Eastern Playoff 1st Round predictions

[TysonX504]

Caps in 5
Devils in 7
Sabres in 6
Sens in 7

That's what I like to see lol

[scottkoz20]

That's what I like to see lol

i'd like to see them both lose!

[Pheebs888]

Alright here goes:

Montreal in 6, there has to be upsets it's what the playoffs is all about and if you dont have hope, you don't have anything!

New Jersey in 5, think the goaltending issue in Philly will be their downfall and that Marty will want to mend his ego after losing the number one sport in Vancouver

Buffalo in 6, one word: Miller, the guy's hot and I dont think Beantown has got the guns to down him...

Pens in 5, sorry to say but I don't think the Sens have what it takes...Is it just me or they really didnt get much back for Heatley?

[TysonX504]

i'd like to see them both lose!

Funny, I'd like to see Buffalo and Pittsburgh lose (which is actually possible, but not very likely) lol

Predictions:
Washington in 5
New Jersey in 6
Buffalo in 7
Pittsburgh in 6

[michiganice91]

Pens in 5
devils in 4
caps in 6
sabres in 7

[CSSports]

That's what I like to see lol

Well - you saw a preview today! :)

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

I'd love for some of my predictions to be wrong as long as Washington and Vancouver advance. Would be super happy with lots of upsets to other teams since it would destroy most of the playoff pool teams picked at my work playoff pool. If Detroit, New Jersey, Chicago, and Pittsburgh all lost in the 1st round and both Washington and Vancouver win I'd have a really good shot at winning the pool since nobody took any players from Philly and hardly any from Nashville, Phoenix, or Ottawa.

[scottkoz20]

a quick look at the East up to today

#1 Washington vs. #8 Montreal
While you think might be the easiest of the all of the 1st round series to predict, look at the last 2 seasons with Washington as the higher seed. Loss to Philly in Game 7 @ home and then had to rally from 3-1 down to beat the Rangers.

I have a funny feeling for all of the offense Washington has, Jaro Halak and the Habs defense will give them fits. I'm not going to say Washington is going to lose the series, but you are going to find a lot of sweep predictions over the next couple days. I don't see it

Caps in 6

Ummm... "Jaro Halak and the Habs defense will give them fits" was true for 2 games. I still think Montreal wins tomorrow night.

#2 New Jersey vs. #7 Philadelphia
Before we give this to Jersey, lets look at some recent playoff history. The Devils have advanced past the 1st round only twice since their last Cup win in 2003 (2006 and 2007). With the exception of the meltdown last spring, when Jersey loses, they have not been series.

Now add this to the fact Philly took 5 out of 6 this season!! This could spell disaster, right. Well... maybe not.

Philly is not world beaters either. After giving away a 10 point cushion to the Rangers to need a shootout in order to qualify isn't really the stuff that dreams are made of.

However, that is now in the past.

This is going to be a very good series with the big question will be can Brian Boucher re-live 2000 for 1 series? I have a feeling he can

Philly in 7.

I'm not sure which is more true since I have not watched much of this series... Boucher being big or Jersey following a pattern of playoff blowups. I'm shocked this series is 3-1.

#3 Buffalo vs. #6 Boston
As a Sabre fan, this is the one team I did not want to see my team draw in the first round. Boston has the edge in the season series 4 games to 2, and Rask's numbers are BETTER than Miller's.

Boston plays a style that will frustrate the Sabres for the entire series. However, their will be 2 saving graces for the Sabres in this series. First, they are a better offense team with 12 players (yes, 12) with 10 or more goals this season, including 4th liner Patrick Kaleta. Secondly, Boston is down Stuart, Seidenberg and most importantly Marc Savard.

Sabres in 6 games, but it will not be easy.

If the Sabres show up for any part of the 2nd or 3rd last night or they hold a lead in the 3rd on Saturday, they lead 2-1 at worst. Regardless who gets out of this series, it will stop here.

#4 Pittsburgh vs. #5 Ottawa
This is going to be the best series of the 1st round, IMO. This is the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons that this is the 4/5 matchup in the East, and the winner both times have gone to the finals (Ottawa in 07', Pittsburgh in 08'). Both times it has been a 5 game massacre.

THIS WILL NOT BE THAT THIS TIME!!!

On paper, Pittsburgh is the much better team, but games are not played on Paper. I would think that it will be Brian Elliott being the goalie for the Sens and he has been as good, if not better at times than MAF. So the Sens will get the slight edge here.

Pittsburgh gets the edge on the offense, especially with Kovalev done for the season with the ACL injury. This is the difference for the Pens.

Penguins in 6

Dear Ottawa, the series did not end after Game 1. They have no answer for Crosby, thus no answer to how they get it back to Ottawa.

[Pheebs888]

Always nice to see how wrong we all were LOL