2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Conference Final Predictions

Here are my predictions for the Conference Final of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Eastern Conference
(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs (M1) Washington Capitals: This is going to be an interesting series to say the least. The Lightning are coming off an impressive five game series win over the Boston Bruins. The Capitald are coming off a six game series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin is finally in a conference final. The Bolts are in their third conference final in four seasons and the forwards core is really good with Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, and Brayden Point. The Caps forwards core is led by Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, and Evgeny Kuznestov. The Bolts have a slim edge defensively with Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Ryan McDonagh, and Mikael Sergachev. The Caps are solid defensively with John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, Matt Niskanen, and Brooks Orpik. Andre Vasilesky has been brilliant in net thus far in the playoffs for the Bolts as well as Braden Holtby for the Caps. This series should be fun, but the Bolts are just a little bit deeper as the Bolts will advance to their second Stanley Cup final in four seasons.
Prediction: Lightning in six games.

Western Conference
(C2) Winnipeg Jets vs (P1) Vegas Golden Knights: This should be a fun series as well. The Jets are coming off an impressive seven game series win over the Nashville Predators. The Knights are coming off a six game series win over the San Jose Sharks. The Jets are great offensively led by Patrick Laine, Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Mark Scheifele. The Golden Knights are solid offensively led by William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, David Perron, and Reilly Smith. The Jets defense is better than given credit for led by Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, and Josh Morrisey. The Golden Knights defense is really good led by Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, Colin Miller, and Brayden McNabb. Connor Hellebuyck has been mostly good in these playoffs and Marc-Andre Fleury has been spectacular throughout the playoffs as he's become the favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy at this point. With home ice advantage, I really like the Jets to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history.
Prediction: Jets in six games.