NHL Playoffs: Match-ups and Schedule

The regular season is over, the playoffs begin April 16, and the most wonderful time of the year has arrived.

The 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to start with a slate of three games on Wednesday night and with the NHL’s realignment/playoff rules, the postseason looks a little different this year. Teams are no longer re-seeded after every round, rather it is a bracket style format. From NHLPlayoffBrackets.com and CBSSports, this is what the playoff looks like:

Each is a best-of-seven and the home/away sequence is 2-2-1-1-1.

Without standing on ceremony, here are each of the first round match-ups, schedules, and a few key roster and statistical notes (all times Eastern).

That the second round might not start until May gives us a pretty late season this year (thanks, Olympics!). A few quick notes about each series.

Dallas Stars at Anaheim Ducks

• Dallas was a top-10 possession team this year (51.9-percent) while Anaheim finished middle-of-the-pack (50.2-percent).
• Kari Lehtonen has the same save percentage in the regular season as Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick since the start of the 2011 season.
• Anaheim’s defense is healthy and ready to go, as Cam Fowler is back and healthy while Stephane Robidas has been playing solid hockey for a while now.

Prediction: Dallas in Seven

Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks

• Los Angeles had the top puck possession mark in the NHL at 56.7-percent, but San Jose was no slouch in their own right at 54.6-percent.
• Anze Kopitar’s numbers have actually improved since Marian Gaborik came over at the Trade Deadline; 69-percent GoalsFor% and 60.5-percent CorsiFor% without Gaborik and 70-percent/63.1-percent with him. With Jeff Carter now on the second line, this gives them two very good lines.
• The top six forwards in San Jose, including Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and Logan Couture, are probably the best in the West outside of Chicago.

Prediction: Los Angeles in Seven

St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks

• Chicago is expected to have both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews back and ready to go for Game 1. It is still uncertain whether T.J. Oshie or Vladimir Tarasenko will be ready for St. Louis. Though they, along with captain David Backes, all could start.
• Both were top-10 possession teams with Chicago in second at 55.2-percent and St. Louis in seventh at 53.1-percent.
• The season series was 3-2 for St. Louis, but two of those wins were shootouts. This series will come down to whose stars are healthiest.

Prediction: Chicago in Six

Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche

• Both teams finished in the bottom-third of the league in puck possession, with Minnesota at 21^st (48.6-percent) and Colorado at 27^th (46.8-percent). Minnesota and Colorado were third and seventh, respectively, in 5-on-5 save percentage, though, and goaltending can win many a playoff series.
• Matt Duchene (knee) is unlikely to be ready for the start of the series and it’s uncertain if he’ll be back before the series ends. That’s a significant blow for this young Avalanche team.
• Semyon Varlamov was the only 40-win goaltender (41, actually) in the NHL this year and had the third-best save percentage (.927). Ilya Bryzgalov, on the other hand, had a .909 on the season (and .911 with Minnesota).

Prediction: Colorado in Five

[yop_poll id=”26″]

EAST
Boston Bruins at Detroit Red Wings

• Boston finished fourth in the NHL in possession, and tops in the East. Detroit was at eleventh, though I’ll give them credit for finishing that high given their crippling injuries in the second half of the season.
• Boston is pretty healthy except for the guys that were already expected to miss time, while Henrik Zetterberg has started skating for Detroit and will practice lightly with the team (though it’s not clear what his timeline is).
• The kids in Detroit have been carrying the load for the last couple of months but they’re in for a much tougher battle against a playoff-tested Bruins team.

Prediction: Bruins in Five

Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning

• Tampa Bay was a top-10 possession team for the year while Montreal finished a distant 22^nd (third-lowest of any playoff team).
• Alex Galchenyuk will not play this round at least for the Habs while Ben Bishop is still uncertain for the first round in net for Tampa.
• The teams are evenly-matched: Strong top-six forwards and top pairing defensemen; weak depth. The difference should be in net.

Prediction: Montreal in Six

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins

• Pittsburgh is starting to get healthy but the status of Evgeni Malkin is uncertain. The Penguins’ depth will be challenged in this series and lacking their star 1-B centerman would not be a good start to the series.
• Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had a .932 even strength save percentage for the season while Marc-Andre Fleury was at .917.
• The Blue Jackets want to roll three or four lines while the Penguins are top-heavy. Columbus could give Pittsburgh problems if their depth players start regularly out-playing Pittsburgh’s depth players.

Prediction: Pittsburgh in Six

Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers

• The Flyers have fewer road wins than any Eastern Conference playoff teams (18) while the Rangers have the most road wins of any Eastern Conference playoff team (25). The games at Madison Square Garden will be a battle of “who wants it least”.
• Philly goalie Steve Mason (.923) had a worse even strength save percentage than Ottawa’s Craig Anderson. Henrik Lundqvist had a down year and still managed a .926.
• The Rangers were sixth in the NHL in puck possession while the Flyers were 23^rd. This kind of discrepancy usually bears out (See: Leafs, Toronto Maple – 2013 NHL Playoffs).

Prediction: New York Rangers in Seven

[yop_poll id=”25″]

For the record, in the preseason, I had selected the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators to meet in the Stanley Cup Final. Let’s just say that’s not looking very good right now.

I think Los Angeles beats Chicago in the West Final while Boston beats the New York Rangers in the East Final. I then have Los Angeles over Boston in the Cup Final.

This promises to be one heck of a postseason anyway this works out.

Who do you guys have?

*as always, thanks to ExtraSkater and Hockey Analysis for the resources

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford was born and raised in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and is a graduate of the Unviersity of New Brunswick. He writes about fantasy hockey and baseball for XNSports and FantasyTrade411.com. He can be reached on Twitter @SlimCliffy for any fantasy hockey questions. Follow @SlimCliffy !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

See Full Bio