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2019 Western Conference playoff predictions: Round 2 |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
St. Louis Blues vs Dallas Stars
Prediction: Blues in 6.
I predicted the Stars would beat the paper tiger Predators but, in all honestly, they were probably lucky to do so. At 5v5, the Stars controlled just 46.84% of the shot attempts and 44.46% of the expected goals. They weren't great. Ben Bishop simply out-played Pekka Rinne and Nashville's horrendous power play was completely useless.
It's safe to assume the Blues will be more effective on the power play – it's impossible not to be – and they should have a similarly large 5v5 edge. Their underlying numbers were better than Nashville's across the board over the final 25 games and the latter still managed to control a lot of the play vs Dallas. One would think that'll bode well for the Blues.
I expect Dallas' star players (no pun intended) and/or Bishop will get them a couple wins, but I think their lack of depth is going to catch up with them.
San Jose Sharks vs Colorado Avalanche
Prediction: Sharks in 7.
Colorado clearly has the best line in this series, and Philipp Grubauer is a much better bet to provide plus-goaltending than Martin Jones is. For those reasons, the Avs have a shot of pulling off another big upset and I wouldn't be shocked if they do it.
In saying that, I like the Sharks to squeeze by. Though the Joe Pavelski injury certainly hurts, the Sharks still have more established point producers/depth up front, not to mention a pair of Norris caliber defensemen on the back end. I think they're better equipped to handle the up-tempo style the Avs caused the Flames so many issues with, and I think they will.
Recent posts:
Flames sign Alexander Yelesin
Mark Giordano named a Norris finalist
Fire extinguished
Flames sign Artyom Zagidulin
Flames among those targeting Joakim Nygard
On the Jason Zucker trade that almost was