had a 3-1 strangle hold on the series before Ovechkin and company came back to win! My partner in crime Mike Flecha went on the record and told me that the Caps are under the most pressure mainly because they have been so good over the last several seasons but they have been unable to get the job done! Now I know on paper this looks like a total mismatch but not for me and here's why! Yes the Caps have Ovechkin, Green, and several other offensive threats but what the Caps don't have is a quality #1 goalie whereas the Rangers have 1 of the best goalies in the game today in Henrik Lundqvist who led the league with 11 shutouts! So with that I am going to go with the Rangers to pull the upset and win this series in 7 games as Henrik Lundqvist will be the difference maker!
Winners: NY Rangers 4 games to 3
(2) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (7) Buffalo Sabres
Wow what happened to the Flyers? They led the Eastern Conference standings throughout most of this season but then sputtered down the stretch and let the Capitals sneak up from behind and take their #1 seed! Now Chris Pronger is a ? for this series but if the Flyers get Pronger back then watch out for Philly but even without Pronger I still like Philly to win this series! Now although they didn't the finish the season great I still think that the Flyers have enough weapons to get by Buffalo but Pronger is the key factor if Philly wants to go back to the Stanley Cup Finals!
Winners: Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 1
(3) Boston Bruins vs. (6) Montreal Canadiens
OK now on to the series that almost all diehard NHL fans are looking forward to the most! This rivalry is to the NHL what the Yankees and the Red Sox are to Major League Baseball, what the Lakers and the Celtics are to the NBA, what the Bears and Packers are to the NFL, what Ohio State and Michigan are to College Football, and what Duke and North Carolina are to College Basketball - the game's premiere rivalry! So who wins? Well I like Boston to win this series because they have Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas and they also have too many weapons for Montreal and I also think that they are too big for Montreal and the only way that Montreal stays in this series is if Carey Price does what Jaroslav Halak did last year and that is have an unbelieveable series! But for now I like Boston to win in 7!
Winners: Boston Bruins 4 games to 3
(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Now we come to the most interesting series in Round 1 featuring several of the game's premiere young talent! Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Steven Stamkos on Tampa Bay who has become an absolute phenom in such a short period of time! Now since January 5 Sidney Crosby has not played a game and if he cannot go in this series then I can in all honesty pick Tampa Bay to win this series as they not only have Stamkos but also 2004 Stanley Cup heroes Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier! Now what Pittsburgh did this season without Crosby was absolutely phenomenal and all the while they have 1 of the best young goalies in the game today in Marc Andre Fleury and some other great young weapons such as Eric Staal and Chris Kunitz the Penguins are going to have to play great to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning with all of their offensive weapons! But I'm going to go with the upset here and pick Tampa to win this series in 6 as I think the loss of Sidney Crosby will eventually be the Pens downfall!
Winners: Tampa Bay Lightning 4 games to 2
OK so there are my picks for the East now stay tuned for my West preview coming up in just a short short! So with that bye bye for now!
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