Gimme Colorado in 6.
I don't know if anyone is stopping you guys this year. My picks were the Avs and the Lightning before the playoffs began, and so far that's lookin alright. Not that I was alone in that
- Hesh_
Vegas over the ‘Nucks in 6, maybe 7 depending on what kind of goaltending both teams get. thus far neither goalie has been a show stopper, but each has been as good as was needed.
Avs over Dallas in 5 (yah, yah, we lost all four games against them during the regular season but that doesn’t mean anything 6+ months into the summer — the games were close, and to be perfectly honest, it was less the Stars outplaying us and more Ben Bishop being a perpetual achilles heel/game stealer during the last few regular seasons. with him out and dallas’ top line not producing nearly as much as they’ll need to against the best offense in the league, the avs are firing on all cylinders. also; mark my words— despite Mackinnon currently leading the league in playoff points, he has another gear or two we haven’t even seen yet this postseason— go ahead and ask 2019’s Flames team how long they had collective nightmares over MacK single handedly dismantling them last year. with the additions of kadri, nish, burakovsky, donskoi, bellmare, etc. the team no longer NEEDS to rely on MacK to carry it on his back, but his compete level is outrageous and he’ll end up playoff mvp.
....
As for the east, i’m going to go with the Flyers over the Islanders in 7
Tampa over Boston in 7, though i’d say both of the eastern series could go either way. the flyers are deeper and have better goaltending than the Isles, but Philadelphia sports in general love to find ways to sheeeeeet the bed. Boston has more experience than Tampa, as well as a smaller window for more repeated success (boston’s core is aging a bit more than the bolts, tho it’s close).
then...
Tampa over Philly in 5. It’ll be embarrassing as the Bolts have had the Flyers’ number for like a decade or more now.
Avalanche over Vegas in 6.
...and...
Your 2019/2020 stanley cup champions are the Colorado Avalanche. Avs over the Bolts in 7.