[rake922]

I'm giving out 150 points in this thread....

To win, all you have to do is provide your logic for picking one NHL 1st round matchup. Also indicate how many games you think the series goes.

Note: you do not have to necessarily be right ; as long as you give a decent argument you still can be awarded the points

There will be 3 actual winners

1st prize: 70 points
2nd prize: 55 points
3rd prize: 25 points

I will announce the winners and give out the points on 4/13/11 at 1:00 PM EDT

Only one prize per entry/SBR poster will be given

[Bob Loblaw]

Hawks in 6 over the Canucks because there's great value, Nucks are chokers, the Nucks love getting knocked out of the playoffs by the Hawks, and I'm a homer.

[onetrickpony]

im picking the nucks to win against whoever cause thats rods team

[Rod1010]

Montreal to beat boston .

At those great odds please jump on this. Montreal is 4-2 vs boston this year and 21-9 in last 30 games .Boston has a very hard time playing against montreal . This series goes to 7 games .

[DwightShrute]

Chicago has knocked out the Canucks that last 2 years and went on to win the Cup Last year. Each time, it was a great series but Chicago was a little better.

Chicago isn't the same team they were the last couple years. Vancouver isn't either but for opposite reasons. Vancouver just rolled from day one this season while Chicago made it because Dallas couldn't beat the Wild on Sunday.

The largest point differential between two teams facing each other in round one is the Canucks' 117 points which was 20 points better than Chicago's 97.

Vancouver beats Chicago in 5 games

[dfberger23]

Rake I know you have no problems laying juice, Rangers should go down in 4 against Washington.

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

Boston over Montreal in 3. Reasoning: the Habs quit after the 3rd game because the series becomes too physical for them and the NHL commish refuses to allow the froggy policemen to arrest Boston players sent to the box, amid loud protests from the Habs fan who are dialing the police en mass during games to report incidents of assault.

[rsnnh12]

Bruins over Canadiens in 6

One of the most intense rivalries in sports got amped up another notch a month or so ago, when Zdeno Chara hit Max Pacioretty and fractured a few vertebrae and gave him a severe concussion. The head of officiating was in attendance for the last regular season matchup between these 2 teams, to make sure it didn't get out of hand... that means that there is still a LOT of pent up emotion on both teams, which will come out in the playoffs. Expect this to be a hard-hitting, intense matchup, probably the best series in the opening round. The advantage for Boston lies in their veteran defensive stars in Chara and newly acquired Tomas Kaberle, the immortal Mark Recchi, and the best goaltending duo in the league, Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. Thomas put up the best GAA in the NHL this year, at 2.00, and also the best save %, at .938. Too many weapons and too much experience for the Canadiens to handle

[VegasInsider]

Philadelphia over Buffalo in 5

The Flyers have not played great hockey as of late, but they should be getting Chris Pronger back about mid-series from his hand injury. The Sabres had to play their ass off just to get into the playoffs, while the Flyers were allowed to take the more laid back approach and coast into the playoffs. Surely, this isn't what management had in mind...but if the Flyers can come out the first two games of the series and establish their offense, I think they'll run away with the series. Although the Flyers went 2-2 in the season series against Buffalo, they did average 4.25 goals per game with outputs of 6 and 5 goals in the first two games of the series...which they where playing like the normal Flyers. I'm willing to somewhat overlook the final 10 games of the regular season for both squads. Philly finished up 3-7 L10 while Buffalo fought hard to get into the playoffs and went 8-2 L10, although 4 of those wins were against Columbus, New Jersey, Florida, and Carolina...not exactly top notch competition and 3 were at home. The barely got by #8 seed NY Rangers 1-0 at home and beat Philly the second to last game of the season.

I like the Flyers and think there is some value @ -150 for the series.

[Ninersnut]

What Vegas said. I think they take it in 6 tho. Bob is going to drop a game and there might be some flip flopping with the goalies if things get rough. Look for the Phila series to be some patch work but they will prevail.

[Inkwell77]

Never bet against Chris Pronger. If he does return mid-series that is all you need to know.

[aceking]

Detroit Red Wings -200
in 6

Modano - all-time goal-scoring and points leader amongst American-born players in the NHL .

[SprayBoy]

SJ Sharks over La Kings in 6

Goal tending:
Quick vs Niemi - Giving the slight edge to Niemi. Quick is an extremely talented goalie and isn't far behind Niemi, but Niemi is less than a year removed from going the distance to the stanley cup and winning it, he has what it takes and will be really solid for the sharks.

Defense:
Perhaps the only place these teams match up. With LA, you can't really go wrong with players like doughty, mitchell and johnson. Doughty is the best defenseman in this matchup. Sharks have the very solid murray and vlasic, and of course the have boyle whos a great anchor back there. The teams match up pretty well here, maybe an ever so slight edge for LA.

Offense:
Here's where the teams are really separated. LA would have been just a slight underdog if their whole lineup was healthy, however, with their top scorer Kopitar and their second top scorer williams out, they arent even close. Their top 2 scorers now have 57 and 47 points respectively. Sharks on the other hand are an absolute powerhouse. It's tough to find a stronger line in the league than thorton heatley and marleau. Couple that with the fact they have some of the best secondary scoring in the league with guys like pavelski couture and clowe and this matchup isnt even close anymore.

Verdict:
Sharks win in 6, would have said in 5 but LA does have a strong defensive core and a capable goalie. All in all the more experienced team, and the one with far far superior firepower wins this in 6.

[Grits n' Gravy]

boston over canadiens in 5.

reason- montreal are a bunch of homos and french canada sucks.

[sparkyasu]

[DwightShrute]

boston over canadiens in 5.

reason- montreal are a bunch of homos and french canada sucks.

WOW

[robzilla]

Matchups - Eastern Conference
1z-Washington Capitals Caps win this one easy. 4-1. 8x-New York Rangers


2x-Pittsburgh Penguins Crosbys been cleared but wont be back. Pit wins 4-2
7x-Buffalo Sabres

3y-Boston Bruins Bruins win a close series 4-3. Montreal only wins at home.
6x-Montreal Canadiens

4y-Philadelphia Flyers Tough one. I cant see Tampa winning in Philly. 4-3
5x-Tampa Bay Lightning

Matchups -
Western Conference
1z-Vancouver Canucks Blackhawks shouldnt even be here Vancouver 4-0
8x-Chicago Blackhawks

2y-San Jose Sharks Sharks have too much experiance. 4-1
7x-Los Angeles Kings

3y-Detroit Red Wings These arent the same wings that dominated the last few years. they still win 4-2
6x-Phoenix Coyotes

4x-Anaheim Ducks5x-Nashville Predators Preds pull off the upset 4-1

[ttwarrior1]

wow rob, just 1 dude

[sparkyasu]

Robzilla, you fuking moron. The penguins play the lightening not the sabres. The flyers play the sabres.

[ttwarrior1]

Probably one of the most even matchups of the playoffs. The Penguins are still not sure of return Sidney Crosbys return, and Evgeni Malkin is definitely out with injuries.
On the other side, the Lightning have their big three intact, with Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. All three have been dynamic this year.
Dwayne Roloson will be the goaltender for the Lightning, and Marc-Andre Fleury will hit the pipes for the Pens. Pretty even goaltending matchup, as Fleury has been great for the Penguins. However, the Lightning offense will favor their success.
Prediction: Lightning win, 4-2
The Penguins will be able to win a few games, as they still found success even though they've missed both Malkin and Crosby for the year. However, they won't be able to get it done without them. The Lightning's high-powered offense will tip the series for Tampa.


Tampa wins 4-2

[pepper60000]

Capitals over Rangers. The motivation levels for Ovie, backstrom, semin, green if health, Poli, laitch is going to be through the roof.
Add a crappy rangers team that has lunqvist, (overrated) and Callahgan out injured. And they have $#$#$@! Avery POS.

Capitals in 5....maybe even 4. Anyone who watches hockey this year can't see anything but a huge Capitals win. Ovie is healthy and that team is playing amazing right now....

[rake922]

24 hours to go

[Robber]

kings series price. you can get +220 and higher i think

kings split with san jose the season series

sharks got swept by blackshawks last year

lost as 2 seed to 5 seed dallas in 6 in 08

lost as 1 seed to 8 anaheim in 09 in 6

they are regular season kings, postseason chumps

this is still the same san jose core

missing kopitar hurts for la but this is a good team that will be a handful for the sharks

[secretstash]

redwings in a sweep.

they are the best team in the league and one word in playoffs DOMINATE. be prepared for a sweep or 1 loss on the road.. but these guys will ROLL i tell u.

-stash

[CanuckG]

Coyotes over Red Wings in 7

Red Wings health issues
Shaky goaltending
Aging Blue line

Coyotes time to shine.

[rake922]

SprayBoy 75pts

VegasInsider 55pts

Dwight shrute 25pts

Honorable mention
rsnnh12 10pts - pepper60000 10pts - ttwarrior1 10pts

[Rod1010]

rake you just gave pts to 3 homers backing their team

[DwightShrute]

thanks

[DwightShrute]

rake you just gave pts to 3 homers backing their team

sew?

[CanuckG]

Every write-up here needs a Captain Obvious.jpg

[VegasInsider]

rake you just gave pts to 3 homers backing their team

Thanks, rake!!

Rod - I suggested Philly in 5 with my writeup. I'm a Boston fan, remember?

[Rod1010]

vegas i wasnt talking about u!!!

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

clearly, I should have won. no one's submission was remotely as funny (except robzilla)

[SprayBoy]

Thanks rake!

[jarvol]

Sportsbetting dot com has a $100 contest. It's free and all you have to do is pick the all 8 winners of the 1st round series and you win $100 as long as you have an account there.