It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

Well, a day late, we're underway with the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Drew is currently in the midst of moving, but he texted me his picks for the first round.

In the east...
(8) NYR over (1) WSH in 7 (pulling for his guys)
(7) BUF over (2) PHI in 6- hard to believe PHI pulls it off with no solid goaltending two years in a row
(3) BOS over (6) MTL in 7- a bar fight disguised as a seven-game series
(5) TAM over (4) PIT in 6- figuring PIT really misses Crosby and Malkin

In the west...
(8) CHI over (1) VAN in 6- Bobby Lou seems to have trouble with Chicago.
(2) SJ over (7) LA in 5- no top two scorers for LA equals a quick exit in Hollywood
(6) PHX over (3) DET in 6- no faith in Jimmy Howard for Detroit
(5) NSH over (4) ANA in 7 (pulling for my guys)

Here are my picks:

In the east...
(8)NYR over (1) WSH in 7. Just a hunch. This series could turn into a laugher, depending on game 2, but the Rangers looked quite ready for game 1, and that was not an impressive performance by the Caps in game 1.
(7)BUF over (2) PHI in 6. This evening's 1-0 Buffalo win was pretty much the Ryan Miller show. If it's going to come down to goaltending, then it's Miller Time.
(6) MTL over (3) BOS in 7. I'm prepared to be wrong about this, but Boston's performance this evening was inexplicable. They're so much better than Montreal on paper, but it didn't seem to matter this evening.
(5) TAM over (4) PIT in 6. Tampa had a strangely inefficient game against the Pens, but one has to imagine that you can't keep a potent Tampa offense off the scoreboard much longer.

In the west...
(8) CHI over (1) VAN in 7. I do not believe in Bobby Lou. I didn't think he looked terribly good in game 1, despite the shutout, and the big differences this year for Vancouver are their improved size and their responsibility defensively in clearing out rebounds. That said, as long as Luongo continues to give up rebounds as readily as he does, I think he's vulnerable to the top two Blackhawk lines.
(2) SJ over (7) LA. As this is being written, SJ leads 2-1, and LA doesn't seem to be able to sustain much in the way of pressure. The Sharks are always so impressive on paper, and with a weakened LA squad, it looks like an early exit for the Kings.
(3) DET over (6) PHX in 6. Like Drew, I'm not sold on Jimmy Howard, but I don't think the Coyotes have enough offensive firepower to keep up with the strangely omnipresent Red Wings. Watching the Wings come to life last night told me what I needed to know.
(5) NSH over (4) ANA in 6. This is a goaltending question- Pekka Rinne was his usual understated but remarkable self last night, and the magic question in Anaheim is whether or not Ray Emery is healthy enough to get the job done. He looked somewhat gimpy skating around on the bad leg, but didn't let in a goal after being inserted early in the 3rd. Conversely, Nashville got scoring from some of its depth players (like Steve Sullivan), a power play goal, and two goals from the first line.

Beyond that, the big matchup comes down to the Bobby Ryan-Corey Perry- Ryan Getzlaf line versus the Nashville pairing of Ryan Suter and Shea Weber. We shall see, but last night was quite the statement win for the Predators.

In any event, it is truly the most wonderful time of the year. Let's play some hockey!