Revisiting my postseason predictions: Part II

Here is Part II of my postmortem on my playoff predictions (Part I can be found here), covering my Round 3 and Stanley Cup Final picks. Again, I know this happened a long time ago, but many things prevented me from prioritizing the revisitation of my playoff picks.

As per my regular season prediction evaluations, I will use the following scale to evaluate my selections:

A - Nailed the pick exactly right
B - In the ballpark but not right on
C - A pretty misguided pick, but you can kind of understand why I made it
F - Epic fail

Round 3 - Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6)
Predicted: Penguins in 7
Actual: Penguins in 4
Grade: C-
Yeah I picked the team right, but I thought this would be a WAY closer series than it was. This series marked the playoff coming-out party for Evgeni Malkin, who had 6 goals and 3 assists in the four games, including this hat-trick effort in Game 2:



And because that third goal was so amazing, let's watch it one more time:



Round 3 - Western Conference

Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (4)
Predicted: Red Wings in 6
Actual: Red Wings in 5
Grade: B
Having learned my lesson about underestimating the Blackhawks, I thought they would give Detroit a tougher time than they did. In the end the Wings were too good and too experienced to make the mistakes that cost the Canucks their Round 2 series against the 'Hawks.

Stanley Cup Final

Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Predicted: Penguins in 7
Actual: Penguins in 7
Grade: A+
I picked this before the series began, but was unable to post due to some computer issues while I was traveling. I stuck with my pick despite the Red Wings winning the first two games and appearing to have a pretty strong lock on their second straight Cup. So I give myself a little extra credit for having the option of bailing on my pick, but sticking with it and in the end getting it right on. And here is the conclusion to what was a fantastic 2009 NHL Playoffs*:



* Watching this again makes me remember how ridiculously dramatic Game 7 was! What a great playoffs all round.

Penguins dance with Lord Stanley

The title of this post is a reference to the commentary of the Penguins legendary, high-octane announcer Mike Lange:



Lange has given us some gems over the years, from "Get in the fast-lane grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!" to "He smoked him like a bad cigar!" to, on the occasion of the Pens' first Cup victory, "Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, get me the brandy!" And he had reason to celebrate again last night, as the Penguins atoned for last year's loss to the Red Wings by taking an exciting Game 7 2-1.

It is a great story for these young Penguins (who, by the way, the announcers did not constantly refer to as "too young to know any better" - hopefully that moniker is never heard again in NHL broadcasting unless, for some reason, a Timbits Hockey team takes on the Leafs, Senators, Lightning or any other team they may have a chance against).

First of all, there is the NHL's wonderboy Sidney Crosby becoming the youngest captain to lift the Stanley Cup. And he was the main reason that the Penguins even survived the first and second rounds, carrying the team on his shoulders against the Flyers and Capitals. He led the playoffs with 15 goals and finished second to teammate Evgeni Malkin with 31 points.

Malkin emerged as a playoff force, leading the playoffs with 36 points and becoming the first Russian to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy - which, incidentally, he can place on his mantle next to the Art Ross Trophy he earns this year for leading the league in scoring in the regular season.

Malkin turns 23 this year, and Crosby will be 22 by the time the 2009-10 season starts. These guys haven't even hit their prime yet, and seem poised for many years of greatness with the Penguins.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was excellent in Game 7, and shook the label of not being able to win the big game (hmm, I wish another French-Canadian goalie would do the same thing). Grinder Max Talbot emerged as the Stanley Cup hero, scoring both goals for the Penguins. And the Pens played a solid team game to defeat the very talented Wings.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins, your 2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

And congratulations to the NHL's marketing department for producing this commercial, which captures some of the heartbreak of the Penguins to the Red Wings in last year's Final and somehow makes this year's victory seem all the sweeter for them:



Here's hoping they'll pull off something similar with the Canucks and Roberto Luongo this coming October, and the Canucks will proceed to knock off the Blackhawks in the Conference Final.

Game 7 Excitement

Tomorrow night Gary Bettman will hand the Stanley Cup to either Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby, and the curtain will fall on an exciting 2008-09 NHL season. It has been a great Final (with the exception of the 5-0 rut by Detroit in Game 5) featuring some of the best and brightest stars of the hockey world: Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Datsyuk et al.

Some random questions heading into Game 7:

• Will home ice advantage continue to define this series? The home team has won each of the first six games. At home, the Wings have outscored the Pens 11-2. At the Igloo, meanwhile, the Penguins hold a 10-5 edge. My feeling is that the adrenaline, passion and win-or-go-home desperation of a Game 7 trumps home ice advantage, which is a big plus for the Penguins.

• Will Sidney Crosby emerge as a force? Thus far he has been limited to 3 points (1G, 2A) in the series, while being shadowed by the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. Without a doubt this is the biggest game of his career, and it represents a chance to carve out a legacy at this early stage of his young career.
  

• Speaking of Zetterberg, how amazing is the Wings' depth and team game that they can use him in a checking role? This is a guy who had 92 points two seasons ago, 73 this year and won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season. And Mike Babcock has enough faith in his team to stick Zetterberg on Crosby, and rely on the rest of the team to pick up the offensive slack.

• How will the goaltenders play? As mentioned, both have given up a lot of goals on the road and not many at home, which would suggest an advantage for Chris Osgood. Osgood also the advantage of experience, having already played in 128 playoff games and won three Stanley Cups (two as a starter). Fleury, on the other hand, has played just 48 playoff games (almost half of which have been this post-season) and has only last year's Final loss to draw upon.

• Will the role players decide the outcome? Hitherto unknown Justin Abelkader stepped in and scored two huge goals for the Wings in Games 1 and 2. Tyler Kennedy busted out a two point game, including scoring the game winner, in the Penguins 2-1 Game 6 win. Lesser lights such as Jordan Staal, Dan Cleary, Max Talbot and Darren Helm have all made significant contributions to their teams' success throughout the series. This game may be decided by Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Lidstrom or Datsyuk. But don't be surprised if it's Kris Draper or Matt Cooke who emerges as the hero of the game.

All these questions will be answered in less than 36 hours. I can't wait, it should be an amazing conclusion to the season.

2009 Playoffs: Stanley Cup Finals Predictions

Travel and technology have prevented me from posting my Finals predictions. Travel, because I am in Ontario. Technology, because whenever I try to create a post, the site looks super ghetto. So here's hoping this works, but based on what I see in front of me I have no idea if it will.

Anyway, I'm not going to change my original prediction just because the Red Wings are up 2-0 so far. I will stick with the Penguins in 7, with Sidney Crosby capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Both Crosby and the Pens had better start stepping it up if my predictions are to come true! Detroit has looked scarily good thus far, and is ridiculously opportunistic when it comes to taking advantage of Penguins' mistakes and/or lucky bounces.

What are your thoughts and/or predictions about the series so far?

2009 Playoffs: Round Three Predictions

Hmmm. So I might have been wrong about the Blackhawks. And the Hurricanes. Oh well, life goes on - and as a Canucks fan that usually means not having your team in the playoffs at this time of year. Here are my predictions for the Conference Finals:

Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6) - Penguins in 7

Ah yes, a classic 4 vs. 6 seed match-up in the Conference Finals. But more importantly it's a Staal vs. Staal series, as brothers Jordan and Eric face each other (anyone remember the Russ vs. Geoff Courtnall/Stars vs. Canucks series in 1994?) Both these teams should scare the bejeezers out of each other. The 'Canes have overcome two great teams, including the conference champion Bruins, and have lived up to their nickename Cardiac 'Canes for their improbable ability to win last-minute or OT games in the clutch. The Pens, meanwhile, are looking like a more mature version of last year's squad that bowed out in the Stanley Cup Final. Sidney Crosby is playing unreal, while Evgeni Malkin is hit-and-miss - but when he's "hit" he is amazing. Marc-Andre Fleury looked shaky at times, but also made huge saves such as this game-changing one early in Game Seven against the Capitals:



I think Pittsburgh is the better team, but Carolina has been proving its critics wrong all playoffs and the Penguins would be very, very wise not to underestimate them like the Devils and Bruins may have been guilty of.

Western Conference

Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (4) - Red Wings in 6

Who knows how this could play out? The 'Hawks showed a ridiculous resiliancy and ability to come back from deficits against the Canucks and the Flames. But the Red Wings are better and more experienced than either of those Northwest Division squads, and I think the Blackhawks are due for a reality check against a team will be far less likely to stunningly implode than its two earlier opponents. Still... betting against the 'Hawks feels like a risky proposition. But I'm taking the Wings and calling a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Final.

More playoff beard fun

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of "Pete's Playoff Beard" a few days ago. Hopefully the Canucks pull their socks up (let's just not talk about last night, okay?) so his beard has a chance to reach Grizzly Adams-esque proportions soon.

Speaking of playoff beards, here are a couple more fun stories that I recently came across. First off there is this entertaining read from The Hockey News, featuring some wicked photos of Chris Mason and Scott Neidermayer, as well as some advice on how to tell playoff-Daniel from playoff-Henrik.

Secondly, there is this commercial which was posted on Puck Daddy two weeks ago. It is YouTube gold:



Too bad the boys in the ad couldn't help Sidney Crosby out. The dude is trying but, as you can see from this picture, not succeeding very well in his playoff beard efforts.