Carolina and Boston have both had a phenomenal playoffs so far. Carolina took down the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals in a gruelling seven-game series and then proceeded to sweep the powerful New York Islanders who swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins beat the Blue Jackets in a six-game series, who swept the President Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning in round one after taking down a young, fast and strong offensive Toronto Maple Leafs squad in another seven-game series. Both teams have been playing extremely well. Also, Carolina’s young offensive talent, excellent defence, two-way depth, their speed and the underrated talent of their youth makes for a difficult opponent for anyone, even the Bruins, considering they’ve taken down Washington and New York handily. It will match well with Boston’s excellent first line, consisting of Marchand, Bergeron and Pasternak, their great young defence, their dominance in the faceoff circle and the stellar performance from Tuukka Rask throughout these playoffs. That being said, the Bruins are the most complete team remaining in the playoffs and possibly the most complete the Hurricanes have seen in the playoffs. This will make for a very amazing and entertaining series that will go back and forth with several momentum swings for each team, but despite Boston’s overall dominance and overall talent all over the roster; I do foresee the magic continuing and I predict the Hurricanes will win in six games, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.
San Jose and St. Louis have also had an amazing playoffs. San Jose took down the Vegas Golden Knights in an amazing game seven aided by a controversial call that led to four power-play goals and then proceeded to take out the Colorado Avalanche in seven games too. To continue, St. Louis was dead last in the NHL on January 3rd with a record of 15-18-4. Since then, the Blues posted a 30-10-5 record, for 65 points for an overall record of 45-28-9; for a grand total of 99 points. They then beat the Winnipeg Jets in six games, shutting down their offence and in round two, they beat the Dallas Stars in a tight, evenly matched seven-game series. The Blues and Sharks are both pretty evenly matched. Both teams are also very versatile – able to win games with scoring and/or a strong defence, with the occasional night stolen by a stellar performance from an amazing goalie. This series is a toss-up unlike the ECF, which Boston is the massive favourite to win. St. Louis has a good defence but also has had an amazing offence all throughout the playoffs, with players like Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrick Maroon, Ryan O’Reilly and Brayden Schenn. San Jose has a great mix of young players and veteran leadership to score, but their main talent is on defence, with veteran players like Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Marc-Édouard Vlasic among others. However, despite Martin Jones has had an alright playoffs, he’s had a shaky regular season and we don’t know what form will show in the playoffs. In comparison, Jordan Binnington has played amazing in net all throughout the regular season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Also, the Sharks have had two seven-game series, the Blues have only had one, so the Sharks are a little beat up even with the return of Joe Pavelski. With all of that being said, I have the Blues in seven games. I predict it will be the second wild card teams from each conference -- the Hurricanes and the Blues -- in the Stanley Cup Finals.
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