Saturday, May 14, 2011

conference finals predictions

Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning: i find this series to be really interesting. Tampa Bay has the firepower to match any team with guys like Vincent Lacavailer and Martin St. Louis. the Boston Bruins have gotten good goaltending throughout the playoffs from Tim Thomas and Tampa Bay has as well with Dwayne Roloson. If Boston wants to win the series they will need to activate their defenseman into offensive zone and to take advantage of Chara's rocket shot from the point. the bruins need to break down Tampa Bay's 1-3-1 trap and to get their big guys like Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder in front of Roloson who is very good at stopping the first shot and doesn't give up a lot of rebounds. If Tampa Bay wants to win they will want to keep getting points from guys like dominic moore and teddy purcell to help out the big guns and for Roloson to shut down boston's top line of Lucic,Horton, and Krejci. I like the Bruins in 6 games because of the play of Tim Thomas in these playoffs, he has been amazing and i think the Bruins top line is going to have a big series.
Guys to Watch in this series: Krejci, BOS and Martin St. Louis, TB

San Jose Sharks vs Vancouver Canucks: in the western conference we have a battle of two teams that at times in the playoffs have been very inconsistent and have giving up big leads in previous series. I think we haven't seen the best of the Sedin Twins yet and expecting them to have a big series. the MVP of the playoffs so far has been Ryan Kesler, who seems like he is a man on a mission so far and is dominating every facet of the game. He is seen as one of the best two-way players in the NHL. The key for the Sharks to win this series is too shut down the Sedins and Kesler. The play of Dan Boyle of SJ in the playoffs has been amazing and he has made some key defensive plays as well as setting up a lot of offensive chances. Devin Setoguchi has also had a great playoff run so far and look for that to continue in this series. Anetti Niemi had a great series vs the Red Wings and that save he made vs Datsyuk in game 7 was just awesome. this series is going to come down to goaltending and i think Niemi has the advantage over Roberto Luongo in this series because Luongo has been very inconsistent throughout the playoffs and i think Niemi is coming into this series with a lot of confidence after taking down the red wings. i like the San Jose Sharks In 6 games because of the play of Niemi
Guys to Watch in this Series: Joe Thornton, SJ and Ryan Kesler, VAN
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