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Since the Lightning/Isles will start before the first round is finished I'll pick that and make my other semifinal predictions Thursday. My original prediction was Isles in 7 and I'll keep that prediction. Tavares was a sharp shooter in the first round and Thomas Greiss was a brick wall against Florida. Greiss probably can't play that well again, but the Isles got the "first round monkey" off their back I think they can make a decent run to the East finals. The first round series is the toughest. Isles won the season series 2-1 with Greiss making all 3 of the starts.
My other predictions for the second round:
Penguins in 7 over the Capitals. The team that's playing the best (Pittsburgh) vs. the team with the best goaltender (Holtby). You'd have to think with what transpired in the first round, the winner of this series would be a favorite for the cup. Normally I'd take the better goaltender in series like this, but the way Pittsburgh has been playing here down the stretch it's hard to pick against that arsenal of shooters and scorers. Penguins won the season series 3-2.
Stars over the Blues in 7 games. Now that the Blues finally got out of the first round, I think they can make a deep run, but will be tough to knock off the Stars. 3 of the 5 games in the season series (won by the Blues 4-1) went to overtime, so I'd expect a pretty close series throughout but I'll take the Stars.
Preds in 6 over the Sharks. Nice series win for the Sharks over the Kings, but the amount of time the Sharks would've had off (a week before this series starts) vs. the Preds just coming off the game 7 victory, and the home/road splits for the Sharks, and I think it's just too much to overcome in this series.
Islanders vs. Lightning games are rough. The last few minutes of the third, TB really picked up their game and I had a feeling that they would win in OT. After Friday, I'll probably miss the rest of the games since I won't be in the country.
What a difference two years makes for the Penguins. Two years ago, the Penguins gagged a playoff series against the Rangers, and Dan Bylsma was fired. They had few prospects as well. Now they have a team with speed and depth, and the arrow is pointing back up. They have the Capitals on the verge of elimination, though the series still hasn't been decided yet. Even if the Penguins somehow lose this series, this is the best I've felt about the future of the Penguins in five years. Oh yeah, and they're changing their color scheme back to the Aztec gold they used to wear that matches what the Steelers and Pirates wear too! Looks like I'll have to get me a Patric Hornqvist jersey soon.
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