2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Predictions

Here are my predictions for round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Eastern Conference

(A1) Boston Bruins vs (A3) Montreal Canadiens: This series is very intriguing to me considering that this is their 34th playoff meeting against each other. This is a great rivalry and this will be a fun one to watch. Carey Price played well against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tuuka Rask was just spectacular against the Detroit Red Wings, so the goaltending should be excellent in this series and expect a low scoring series. The defense of the Bruins to me is the key to this series and how it matches up trying to defend the likes of Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek. Special teams will be critical in this series for sure too. Expect the eastern conference's best team to move on once again. Bruins in 6.

(M1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (M2) New York Rangers: Another great series featuring division rivals with a ton of super stars. Sidney Corsby needs to have a big series if Pittsburgh wants to win and if the Rangers wants to win, Henrik Lundqvist needs to play his best hockey of the season. Both teams have a ton of pressure on them for sure, but nobody is under more pressure than Marc-Andre Fleury, who had blown two games with 3-1 and 3-0 leads (and almost a third and had led 4-0 in game 6) in the previous series against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Expect the team with the better goaltender to move on. Rangers in 6.

Western Conference

(C3) Chicago Blackhawks vs (WC1) Minnesota Wild: A rematch of last years first round series between two division rivals. Minnesota deserves a ton of credit for coming back and winning game seven in overtime in Colorado against the Avalanche. These teams are pretty evenly matched with the likes of Ryan Suter and Duncan Keith on defense and Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise on offense. Chicago has the better goaltender in Corey Crawford and that will be the difference in this series. Blackhawks in 6.

(P1) Anaheim Ducks vs (P3) Los Angeles Kings: Give the Kings credit for rallying from a 3-0 series hole to rally back and win in seven games because this was only the fourth time this happened in NHL history. Anaheim has the better offense with the likes of Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf but the Kings advantage is the man in net and that's Jonathan Quick, who is the reason why the Kings rallied back against the San Jose Sharks. This will be a great series because this is the first time these teams are ever meeting in the postseason. This was a tough call, but it should be the best second round series. Kings in 6.