Eastern Conference:
(1) New York Rangers Vs (8) Ottawa Senators: The Sens cooled off and dropped down the stretch, while the rangers also struggled at the end but the games were meaningless. This matchup pits the Rangers Tight Defence against the Senators run and gun offence.
Offence: The Rangers scored 226 goals this season. Rangers primary offence comes from the Gaborik-Richards-Hagelin line, but have a good secondary wave of offence provided by Callahan, Anisimov, and Dubinsky. The Rangers D has Del Zotto that can jump and put some goals up.
The Senators scored 249 goals this season tied for 4th in the league! Senators main producers were Spezza and Alfredsson and Michalek. The pick up of Turris gives them two solid scoring lines. The Senators D is led by Erik Karlsson who put up 78 points and isn't shy to jump up. Also had decent point production from Gonchar and Kuba.
Edge: Gotta give the edge to Senators in the offensive department.
Defence: The Rangers allowed 187 goals which was 3rd best in the league. The Rangers are Defense 1st team and they have great forecheckers who buy into the system and are led by captain Ryan Callahan who I think is one of the best defensive forwards in the game. A reason why Rangers are so good on the back end is that there Defence rarily pinches and don't get caught, great support by the forwards.
The Senators allowed 240 goals which had them at 24th and last among playoff teams. I guess with the run and gun offence your bound to get caught a few times. The Sens are a young team so mistakes will be made. Karlsson is a great offensive dman but sometimes makes mistakes by trying to do too much. Chris Phillips is going to be the main shut Dman for the sens and is he solid veteran that can get it done but is going to need a lot of help from the forwards. Lack of depth will hurt the sens.
Edge: Rangers.
Goaltending: Henrik Lundqvist what to say, Best goalie in the Nhl. He posted 39 wins this year with 8 shutouts and a G.A.A of 1.97. Of the 2 starters in this series Lundqvist has more playoff experience with 35 starts. 15-20 in those games with a career playoff G.A.A of 2.27.
Craig Anderson had another solid year with 33 wins an 3 shutouts. If he hadn't injured himself im sure he would have had a few more wins. Regular season G.A.A was 2.84, a bit high but thats the Senators style of play. Anderson has only one playoff series experience in which he went 2-4 with a 2.62 G.A.A.
Edge: Rangers
Special Teams: The Senators were the 11th best power play team cashing in at 18.2% of the time. The Senators gave up 7 shorthanded goals. The Senators were the 20th ranked penalty killing team with a 81.6% efficiency and scored 9 shorthanded goals.
The Rangers were the 23rd best power play team and cashed in 15.7% of the time. The Rangers gave up 4 shorthanded goals. The Rangers were the 5th best penalty killing team with a 86.2% efficiency and scored 8 shorthanded goals.
Edge: Tie.
Key Players To Watch: Erik Karlsson, and Daniel Alfreddson for the Senators.
Marc Staal, and Marian Gaborik for the Rangers.
Final Prediction: The Sens will put up a fight but they will fall short because I believe that the difference will be the Defence. Rangers in 6.