{coyotes} Stanley Cup Round 2 previews, picks: West

Thursday 26 April 2012

{coyotes} Stanley Cup Round 2 previews, picks: West

Unlock the Secrets of Chess with Your Authentic Harry Potter Chess Collection. Shop Now! - 728x90

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(2) St. Louis Blues vs. (8) Los Angeles Kings

Season series: Los Angeles won 3-1-0

For Blues to win: "When you beat the Presidents' Trophy winner, you become the No. 1 seed, and I think everybody knows that," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of his second-round opponents, the Kings, who shocked the world – or at least B.C.'s largest city – by making quick work of the Vancouver Canucks. Hitchcock might be trying to draw attention to a series that, let's be honest, is about one thing: goaltending. The Blues and Kings each surrendered a paltry 1.6 goals per game (tied for best in the league) during their respective Round 1 triumphs, and three of the teams' four meetings in the regular season were decided by shutouts. All-star Brian Elliott, who missed part of the opening series due to injury, will start as Jaroslav Halak (lower body) takes his turn on the mend. But Andy MacDonald (eight points) and Patrik Berglund (seven) – the opening round's greatest scorers outside of the Philly-Pittsburgh goalfest – must continue to light the lamp.

For Kings to win: Keep it up. Young, loose and free, this is a team with nothing to lose (L.A. spent the majority of the season out of the playoff picture), and that's a scary thing. Although it's difficult to overstate what netminder Jonathan Quick means to this team's success, captain Dustin Brown (+4) has been this team's emotional and statistical leader. If he's not killing penalties, he's scoring goals… or he's scoring goals while on the kill (he has a pair of shorthanded markers). Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams are playing inspired hockey, and Jarret Stoll has two game-winners, including the one that wrote the script for the Canucks' One Crazy Summer. What happens if Mike Richards and Jeff Carter start producing the kind of scoring that their salaries demand?

Big question: Will the Blues' dynamic puck-stopping duo have enough combined health to persevere through what should be a long series?

Best bet: Kings in seven.

(3) Phoenix Coyotes vs. (4) Nashville Predators

Season series: Phoenix won 2-1-1

For Coyotes to win: The Coyotes won their regular-season series with the Predators, but on paper they shouldn't have. The Preds have a deeper battalion of forwards; a pair of all-star defencemen in Ryan Suter and Shea Weber that should have an advantage over young desert dog talents Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson; and a Vezina Trophy nominee in Pekka Rinne who can match the stingy play of Mike Smith save for save. The 'Yotes have less to lose here; with no true ownership they are playing quite literally with house money. (Popular question: If Phoenix wins it all, does Gary Bettman get to spend a week with the Cup?) Life in Arizona will go on regardless – it's hard to make golfing jokes when that's what people do year-round. Smith must continue to astound, the playoffs' best penalty kill must maintain, and the forwards must luck out with a few more overtime winners (we see you, Mikkel Boedker), as they did against Chicago. Don't rule it out.

For Predators to win: "I don't know who is supposed to be favoured," Nashville's David Poile told the Leaf Chronicle on Tuesday. "They have the home-ice advantage." The GM of the Year candidate is deflecting. Despite the White Out (and Yellow Out?), home ice means little here. In the regular-season series between the Predators and Coyotes, the visiting team won every single time. And as good as Rinne and Smith are, a gaudy 24 goals were scored in those four games. The more scoring, the better for Nashville, a deadline-boosted outfit that can generate offence with any line on the ice. Seven Preds have 40 or more points, and that doesn't include Russian import Alexander Radulov. Though they've never reached a Cup final, Nashville is the conference's last remaining team that feels it must win now. As long as they don't give into that pressure or take stupid penalties, Rinne and his 1.81 GAA will be just fine.