Alas, we've once again immediately lost the hope of anybody achieving that prized Triple-P (Perfect Playoff Prognostication—and, yes, of course I just made that up ... not to mention that the additional adjective thus makes it a quadruple-P), but damned if I wasn't close with how the first seven series played out. I guess all I can say right now is I'm done thinking so highly of Mike Green—or at least trying to convince people that they should know who he is, Geico commercial or not.Indeed, in an ironic twist to conclude the opening round (conference quarterfinals, if you so choose), instead of the Washington Capitals going on to win the Stanley Cup as I predicted at the beginning of the season, they instead were ousted by an eighth-seeded Montreal team that absolutely nobody had predicted heading into this matchup.
I know, I know—"What's so fucking ironic about that, honky?"
Oh, just that an eight-seeded Montreal team advancing to the conference semifinals is also something I predicted at the beginning of the season. Of course, I mentioned that in my picks from the last round and knowingly ignored it anyway. Still, all other things considered, I did aight in my mind:
1. YOURS TRULY: 7-1 (3)
2. Erin Brown, CBS Sports: 6-2 (4)
3. John Buccigross, ESPN: 6-2 (3)
4. Wes Goldstein, CBS Sports: 6-2 (1)
4. Matt Romig, Yahoo: 6-2 (1)
6. Ross McKeon, Yahoo: 6-2 (0)
7. Barry Melrose, ESPN: 5-3 (4)
8. Matthew Barnaby, ESPN: 5-3 (3)
9. Puck Daddy, Yahoo: 5-3 (2)
10. Scott Burnside, ESPN: 5-3 (1)
10. E.J. Hradek, ESPN: 5-3 (1)
12. Pierre LeBrun, ESPN: 5-3 (0)
12. Sam McCaig, Yahoo: 5-3 (0)
14. Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: 3-5 (1)
14. Mike Hurcomb, CBS Sports: 3-5 (1)
I see more of Puck Daddy's staff is putting picks up than last year when only their first and final rounds of picks were published, but I'll include those folks in the standings if those same contributors also get picks in for the next round. For now though, Montreal stunned everybody listed above while the other two upsets from Philly and Beantown in the East caused most everybody else problems (not me, of course, 'cause I saw that shit comin' ...). The pair of CBS experts there at the bottom deserve special mention for missing the entire Eastern Conference by having picked the four losers as well as one incorrect upset guess in the West as well.
And that said, my calling attention to their poor performance almost certainly guarantees that I'll be falling on my face with my own picks this round. But before we get to that, we should see what the others have first—well, those who have picks up, at least. I'll update these as they come in, but a couple sites seem to be dragging their virtual heels here, so for the time being, those screengrabs (of sorts) will instead be replaced by a woman in a business suit, because that's the picture I liked best after a Google Image Search for "times a wastin."
UPDATE: OK, CBS Sports picks are up—sans Dennis Dodd's picks. Seeing as he usually writes about college football anyway, if his picks don't turn up some time during this round, he'll more than likely be replaced by those additional Puck Daddy contributors—assuming they all provide picks one more time in the next round. And all of this assumes you, lovely dear reader, actually care about these other people half as much as you're infatuated with me.
SECOND UPDATE: Dodd's picks added ...
ESPN:
So last year in this round, I had the Penguins, Bruins, Blackhawks and Red Wings all advancing to the conference finals. It'd be kind of crazy to pick those exact same teams again, wouldn't it?:
Jaroslav Havlak made a pretty convincing bid for that "hot goalie" title every team wants to have in the playoffs, but I don't think the Pens are anywhere near as likely to take the Habs as lightly as the President's Trophy winners did. Carelessness and penalties would be the most likely things to help do the champs in if they were to falter here, but realistically speaking, their road back to the Cup could not have been made any more favorable than it ended up turning out as now after the first round, they've gone from being the fourth-best team in the East to suddenly being assured of having home-ice this round and next. Continuing the alliteration I began this post with, the Penguins will probably practice patience and pick apart Montreal.
Chicago Blackhawks over Vancouver Canucks in seven games
It's not just because the 'Hawks are my one pre-season Cup finalist still alive or just because they're my absolute favorite team in all of sports right now. Actually, last year in this same round with these same two teams, I correctly had Chicago over the 'Nucks in six. So with the addition of Marian Hossa this year, you'd figure that the Blackhawks should have even more firepower to unload on Roberto Luongo, but anybody who watched the Chicago-Nashville series has to know that these 'Hawks are not the same lovable, innocent young bunch they were last year. Instead, these guys seem to know precisely how much talent they have—which I would say has unfortunately caused them to be much too complacent, to the point of allowing the Predators to make that opening series much more of a challenge than it should have been. A team like Vancouver will take advantage of such disrespect, and I'm not going to be the least bit surprised if the Blackhawks spend much of this series playing from behind—in individual games and the series in general. However, my guess is that there's another split of the first four and however the three following that unfold, Chicago comes out on top.
I can't even begin to buy into this notion of the oft-haunted franchise from San Jose actually disposing of our perennially irritating regular playoff attendee, the Detroit Red Wings. While I'm seeing plenty of others sipping from the Shark Tank, I think even I could score on Evgeni Nabokov at this point. And when the big line of Thornton, Marleau, and Heatley combines for a measly single goal in the opening series with eight-seeded Colorado, it's hard for me to believe that trio's going to enjoy enough improved success against this Detroit team to advance. Much like Chicago, I think the Red Wings may slip behind and let a few games get away from them, but when it comes to crunch time, Detroit clamps down harder and better, thus moving on.
Philadelphia Flyers over Boston Bruins in seven games
I'm going against my better judgment here because Tuukka Rask would obviously be the preferable goaltender to Philly's Brian Boucher, and the Bruins getting Marc Savard means that the Flyers could be paying dearly for any power play opportunities. Either way, this Winter Classic rematch should be a physical series and of the two suddenly revitalized squads, I'll take Philadelphia stealing a fourth game on the road and forcing another interstate battle with Pittsburgh in the conference finals for no reason other than I believe the Flyers strike me as more likely to continue to thrive on their underdog status. Even the Bruins themselves have to be surprised to be having home-ice during these playoffs, but just in case you forgot how that worked out for them last year (yeah, that was Tim Thomas, not Rask ... but apparently I'm buying into this road team in Game Sevens after that, Pittsburgh winning the Cup in Detroit, this year's Canadiens, etc.).
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