Well, it’s playoff time again in the NHL. After a season I’d describe as freakin’ awesome, 16 teams now have to battle it out to go for the Cup. They already announced the schedule for the first round and pretty much every game will be on national TV.
Last year I predicted each series round-by-round and I was correct with 10 out of the 15 series. I thought it was pretty solid for my first time around. I got several upsets right and I got 7 out of 8 first round series correct. So here I go for the 2011-2012 Playoffs!!!!!
EAST
3. Florida Panthers vs. 6. New Jersey Devils
Regular season series (essentially) tied 2-2
note: I am a Devils fan so I may be biased a bit while writing this. Sorry
I'm not gonna lie. The Panthers did cause some headaches against the Devils this year. The Devils had no answer to Florida's first line and they wreaked havoc on the Devils in all four games. Florida even accounted for one of Jersey's worst losses of the season, blowing a 3 goal lead after the first period. So the Devils NEED to find a way to counter Florida's first line of forwards.
Going into the playoffs, the Devils are the hottest team in hockey and are on a tear winning their last 6 games. Not so much with Florida who limped into the playoffs JUST avoiding losing the 1 seed in the southeast to Washington.
One added motivation for New Jersey is that Devil's coach, Pete DeBoer (whom veteran Patrik Elias declared as the "best coach" he's played under) was fired by Florida at the end of last season. The Devils have said before each game against Florida that they felt motivated to back their coach up. Now although DeBoer claims that it's not on his mind at this point, the players still feel they need to win this one for coach.
One more point, this is Florida's first playoff appearance since 2000 (where they were, ironically, swept by the Devils en route to a Stanley Cup). Last year with Tampa we saw how loyal fans in the Sunshine State could be. I am positive that Panther fans will impress us all the same. Just watch out for rats (which I'm sure will make appearances).
OFFENSE:
Literally all you need to do is read this to know about the Devils team this year. But I will paint the picture here anyway. I talked about how well the Devils offense has played recently. They have not lost a game in which they scored less than 2 goals since a 3-0 loss to Philadelphia on March 13th. Needless to say they have all been clicking. Center Travis Zajac is finally healthy and is centering the line of Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. The Devils have also been blesssed with three different 30 goal scorers, Kovalchuk, Parise, and David Clarkson. Patrik Elias is enjoying a lovely season in his late years and Petr Sykora is having a positive year since not playing in the league last season. So right now things are looking very good for the Devils' offense.
Florida has been by the bottom of the league in scoring for a while now. They are extremely first-line dependent and have been missing secondary scoring for much of the year. Lucky for them, their first line is perhaps one of the best in hockey. Tomas Fleischmann, Stephen Weiss (a draft pick by Florida nine years ago), and Kris Versteeg. In all that line has 7 goals against the Devils in their 4 games against each other and Versteeg has an incredible 5 of them. In fact, that line has 35% of all Florida goals this year. So if Florida has a prayer to advance, it's if guys like Sean Bergenheim, Scottie Upshall, and Tomas Kopecky figure into the scoring.
EDGE: The Devils have the edge here. Jersey has 4 lines who could supply offense and Florida will be relying on their first line all game.
DEFENSE:
I kind of like Florida's defensive players this season. Brian Campbell was a nice pick up for them and guys like Jason Garrison and Dmitry Kulikov also have surprised a lot of people. Their play has gone down a bit as the season dragged on but they can probably pick up their play come playoff time.
The Devils have a good problem right now as they have 7 defenseman who can easily play in the playoffs for them. First round draft pick Adam Larsson, who has played for most of the regular season, has set 7 out of their last 8 games and rookie defenseman Peter Harrold has done a fantastic job in his place. One of the reasons so many people like Harrold is because of the offensive upside he brought to the table. Exhibit A. But it's also that Larsson, although he still looked poised with the puck on his stick, was making a lot of bad decisions with it. I personally feel the Devils should shut him down for the season. After all, the other 5 defenseman have been fine.
EDGE: Giving the Devils this one also. They have a slight advantage mainly because of the Turnover issue that the Florida Dmen have been having. Florida has the 4th most giveaways in the league and it's a bad habit they have down there. Watch as the Devils take advantage with their heavy forecheck.
GOALIES:
For the Devils this may be veteran netminder, Martin Brodeur's last chance for a run at the cup. In his 20th season in the league, he put up some pretty good numbers and occasionally looked marvelous. But he has definitely slowed down over the years. He has not won a playoff series since 2007 and for some reason the Devils still felt it was appropriate for him to start in pretty much every game towards the end of the season. I have the feeling he may get a bit fatigued come playoff time. It's not even a question that backup goalie Johan Hedberg has had a better season than Marty but there's a 0% chance Hedberg will see the ice in the playoffs (besides for an injury or a blowout). So Marty has the ability to play well but there may be a bad goal here and there. Numbers: 31 wins, GAA 2.41, SV% .908, 3 shutouts.
We may see 2 different goalies play for Florida. Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmensen have somewhat been splitting the starts all year with Theodore starting a bit more frequently. Both enjoyed solid seasons for the Panthers. Now the word on the street is that Theodore will get the start for Florida but many are suspecting Clemmensen will see significant time throughout the series. First of all, the Panthers started Clemmensen in a must win game against Carolina in the last game in the season to secure the 1 seed in the southeast. Each goalie is qualified. Clemmensen is younger but Theodore is more experienced. I don't think either one would be that much different than the other in net. One thing to keep in mind though is that Clemmensen pretty much bailed the Devils out of a losing season a few years ago when he played for an injured Martin Brodeur and won 25 games and got the Devils the playoff spot. The Devils had no choice but to lose Clemmensen the next season. Ever since leaving the Devils, Clemmensen has put up great numbers against them. He is 4-0 with a 2.05 GAA and a .937 SV%. So I feel that he'll be the main man for Florida in this series. (Clemmensen) Numbers: (in 30 games) 14 wins, GAA 2.57, SV% .913, 1 shutout.
EDGE: I'll give this one to the Devils just based on the fact that A: it's Martin Brodeur who has the 2nd most playoff wins in NHL history and B: I'm a Devils fan. But still, if Clemmensen plays, he could potentially steal the show. Brodeur has been strong, specifically down the stretch, and I think he'll be rested enough to pull through here. This goalie matchup could be very close though and something we all should keep an eye on.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Florida's powerplay has been the tsrongest part of the team all year. They are the 7th best powerplay in the league and don't give up too many chances the other way. It's pretty much their first line offensively, Brian Campbell (49 assists on the year) and another random forward. They've been clicking til now and should help Florida's chances. Their kill hasn't been as good this season and have been very on and off. Their around the middle of the pack. Their a pretty disciplined team though so their penalty kill woes shouldn't be that much of an issue.
The Devils powerplay stats are a bit deceiving. At the beginning of the season the powerplay was horrid. Then they got Kurtis Foster and that opened up Kovalchuk's game. Now they've been superb with the man advantage. Marek Zidlicky was a great pickup and has been playing great defensively and also has done a fine job quarterbacking the powerplay unit. They've turned around their powerplay and they have had a powerplay goal in 5 of their last 6 games. Additionally, people will point to the shorthanded-goals-against category as the Devils gave up the most in the league (13) but they have not given one up for a long time now and that is partly because of Zidlicky's play. Also, the Devils set a record for the best Penalty kill percentage in NHL history. That means there was never a team that killed off penalties as effectively as New Jersey. They combine hard forechecking, using an active stick in passing lanes, and blocking shots to kill off their fair share of powerplays. They also led the league with 15 short handed goals for.
EDGE: This one is close but I'm giving this one to the Devils. They are good (right now) at every aspect of special teams. There has not been a fault in the special teams play for a couple of months now. Florida does not quite have the kill statistics for me to give them the nod here.
CONCLUSION: The Devils right now are arguably the hottest team in hockey and it's a shame that Florida was the team that had to play them in the first round. People will probably hop on the Panthers bandwagon because they're the team that hasn't been in the playoffs in over a decade. Florida surprised many people this year but they will be overwhelmed by New Jersey's depth and talent. They might take a game by the end of the series but I need at least one sweep prediction and this series seems appropriate for it.
PREDICTION: DEVILS IN 4 GAMES
Note: stick tap to dailyfaceoff.com for supplying starting rosters and stuff. Pretty sick site.
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