With the Canucks and Oilers battling it out and the Stars and Avalanche facing off, expect both playoff contests to last seven games, says Adam Proteau.
With the Canucks and Oilers battling it out and the Stars and Avalanche facing off, expect both playoff contests to last seven games, says Adam Proteau.
The first round of the NHL’s Western Conference Stanley Cup playoffs ended Sunday, This writer went 3-1 in his Western predictions and 5-3 in the first round as a whole.
On Sunday, we made our predictions for the Eastern Conference semifinals. Today, we’re focusing on our predictions for the Western Conference’s two remaining playoff series. Here we go:
Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche
Why the Stars could win: Dallas narrowly avoided elimination Sunday by beating the very solid Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7 of their first-round showdown. The Stars showed great resilience in coming back to life against Vegas.
It’s more than a little encouraging that three of their best players in the first round, forwards Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson and defenseman Miro Heiskanen, are 24 years old or younger. And goalie Jake Oettinger’s first-round individual numbers (including a .925 save percentage and 1.95 goals-against average) are stellar.
The Stars remain this writer’s pick to win this season’s Cup, but the Avalanche impressed us the most in the first round, so we anticipate this series goes the full seven games. But in for a penny, in for a pound with the Stars. We’re sticking with them.
Why the Avalanche could win: The Avs were a steamroller against Winnipeg in the first round, smashing and stacking the Jets in five games. If momentum is a real thing, the Avalanche are likely to win three of their next six games, regardless of who their opponent is.
It’s that deciding seventh game that will be the destiny of the Avalanche and Stars this season. Anything can and usually does happen in Game 7, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Avalanche emerge as the victors here.
Who is going to win: Stars, in seven games
Dallas’ offensive production against Vegas was less than impressive in Round 1, as the Stars averaged just 2.29 goals-for per game, fifth-worst among all playoff teams.
But somehow, they managed to make it past the Golden Knights, and we foresee a similar fate for the Stars this time around. It will be a seven-game series one way or another, and we think a lot of Dallas’ key players, so we’re predicting the Stars outlast Colorado and move to the Western Conference final.
It’s Dallas’ year, and we’re going with the same team we liked to win it all in our pre-season predictions.
Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers
Why the Canucks could win: Vancouver got a great defensive test in the Nashville Predators in the first round, but ultimately, the Canucks were deeper, faster and more determined than the Preds.
Vancouver’s offense is going to need to ratchet up a notch or two to keep pace with the high-energy Oilers.
Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs will have to match the effort of Edmonton counterpart Stuart Skinner, but we like Vancouver’s defense – a strength for them against Nashville — to clamp down on Oilers stars and keep the scoring on both sides to a minimum.
It’s hard to imagine the Canucks winning a high-scoring affair, but Vancouver has the discipline to check Edmonton hard, not get heavily penalized and pull out a series win by the narrowest of margins.
Why the Oilers could win: The Oilers grabbed the Los Angeles Kings by the ankles, turned them upside down and shook them until all their money fell out in Round 1.
It would be hard to envision a team getting any more confident after the first round than Edmonton is right now. They have the best player in the world, another world-class talent behind them, and a well-balanced group of forwards. That was more than enough to beat the Kings. Skinner also gives his teammates more than enough landing strip to land this plane.
Vancouver is an excellent team, but so are the Oilers, and this series is also likely to go the full seven games.
Who is going to win: Vancouver, in seven games
The Canucks and Oilers are very good teams, and one of them is about to go home for the year.
Edmonton has the best player in this series in Connor McDavid, but Vancouver has the best defenseman in Quinn Hughes. We also like the Canucks’ secondary scorers more than we like the Oilers’ group.
It will be a tooth-and-nail battle, but Vancouver should be the team moving on to the third round. Vancouver has been great for most of the season, and we don’t see that changing now.