Tag: nhl playoff predictions

NHL Playoff Predictions: Round Two

The first round of the 2024 NHL Playoffs wrapped up last night and the second round kicked off last night as well. Worlds colliding, the universe is spinning out of control! I need to write another predictions post!

Let’s review my picks from the first round, including my coin flip picks. The Bruins won so that’s all that matters, but we’ll review anyway.

In the East…

Panthers vs Lightning. I hate them both. I picked Tampa Bay and Florida won. Pricks. I am 0/1. The coin picked Tampa Bay too so we’re both 0/1.

Bruins vs Maple Leafs. Nothing else matters. The Bruins won and all was right with the world, even though it stressed me out like crazy over the last three games. Damn, Bruins. I clearly picked the Bruins so I am 1/2. The coin toss picked the Bruins as well. We’re both 1/2.

The Rangers vs the Capitals. Damn if I don’t hate both of these teams too. The Rangers won easy. I picked the Caps because I suck at this. The coin picked the Caps too because the coin sucks at this too. We’re both 1/3.

Whalers vs Islanders.  Again… hate for both teams. I picked the Whale and the coin picked the Islanders. Finally some tension here! Who won? The Whale. I am 2/4 and the coin is 1/4.

On to the West!

Stars vs Golden Knights. This is the series that ended last night with a game seven. I picked Dallas and the coin picked Vegas. Who won game seven? Dallas. I was right, the coin was wrong. I am 3/5 and the coin is 1/5.

Jets vs Avalanche. I didn’t follow a single second of this series. I picked the Jets and the Avs won. The coin picked the Avs. Oh well. I am 3/6 and the coin is 2/6 and catching up to me.

Canucks vs Predators. I went with the underdog and I was wrong wrong wrong. I picked the Preds and the Canucks won. Fortunately for the predictions competition, the coin picked the Predators too. I am 3/7 and the coin is 2/7.

Oilers vs Kings. I like the Kings. I kinda like the Oilers. I picked the Oilers. So did the coin toss. The Oilers won. That brings me up to 4/8 and the coin is 3/8.

Two important statistical notes. First, I am at 50% which is really the best I can ever hope for. More importantly I beat the coin. Oh yeah, that’s what I am talking about. I’m better than blind random luck, babie! Nice!

Now for the second round, starting in the East…

Panthers vs Bruins. I am still so intensely pissed off over the Bruins choking last year and losing to the Panthers that I may never forgive them. A second round win this year will not erase last year’s shame… but it would be a nice start. Clearly I am picking the Bruins even though the Panthers are probably favored. The coin flip is tails. The higher seed is heads and the lower seed is tails, so the coin picks the Bruins as well.

Rangers vs Whalers. This is a little tough here. Game one already happened and the Rangers won. Does that color my choice? Nope. Even though I hate New York sports teams with the fiery passion of a million burning suns, I was going to pick the Rangers all along. Last night’s game doesn’t change anything. The coin flip is tails, so it picks the Whale.

Now we move over to the West…

Stars vs Avalanche. These two have a history, don’t they? Dallas vs Colorado always sees me siding with Colorado. Thanks to Ray Bourque, I think. I am picking the Avs out of loyalty. The coin also picked Colorado. That’s three tails in a row. Only one more to go.

Canucks vs Oilers. No question this time. Oilers all the way. The coin flip is finally not tails. The coin pics Vancouver.

There you have it, the third round will be Boston vs New York which is freakin’ epic in scope. The west will be Colorado vs Edmonton. You heard it here first, hockey fans!

I asked Google Gemini about the Boston/Florida series. Specifically, I asked the following:

Who do you think will win the playoff series between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers

Gemini’s response?

Predicting the winner of the Bruins-Panthers series is tough! Here’s a breakdown to help you form your own opinion:

  • Regular Season: The Bruins swept the season series 4-0, with two overtime victories.
  • Recent Form: Boston needed a hard-fought Game 7 overtime win against Toronto, while Florida swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
  • Last Year’s Playoffs: The Panthers pulled off a massive upset, winning Game 7 in overtime after Boston led 3-1. This adds a revenge factor for the Bruins.

While the Bruins dominated the regular season matchup, playoff hockey is a different beast. Experts are leaning slightly towards the Panthers, but both teams have strong arguments.

Here are some resources to dig deeper:

So in other words, Gemini is too much of a wimp to actually pick a winner. Nice job, wimp.

NHL Playoff Predictions

The first round of the NHL Playoffs start tomorrow. It’s time for my pointless, stupid predictions post. As is generally the case with pro sports these days, I have not been following the league as a whole that much, just my home town team. That means most of these predictions are very close to blind guesses on my part. Therefore I will also include a flip of a coin prediction and when it’s all over we’ll see if I was better at picking winners than randomness.

Are we ready?

As always, we will start with the Eastern Conference.

Panthers vs Lightning. The battle of Florida… in hockey… ugh. Nothing like cold weather spots in Florida. The Panthers had the better regular season, but I am optimistic that their luck is running out. I am going to pick Tampa Bay. It will probably go seven games, but the Lightning will come out on top. I promise this pick has nothing to do with the Panthers bouncing my Boston Bruins in the first round last year. Really. It has nothing to do with that. Now, which team does the coin pick? The rules are the higher seed (Florida in this case) is heads and the lower seed (Tampa Bay) is tails. It’s tails. The coin picks Tampa Bay.

Bruins vs Maple Leafs. I live in Boston. I root for Boston teams. There is no way I am picking against my Bruins. That’s a given. Beyond that, the Leafs have a killer offense, but it will not be a match for the Bruins defense and goalies. Sorry, Leafs fans. It’s going to be yet another in a long line of Boston wins over Toronto. Nothing personal, friends. The Bruins will just have your number again. The coin flip is heads so the coin picks the Bruins too.

The Rangers vs the Capitals. I hate both of these teams. I hate the Rangers more. That’s not why I am picking the Capitals this time though. The Capitals have been playing playoff intensity games for a while now. The Rangers breezed into the playoffs. The Capitals fought their way in. I think the momentum will carry the Caps through the first round. Probably not too far beyond that, but I’m looking for a serious upset here. The coin flip is tails so it also picked the Capitals. I see a pattern developing here.

Whalers vs Islanders. Okay, Robert. Stop calling the Carolina Hurricanes the Whalers. It’s not funny anymore. Then again… both of these teams were the parent club of the AHL team I used to have season tickets for. The Lowell Lock Monsters. Both teams pulled out on us and left my minor league team hanging. Due to that I can honestly say I friggin’ hate both of these teams. I want to pick the Islanders here, but they are from New York and I can’t pick a New York team without feeling gross about it. I’m considering it… but I think I am picking the Whale this time, even if it is painful to do so. The coin flip picks the Islanders though. Finally it picks the team I didn’t pick.

On to the Western Conference…

Stars vs Golden Knights. I don’t know. I really don’t. I want to pick Vegas but… no, I am going to pick Dallas. I could go either way with this one, but let’s officially pick The Stars. The coin flip picks Vegas.

Jets vs Avalanche. Again, I could go either way with this series. My gut is telling me to pick the Avs for the upset, but I don’t think I can bring myself to do it. I am going to pick The Jets and I will probably kick myself for doing so. The coin is tails again so it picks Colorado. That coin sure does love the underdogs, right?

Canucks vs Predators. Okay, I am going to pick an underdog this time. Nashville will take this one in an upset. As silly as it is to have an NHL team in Tennessee, I foresee a Vancouver choke coming. The coin flip agrees with me as it comes up tails for the fifth flip in a row.

Oilers vs Kings. Last but not least. I have always like The Kings. I haven’t always liked the Oilers as they beat my Bruins in the Cup Finals in both 1988 and 1990. Eventually something happened (I don’t know what) and I started to like them too. I am going to pick The Oilers this year. Sorry, Los Angeles. Edmonton is going to beat you. Nothing personal, it’s just business. Hockey business. The coin flip finally comes up heads so the coin picks Edmonton too.

There you have it, folks. My stupid, pointless, blind, uninformed predictions for the first round of the NHL Playoffs. It’s Stanley Cup tournament time. The best post season in all of professional sports. The games start tomorrow. The Bruins take on The Maple Leafs tomorrow at 8:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Go Bruins!

NHL Predictions Wrap Up Post

The Vegas Golden Knights have won the Stanley Cup! Rejoice, as that means the friggin Florida Panthers lost. Does Florida losing make me feel better about the epic, colossal choke the Bruins gave us in the first round? No. No it doesn’t. Not even a little bit. It does feel good though. Spiteful and vindictive and just good.

So it’s time to wrap up my predictions posts for the year. One more series to add to the total. Where did I stand before the final? Where did the accompanying coin flips stand before the final?

Before the final I had picked the winner correctly in seven out of 14 series (7/14). The coin flip picked the winner correctly in five out of 14 series (5/14). In the final, the coin and I both picked Vegas so we were both correct. That means I finished with more wins than losses, babie! Eight out of 15 (8/15)! That gives me a winning percentage of 53.3%. Not terribly good, but not terribly bad either. You might say my predictions were mediocre and I would be okay with that. As long as I’m over 50% I feel okay. As for the coin flip, six out of 15 (6/15) is pretty freakin’ terrible. Statistically speaking a coin flip should average out at about 50%, right? I guess the sample size of 15 is just too small to meet that expectation. The result of 40% is pretty awful, but not too awful. I guess. As long as I did better, that’s all I need from this experiment.

So now we wait until next year. We go through the draft and the free agency period and see what trades happen and rookie camp and training camp and finally back to opening day in October. Here’s hoping the Bruins redeem themselves next season. They have a lot to answer for after that horrible, nightmare of a choke. I’m still pretty pissed off.

NHL Stanley Cup Final Predictions

You know something? This NHL playoff season has sucked. Suck Suck Sucked. My predictions have sucked, but they always suck. This year the teams and the matchups suck. It’s like the universe has been letting teams advanced based mostly on how little I care about them.

How did my third round predictions work out? Badly. As usual.

Eastern Conference, Whalers vs Panthers: I fucking hate the Florida Panthers. I hate the Whaler-canes too, but I hate Florida even more. As if that nazi prick Desantis weren’t disgusting enough, now the Panthers advance to the Cup Final? Fuck them. I picked the Whale, of course, and I guaranteed they would lose. Pricks. That makes me six out of 13 for the post season, which drops me below 50%. Asshats. The coin flip picked the Whale too so it is now five out of 13. Suck.

Western Conference, Golden Knights vs Stars: I feel almost redeemed here. I picked Vegas. I thought they were going to sweep but they blew two games and made it look like a series before winning in six. They bring me back to 50% at seven out of 14. Thankfully. The coin flip picked Dallas and lost yet again. That’s five out of 14 for a pathetic 35.7%.

So that leaves the final, and I am guessing based on my statement in the Eastern Conference Final recap you can guess who I am going to pick.

Stanley Cup Final Round, Vegas Golden Knights vs the Fucking Florida Panthers: Can you guess who I am picking? Go on, guess. Vegas. Hockey Gods willing, they’ll win it in four, but I can’t be that lucky. The coin flip was heads, so it picks the higher seed, and that is Vegas. We’re both picking the Western Conference champs because Florida sucks. Fuck Florida. Fuck them right in their fucking ears.

If Vegas wins, I will have picked more than half of the matchups correctly. If Vegas loses I will have picked more than half of the matchups incorrectly. Given the results of the first three rounds, I can pretty much bank on Vegas losing because hockey as a living entity hates me almost as much as I hate Florida. Fucking Panther pricks.

NHL First Round Playoff Predictions

The first round of the NHL playoffs kick off tomorrow and I am freakin’ scared. My heroic Boston Bruins ran away with the regular season this year and shattered records left and right. The last time a team did that in the regular season was the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019. How did they fare in the post season? They were swept in the first round. Yup, Robbie is scared.

Here are my very illogical predictions. Also there will be coin flip predictions because I haven’t a clue what I am talking about. The higher seed is heads and the lower is tails.

Eastern Conference

Bruins vs Panthers: Guess. Go on. Guess. The Bruins, babie. Coin flip? Heads. The coin (which is actually just Siri) picks The Bruins.

Maple Leafs vs Lightning: As much as it pains me, I am picking Toronto. Mostly because the universe requires them to lose to Boston. The coin flip is tails so Siri picks Tampa Bay. I can dig that.

Whalers vs Islanders: I want to pick the Islanders, I really do. I just don’t see The Whale losing this one. Coin flip? Tails. Siri picks the Islanders.

Devils vs Rangers: I really don’t want to pick the higher seed in every series, but I think I have to. I’m going with The Devils even though I am still pissed at them for pulling their AHL affiliate out of Lowell. Siri/coin? Heads. The universe picks New Jersey too.

On to the Western Conference where I don’t know jack about anything.

Avalanche vs Kraken: Based on nothing factual I am picking Seattle. Why? Because The Avalanche are the reigning cup winners and it’s Seattle’s first ever playoff appearance. Go Kraken! The coin, however, picks Colorado.

Stars vs Wild: In the epic battle of teams with one syllable names, I have no idea who to pick in this series. I’m going to say The Wild, only because I’ve actually been to one of their home games once. The coin flip agrees!

Golden Knights vs Jets: I want to pick The Jets but I can’t. Vegas is going to take this one. The coin flip agrees.

Oilers vs Kings: I want to pick the Kings, but I won’t. I’m picking The Oilers because they are going to win. Once again, the coin flip agrees. Edmonton might be my pick for the West. Unless Seattle kicks major ass.

So there we have it. My shitty picks for the first round of the 2023 playoffs. I don’t give a rats ass about any of them, just so long as The Bruins win the cup. Oh please, Bruins, win the cup.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Predictions – Wrap Up

Well folks, we’ve come to the end of another NHL Stanley Cup Playoff run and while we are all sad that the Boston Bruins did not win, we are all happy that the Montreal Canadiens didn’t win either.

The only question left is how did I do with my predictions, and did I do better than random chance? No. No I did not.

I tried to predict the outcome of every playoff series. I predicted the Lightning would win the Final and I was right. That gives me a painfully mediocre, but still on the winning side, record of eight correct and seven incorrect predictions. 8-7. My winning percentage is 53.3%. I’ll take it.

I also tested random selection by flipping a coin for some of the series. I excluded the three matchups that only had teams in the Bruins’ division. Two from the first round and one from the second. The coin flip also picked Tampa Bay in the Final so it ended the tournament with a record of eight correct and four incorrect. 8-4. The coin’s winning percentage was a staggering 66.7% It was right on two out of every three. So much for randomness, huh? What a jerk!

So now what? Barring any more Covid-19 shenanigans we should have an expansion draft and an entry draft and a free agency period this summer, followed by training camps in the fall and a new season in October. You know, the way things used to go prior to Covid-19’s colossal screwing. My hope for the summer is that the Bruins draft the best rookies and snag the best free agents and sometime next June they win another Stanley Cup. I don’t think that’s asking for too much, do you?

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions – The Stanley Cup Final

We are in seriously dangerous territory. Montreal is in the finals. 28 NHL teams have failed in the world’s quest to keep Montreal from winning another Cup. There is only one team left who can stop this madness and it just happens to be the defending Stanley Cup Champs.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before we talk about defeating the evil, let’s look at how my predictions have done thus far. Also, I flipped a coin for all but the first two round’s Northeast Division series so let’s see how the coin is doing (hint, the coin is doing better than I am).

After the first round my winning percentage was exactly .500. Six correct pics and six incorrect picks. 6-6. Pretty much the text book definition of mediocrity. The coin, with three fewer picks made, has a winning record at 5-4.

How did we do in the third round?

Lightning vs Islanders. It came down to a game seven but Tampa Bay was able to make both me and the coin look smart. We both picked Tampa so we were both right. I’m up to 7-6 and the coin is 6-4.

Golden Knights vs Canadiens. The horror. The horror. The horror. I picked Vegas because I hate the Canadiens with a passion that cannot be put into words. The coin sided with evil and picked Montreal. The coin was right (7-4) and I was heartbreakingly wrong (7-7).

And finally (pun definitely intended)……..

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens: So now we’ve arrived at the finals. There is so much more at stake than just the Cup, or my picks, or experiments in random selection, or anything like that. No, the fate of the universe is at stake. This isn’t hockey anymore, this is good vs evil with the defending champions the Tampa Bay Lightning on the side of good, and the vile, hated Montreal Canadiens on the side of evil. This is literally Luke “Lightning” Skywalker vs Darth “Les Habitants” Vader. Clearly I am picking Tampa Bay because I stand against evil whenever I can. The coin, who has picked Montreal twice now, picks (heads for the higher seed, which according to the NHL iOS app is Tampa Bay) Tampa Bay! The coin finally chooses to side against the evil ones! Thanks, coin!

Game one is Monday night. If Tampa Bay wins I will finish the playoffs with an 8-7 record and I’ll get to pat myself on the back for finishing with a winning record. If I lose I’ll finish 7-8 but it won’t matter because the universe will have collapsed into evil and madness so no one will notice my awful prediction skills. The coin will end up with a winning record either way, because it’s an asshole.

GO LIGHTNING!

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions – Round Three

I am not good at the second round. Every year it’s the same thing. First round, good. Second round, awful.

After one round I was 5-3 because the Maple Leafs suck. My coin flip was 2-4, again because the Leafs suck.

How’s it look after the second round?

The Bruins and the Islanders. Shut up. I’m not crying, you’re crying. Stop being such a butt munch, you jerk. I am now 5-4.

Hurricanes and Lightning. The coin and I both picked the lightning. Good work, me. I am 6-4 and the coin is 3-4. That’s it for good news for me.

Avalanche and Golden Knights. Welp… my pick to win it all is out of it. I picked the Avs and the coin picked Vegas. I am 6-5 and the coin is 4-4.

Canadiens vs Jets. Oh for fucks sake. I picked the Jets and the coin picked Montreal. Montreal won because they suck and also because the Leafs suck. I am 6-6 and the coin is 5-4.

So I guess that leaves us with the third round. They don’t seem to be calling it the Conference Finals this year. Instead it is the Stanley Cup Semifinals. Whatever, the Bruins aren’t in it so I hate it.

No. 3 Tampa Bay Lightning vs No. 4 New York Islanders: I hate them both. I hate Tampa because they beat us… last year was it? I don’t care, I hate them. I hate the Islanders more though because they beat us last week and they are from New York, even though they aren’t the real hockey team from New York (The Rangers didn’t make it this year because they suck). So I guess I am picking Tampa because I hate them slightly less. The coin flip (heads for the higher seed, tails for the lower) also picked Tampa.

No. 2 Vegas Golden Knights vs No. 4 Montreal Canadiens: Again, I hate them both. I didn’t hate Vegas a few days ago, but then they beat the team I was expecting to win it all so I hate them now. Montreal though… Can you feel the hate flowing through me? I hate the Montreal Canadiens the way a Sith Lord hates the Jedi. I hate them the way stormtroopers hate shooting straight. I hate them the way Tribbles hate Klingons. I hate them the way Science Fiction nerds hate it when blog writers mix Star Wars and Star Trek metaphors. Again, I am picking the lesser of the two hates and predicting a win for Vegas. The coin flip, for the second round in a row, picks Montreal. I hate that effin’ coin.

What does all of this mean?

It means the Bruins are out of it and it makes me sad. I could really used a Cup win this year. Thanks a bunch, guys.

NHL STanley Cup Playoffs Predictions – Round Two

Dude, you literally just said you weren’t going to do a predictions post until the Canadian Division’s first round was over, Yeah, well I say a lot of things that don’t come true, don’t I.

I will add an addendum to this after the Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens, because we all know that the Maple Leafs are going to beat the Canadiens. I will review all of my picks, and my coin flip picks, as they stand now and when the Canadiens are eliminated (likely sometime tonight) I’ll finalize everything. The second round is going to start tonight though so I should do something before then and this is it.

Let’s review 7/8ths of the first round and see how I did. Also, remember that in all but the East Division I made my pick and flipped a coin, so let’s also see how the coin is doing.

First, the East Division.

The Penguins and the Islanders. I picked the Penguins because I hate New York and the Penguins lost because I hate the Penguins and apparently they hate me right back. The Islanders won and I am officially 0-1.

The Capitals and the Bruins. I picked the Bruins but I thought it would be a tough series. It started out pretty tough with overtime in the first three games, but now that it’s over we have to ask ourselves if the Capitals ever really had a chance. I picked the Mighty Mighty Bruins and the Mighty Mighty Bruins won! WOOHOO! I am now 1-1.

Next up is the North Division.

The Maple Leafs vs the Canadiens. Winner still TBD, and by TBD I mean the Leafs are likely going to murderize the Habs in game six tonight. Until they make it official, I am still 1-1 and the coin flip is nil-nil.

The Oilers and the Jets. You know, dumbass, you literally said you wanted to pick the upset on this series but nooooo, you went and picked the higher seed. The stupid coin flip picked the same and we both look stupid, We picked the Oilers and the Jets won in a four game sweep. Smooth move, ex-lax. I am now 1-2 and the coin flip is 0-1.

On to the West division. Have you noticed that I forgot to do the Central? I sure did. Looking at my previous post I went and scrolled right over them to get to Canada. I’ll double back in a minute.

The Avalanche vs The Blues. I picked the Avs. The coin picked the Blues. One of us was right and one of us was wrong. The Avalanche won in a four game sweep. I picked the Avalanche. The coin picked the Blues. I was right. It was wrong. Suck it, Blues and suck it, coin. I am now 2-2 and the coin is a pathetic 0-2.

The Golden Knights vs The Wild. This series has the honor of being the first hockey I watched this season that didn’t have the Bruins on the ice, and that was last night. I picked Vegas and Vegas won and I was right. The coin picked the Wild and the Wild lost and the coin was wrong. I am now 3-2 and the coin is a shameful 0-3.

Oh hey look, it’s the Central Division. Remember them?

The Hurricanes and the Predators. The coin and I both picked the Whale and we were both correct because the Whale won it in six games. I am now 4-2 and the coin is on the board at last at 1-3.

The Panthers and the Lightning. I went with the upset and picked the Lightning. The coin did as well, though I don’t think its choice was based on the same logic. I think its choice was based on randomness or some shit. The Lightning won, regardless of the reason. I am now 5-2 and the coin is 2-3.

So I had a pretty good first round. If the Leafs win I go 6-2. If they lose I’m still a decent 5-3. I can live with that. I usually have really bad luck in the second round though, so all the more reason for the Leafs to win. If the Leafs win the coin will be an even 3-3 which is exactly how this is supposed to go, right?

Now for the second round… well, 3/4 of the second round at least.

As always, we start with the East Division…

No. 3 Boston Bruins vs No. 4 New York Islanders: Can you guess who I’m picking? Go on, guess. Let me give you a hint. I hate everything about all New York sports teams. You still can’t guess? Okay, another hint. I live in Boston and once held partial season tickets to the Bruins and I am currently wearing a Boston Bruins t-shirt and if you cut me I would literally bleed black and gold. Still can’t guess? Are you serious? Okay, I’ll make my pick. The Bruins will win. Hopefully quickly and easily, but more likely it’ll be six or seven games. The Islanders scare me, and not just because they are from the effin’ New York.

In the Central, because I didn’t forget all about them this time…

No. 1 Carolina Hurricanes vs No. 3 Tampa Bay Lightning: I’m not sure who to pick here. Do I go with the higher seed or the team that was unstoppable last year? I don’t know. Okay, I am going to pick the Lightning even though the idea of the Bruins facing them in round three yet again is kinda horrifying. No, I’m sticking to my gut and picking the Lightning to win. How about the coin flip? Heads for higher seed, tales for lower. The coin picks the Lightning too.

Go West, young man…

No 1. Colorado Avalanche vs No 2. Vegas Golden Knights: I want to say that this is a tough choice, and I guess on some level it is… but I’m pretty sure Colorado is going to win the Cup this year, so I am picking the Avs to win. Does our friend the coin flip agree? No. It disagrees. The coin picks Vegas and watch that son of a bitch be right. Stupid coin.

And finally the North division which isn’t even set yet…

Somebody vs No. 3 Winnipeg Jets: How about I make two picks for this round. One if the Leafs win and won if the Canadiens win. That sounds good. Then I don’t have to worry about the backlash when I pick later. Okay. I don’t think there is any doubt that the Maple Leafs are the team to beat in Canada. If the Maple Leafs advance to the second round they will win. If Montreal advances, Winnipeg will spank their asses the way Toronto should have, and the Jets will win. For Mr Coin Flip, if the Leafs advance they are the higher seed so heads is the Leafs. In that case the coin picks the Leafs. If Montreal wins they are the lower seed so the Jets would be heads. Should I do a separate flip or use the first flip? Screw it, I’ll use a separate flip. It’s my friggin’ blog post, I can make any stupid rules I want. It’s tails, so if the Canadiens advance, the Canadiens will win.

So there you have it. I technically don’t need to add an addendum after the Maple Leafs dismember the Canadiens tonight (or in game seven, if needed, but most likely tonight), but I probably will anyway.

The second round starts tonight with the Islanders at the Bruins at 8:00pm. Go Bruins! Stanley Cup or bust!

NHL Stanley Cup Quarterfinals Predictions – Round One

Here’s the thing about the NHL this season. I didn’t watch a single game outside of the East Division. There are 12 teams in the playoffs this year that I know literally nothing about. Here’s how I am going to handle it, predictions wise. For the East it is business as usual. For the other three divisions, I am going to make a gut feeling pick based mostly on the standings, but I am also going to make a coin flip pick. After the first round is over, I’ll compare the two and see how it went.

First, though, the East Division…

No. 1 Pittsburgh Penguins vs No. 4 New York Islanders: The Islanders have two strikes against them and the Penguins only have one. The Islanders are from New York (BOO!) and I have no faith in them at all. Two strikes. The Penguins’ only strike is that they are the friggin’ Penguins and I really hate the friggin’ Penguins. Still, I gotta pick them for this round. Pittsburgh will win.

No. 2 Washington Capitals vs No. 3 Boston Bruins: So there I was, at the trade deadline thinking, Taylor Hall? Really? He’s not going to put us over the top. He’s no winner. Well… I might have to stand here corrected. I am standing here beside myself corrected. I hope. My heroic, triumphant Boston Bruins have had a few clunkers of late, but I see them steam rolling the Caps in the first round. Please please please please please don’t make me eat those word too. Boston will win.

Next, the Central Division…

No. 1 Carolina Hurricanes vs No. 4 Nashville Predators: Not much doubt about this one, even without knowing anything about the two teams. I say Carolina wins this one. The coin flip (heads for the higher seed) says Carolina wins too.

No. 2 Florida Panthers vs No. 3 Tampa Bay Lightning: I’m picking the upset here. Probably because I am still thinking of the Lightning in terms of last season. I say Tampa Bay wins. The coin flip also says Tampa Bay wins. Weird.

On to the North Division…

No. 1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs No. 4 Montreal Canadiens: I hate the Montreal Canadiens with every fiber of my being. I hate them I hate them I hate them. Also, Toronto doesn’t have to play Boston in the first round so they won’t automatically lose again. I say Toronto wins, and probably wins the next round too. The coin flip says Toronto wins too. Is the coin like, reading my mind? Spooky.

No. 2 Edmonton Oilers vs. No. 3 Winnipeg Jets: I could maybe try a spoiler here too but I won’t. I say Edmonton wins (and probably pretty easily too). The coin says Edmonton wins too. Okay, this is starting to creep me out now.

Finally, the West Division where I will once again just pick the higher seed.

No. 1 Colorado Avalanche vs. No. 4 St. Louis Blues: Hey St. Louis, I got your Stanley Cup right here! (imagine me making a very rude hand gesture) You buncha jerkies. I’m not picking the Blues because I’m still pissed off about the last time. Also because I have a sneaking suspicion that the Avs are going to have a parade this year. They might get to do some on ice celebrating, possibly in Toronto. Hashtag foreshadowing. I say Colorado wins. The coin says St. Louis wins because the coin is an asshole. At least we finally have one where we didn’t pick the same team. Hey coin, I got your randomness right here! (imagine me making a very rude hand gesture)

No. 2 Vegas Golden Knights vs. No. 3 Minnesota Wild: Did you know that Minneapolis, MN is the only city outside of Boston, MA where I’ve attended an NHL game? Think that will lead me to pick them to win this series? Think again. I say Vegas wins. The coin, however, says that Minnesota wins. We shall see, Mr. Coin… we shall see.

There you have it, my first round playoff predictions for this the second 2021 playoff season which is also the second Covid-19 playoff season.

Go Bruins.