Hello friends! Tomorrow marks the start of the Conference Finals as the Stanley Cup Playoffs head towards the home stretch! So with that here are my thoughts and predictions for both Conference Final series!
Eastern Conference Finals: (3) Boston Bruins vs. (5) Tampa Bay Lightning
For the 1st time since 1992 the Boston Bruins are in the Eastern Conference Finals while the Tampa Bay Lightning are in for the 1st time since they won it all back in 2004! The Bruins won the regular season series against the Lightning 3-1. No 2 teams have been hotter right now than these 2! Ever since they lost the 1st 2 games against their hated rivals the Montreal Canadiens at home in round 1 the Bruins have won 8 of their last 9 games including 5 straight while Tampa has won 7 straight after falling behind the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 in round 1 so something will have to give here! For the most part all the talk will be about the big name goal scorers for each side such as Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, and Milan Lucic for Boston and Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, and Vincent Lecavalier for Tampa but in reality the talk just may be more about the goaltenders Boston's Tim Thomas and Tampa's Dwayne Roloson! Both goaltenders were spectacular in their respective sweeps in round 2 and I expect both goaltenders to have big series here! The only downside is Boston will be without Patrice Bergeron as he suffered a concussion at the hands of Philadelphia's Claude Giroux in the Game 4 clincher. So who wins? Well even though their power play has been rather shoddy for the most part and even though they will be without Patrice Bergeron for the most part I still like Boston to win this series in 7 games as this team is not only at an all time high after not only beating their hated rivals and also excerising their demons against the team that humiliated and embarrassed them last year but also this team is on a mission to win their 1st Cup since 1972 and if they keep playing the way they have been as of late then it just maybe mission accomplished! Enclosing NESN announcer Jack Edwards said it best New England has Stanley Cup fever!
Winners: Boston Bruins 4 games to 3
Western Conference Finals: (1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (2) San Jose Sharks
For the 1st time since their cinderella run of 1994 the Vancouver Canucks are in the Western Conference Finals while the Sharks are making their 2nd consecutive appearance in this round! The Canucks won the season series 3-1! For me this series is very tough to call and here's why! The Canucks have been the best team in the NHL all season long while the Sharks may have enough to finally win the big 1! For Vancouver to win this series the Sedin twins have to show up because they were basically non-existent against the Nashville Predators in the last round. Also Ryan Kesler has to pick up right where he left off against Nashville in the last round as he scored 6 goals in that series to pretty much carry Vancouver in that series. The 3rd and final thing Vancouver has to do win this series is get a big time performance in net from Roberto Luongo because in round 1 against Chicago he was terrible while against Nashville in round 2 he rebounded rather nicely! For San Jose to win this series they need their Olympic line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Dany Heatley to step up big time. They also need Antii Niemi to play like he did with Chicago last year and if he does then the Sharks could finally win the big 1! So who wins? Well like I said this series is very tough to call as I have loved Vancouver all season long while at the same time I really want to see San Jose finally get over the hump and advance to their 1st ever Stanley Cup final as I honestly feel that the San Jose Sharks are the best team that has never won a Stanley Cup as of right now! Without question this is a very hard pick for me but in the end I am going to take a chance here and go with San Jose to win this series in 6 games mainly because of the fact that Antii Niemi is starting to play like the Antii Niemi who was in goal for the Chicago Blackhawks during their epic run to their 1st Stanley Cup in 49 years! Enclosing I think this is the most realistic chance that the Sharks have of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the 1st time ever and if they don't win this series then I seriously doubt that this team will ever win the big 1!
Winners: San Jose Sharks 4 games to 2
Overall I am very much looking forward to both series as I think Boston and Tampa will be more about the goaltenders while the Vancouver/San Jose series will be more of an offensive series. But for now we'll just have to wait and see!
Well friends those are my thoughts on the NHL's Conference Finals thanks so much for reading and I will be back tomorrow night with my predictions for the TNA Sacrifice PPV so until then you know the routine everybody! Thumbs up talk to ya later! YEAH!!! Bye bye for now!
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