NHL Playoffs Start on Wednesday, A Few Teams Surprised Us All and Made it in the Big Show. But Who Will Finish as the Stanley Cup Champion? Follow This Prediction Series to Find Out!
BREAKDOWN OF THE TEAMS SEASON:
Ottawa had themselves a great season this year, finishing second in the Atlantic Division with 44 regulation wins. The Sens also made a good amount of offseason moves bringing back Chris Kelly from Boston and the signing of Tom Pyatt. Where the Sens made a significant splash was during the season when they acquired wingers Tommy Wingels, Viktor Stalberg, and Alexandre Burrows and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka when they shipped out Curtis Lazar. Plus the addition of Derick Brassard in the offseason helped too, all of these moves gave Ottawa a great amount of depth. Boston did much of the same finishing with 44 regulation wins as well, but most of their moves came from rookies stepping up into the big club. Guys like Noel Acciari, Brandon Carlo, and Joe Morrow have been great this year. The Bruins also filled some holes when they signed Anton Khudobin, Tim Schaller, and Dominic Moore, plus the signing of David Backes was pretty great too. All of this should make for some very exciting NHL playoffs.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Apr 6, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins right wing Drew Stafford (19) celebrates his goal with center Frank Vatrano (72) as Ottawa Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) skates away during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
For all of their scoring depth consisting of Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan, Mark Stone, Burrows, Stalberg, Brassard, Ryan Dzingel you would think the power play would have finished better than 17.0 percent which was good enough for 23rd in the league. Unfortunately, it didn't so that's an area that has to be worked on going into the playoffs, cause you can't rely on Erik Karlsson to pass the puck or shoot it every time from the point, you need your forwards to contribute as well. Their penalty kill didn't do much better either finishing 22nd in the league 79.7 percent. The Sens have defensive d-men who can get the job done, Dion Phaneuf, Cody Ceci, Mark Borowiecki, Marc Methot, and Fredrik Claesson. And up front on the PK, they got guys like Brassard, Zack Smith, Chris Neil, Tom Pyatt, Tommy Wingels, and Chris Kelly. But it just wasn't enough over the course of the season or their penalty kill strategy was way off. Either way, that's another thing that needs to be fixed.
The reason why the Sens power play needs adjusting is the fact they're facing the league's top-rated penalty kill that finished first at 85.7 percent. And the reason why Ottawa's penalty kill needs adjusting as well is due to the fact Boston finished seventh in the league at 21.7 percent. But in all honesty, the Bruins are well versed in what they need to do in both those areas of the ice and have the players to do so. Zdeno Chara and Carlo have been one of the best shutdown pairs in the entire NHL with Adam McQuaid and John-Michael Liles not far behind. And the Bruins also have some solid forwards for the PK as well, Selke Trophy winner Patrice Bergeron who is easily the best defensive forward in the NHL, David Backes, David Krejci, Dominic Moore, and Riley Nash give the Bruins an amazing penalty kill, hence where they finished at season's end. Their power play is just as good too you once again have guys like Krejci, Bergeron and more with Matt Beleskey, David Pastrnak who is becoming an NHL star, Ryan Spooner, Drew Stafford, Brad Marchand, and Frank Vatrano gives the Bruins two power play units that can get the job done.
EDGE: Boston
OFFENSE:
Mar 21, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) and Ottawa Senators right wing Bobby Ryan (9) battle for position after a face-off during the second period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
When it comes to offense the Bruins only have about two and a half lines that can score on a consistent basis. And in the regular season, Boston scored 234 goals, but that's not hard with guys like Backes, Bergeron, Krejci, Stafford, Beleskey, Marchand, Pastrnak, Schaller, and Vatrano. Now when you look at the Sens offense you're probably wondering why they didn't score more than 212 goals all season. Well, the reason is simple, they have too many two-way forwards, but that's not a big thing though. And with Bobby Ryan succumbing to injury and having a down season when he was healthy doesn't help either. But Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Alexandre Burrows, Viktor Stalberg, Tommy Wingels, Ryan Dzingel, and the return of Clarke MacArthur should be able to get things done.
EDGE: Draw
DEFENSE:
Feb 19, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) converses with Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo (25) during the third period of the game against the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Out of the two clubs, the Bruins have clearly the better defensive core, Zdeno Chara, Kevan Miller, Colin Miller, John-Michael Liles, Torey Krug, and Adam McQuaid combine to give the Bruins a mix of defensive, offensive, and two-way defenseman which is perfect for any club. And I've already explained how solid they are at shutting opposing players down. Ottawa though is a team that you shouldn't count out when it comes to the backend, but they are a tad bit weaker. Their best are obviously Mark Borowiecki, Dion Phaneuf, Erik Karlsson who is easily one of the best in the entire league, Marc Methot, and Cody Ceci have the most talent and the most experience over guys like Ben Harpur, Chris Wideman, Fredrik Claesson, and Jyrki Jokipakka. So when it comes to stopping the puck from going in the net, the Bruins are that team nine times out of 10.
EDGE: Boston
GOALTENDING:
Apr 1, 2017; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson (41) stretches prior to the game against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
Both teams possess some of the league's best goalies, on one side you have a Stanley Cup winner in Tuukka Rask and on the other side you have a guy who can not play for 20 games come back and post consecutive shutouts in Craig Anderson. But where things get really different is the backups, Ottawa has two solid netminders in Andrew Hammond and Mike Condon if something were to happen to Anderson. Boston only has Anton Khudobin who can go from average to blistering cold in an instant and behind him is rookie Zane McIntyre.
EDGE: Ottawa
SERIES OUTCOME:
This series is going to be electric and it will come down to two things, who can put the puck in the net the most and who's special teams will hold up the longest. And if Boston can continue their solid power play and penalty killing into the playoffs, Ottawa is in a lot of trouble. But on the flip side of that, if Ottawa can get scoring with the depth they have they shouldn't have anything to worry about.
FINAL SERIES RECORD: Boston wins 4 games to 2
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