NHL Western Conference Playoff Predictions

Well here is my stab at predicting the first round of the Western Conference Finals.

1 Blackhawks vs. 8 Wild

The Blackhawks won the President's Cup for the best regular season record, thanks to an amazing start to the season.  And they finished the season 10-3-2 in April.  They has so much talent with the Patrick's Kane and Sharp, Hossa, Toews, Duncan Keith, and Saad has really come on lately.  In net they could go with either Goalie.  Both Crawford and Emery could start for lots of NHL teams. 

The Wild had to win their last game to get in the playoffs after really playing flat toward the end of the season.  Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will need to really step up their game if they are going to keep up the the fire power of the Blackhawks.  They have no one over 20 goals (Hawks have 2).  Its Backstrom or bust for the Wild in net.

Blackhawks too much for the Wild.  Could be a quick first round.  4-1 Blackhawks.

2 Ducks vs. 7 Redwings

Once again the Redwings get a west coast playoff match up.  Not sure why they complain so much about the west coast match ups when the Ducks have to go east too.  But whatever the case may be this should be a good one.

Redwings seem to be hitting their stride at the right time.  They have been in playoff mode for the past couple weeks battling to make it in the playoffs for the 22nd year in a row.  Zetterberg has been red hot lately.  But it will be Jimmy Howard that will decide the fate of the Redwings.  He has been great towards the end of the season and will have to keep it up to get past the 2 seed Ducks

The Ducks need Getzlaf and Perry to pull their weight in this series.  Bobby Ryan and Teemu Selanne also need to kick it up a gear.  The helter skelter schedule might have worn on the 40+ year old Selanne as he hasn't performed as well as he did earlier this season.  They are anchored in net by two netminders in Hiller and Fasth who both have played well.

This series could go either way and will play better than the seeds indicate.  Both teams tough at home.  Redwings are hot.  Ducks not as much.  7 games will decide this one.  Wings win 4-3.

3 Canucks vs. 6 Sharks

The Sharks swept the Canucks in the regular season 3-0.  Sharks have some firepower with Thorton (33 assists), Couture (21 goals), Marleau and Pavelski (both with 31 points).  Oh and let's not forget their Goal Tender Antti Niemi with 24 wins on the season.  Even though they are a 6 seed they have the talent that is much better than that.

Maybe not winning the President's Cup will mean Stanly Cup success for the Canucks.  Or maybe not.  The Ginger Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin lead the team in points with 40 and 45 points respectively.  But this team doesn't have a lot of player that can score lots of goals.  Burrows "The Bitter" lead the team with only 13 goals.  Luongo is not back up, which might be good, and Schneider is the starter.

Should be another tight series.  I think the edge is the Sharks, even if the stumbled some down the last week of the regular season.  Better in goal and better scorers than the Canucks.  Sharks 4-2. Bye bye Ginger Twins!

4 Blues vs 5 Kings

Blues looked great at the start of the season and then played mediocre rest of the way until April, where they then went 11-2 to earn the 4th seed.  Elliot has looked pretty good in net and will have to to avoid another loss in the playoffs to the Kings who swept them last year on their way to winning the Cup.  Chris Stewart is the leading scorer on this team with 18 goals and 18 assists.  Berglund has 17 goals and the blue line is anchored by Pietrangelo. 

The Kings are 8-0 versus the Blues, including the sweep of the Blues in last years playoffs.  Jeff Carter had a great year with 26 goals.  Kopitar was the team leader with 42 points but may be preoccupied with his Zombie appearances in The Walking Dead.  Plus they have Dustin Brown, Doughty, and Richards.  Quick in net hasn't had the same year as he did last year and will have to capture that Stanley Cup magic from last year.

Don't plan on another sweep here.  Great match up.  Both teams coming into the playoffs on a roll.  Tough one to call, but going with the defending champs as they have found their swagger.  Kings 4-3

Tomorrow the Eastern Conference round one predictions.