Ladies and Gentleman, Lets Get Ready to RUMBLE!!
Day 1 of the Stanley Cup is upon us and the match up's heading into game 1 in less than 24 hours are:-
Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh v Tampa Bay
Malkin will miss the entire series and Crosby is still out for this opening game. Tampa are missing Victor Hedman an Randy Jones from the D.
Tampa Bay come into the playoffs on a 7-3-0 record in the last 10 regular season games but Pittsburgh better that with an 8-2-0 record.
Pittsburgh to take the opening game for me - They will be hyped up for game 1 and want a strong start at home.
Washington v New York
Mike Green is hoping to be back on D for the Caps in this opening game - where defense and netminding could be key.
Chris Drury returned in the last regular season game and his gritty, tough style will be needed for this match up.
Washington's record for the last 10 games - 7-2-1 whilst New York went 6-3-1.
I expect a nervy opening game from the hosts with Neuvirth lookingly likely to start between the pipes in his 1st ever playoff game. Will his nerve hold or can the scorers help him out in game 1? I reckon this could be a low scoring game won by 1 goal - i'll go with New York to steal game 1 based on the netminding of Lundqvist.
Western Conference
Detroit v Phoenix
Detroit will start the series without the influential Henrik Zetterberg, who is still day to day with a knee injury.
Pavel Datsyuk has just come back into the lineup after his injury and seems to be getting hot at the right time.
Bryzgalov will need to be hot from game 1 to keep Phoenix in this series.
Last season saw the Wings win the series 4-3 but started with the 1st 2 games away from home. This time round they have home ice advantage. Their form at the Joe Louis wasn't oustanding during regular season but dont expect it to be as poor in the playoffs. Wings to take a 1-0 series lead.
Vancouver v Chicago
So it's this years President's Trophy winner vs the current Stanley Cup Champions. Chicago knocked out the Canucks on the road to victory last year so they will be gunning for revenge this year. Vancouver have home ice advantage, the Sedin's, one of the best netminders in Luongo against a Blackhawks team that has struggled all year and only just scraped into this match up. They havent got the depth they had last time round nor the netminder to carry them through. Vancouver will just be awesome and take this opening game comfortably. 1-0 Canucks lead!
Anaheim v Nashville
There is a lot of feeling that Nashville can win their first ever playoff series here against the Ducks. Various forums and news reports and previews keep telling me that Nashville's defence will win out over the firepower of Anaheim. Trust me, it won't! If Perry has a bad game there's Ryan If Ryan has a bad game there's Getzalf. If Getzalf has a bad game there is Selanne. If Rinne has a bad game or even a good game but doesnt save almost everything then the Predators are doomed. Yes, Nashville play good defensive hockey and that will be evident at times during this series but you still need to score goals to win games. I can't see where those goals are going to come from and you can't expect a shut out every night.
Anaheim to take the series lead 1-0
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