2011 Stanley Cup First Round play-off predictions (Part 3)
Now, we come to the Eastern Conference where things were not only tight when it came to the play-offs but also for the top spot in the Conference. The Philadelphia Flyers occupied the top spot in the Conference for the majority of the season but the Capitals
were able to come up with a superb performance in the last part of the regular season to win the Conference and finish in the top spot.
Washington Capitals versus New York Rangers
The top seeded Capitals will square off against the New York Rangers. The Capitals will be hoping to forget the last season as they won the Conference after which they came across first round exit. They suffered defeat from the hands of the Canadiens who
came back after a 3-1 deficit to win the series in the end.
The highlight of the series was the fact that the star of the Capitals and their Captain Alex Ovechkin became one of the most predictable players in the series. The Canadiens defence and goalie understood this and stopped him from coming up with anything
during the course of the series. However, they will be looking not repeating history.
The Rangers on the other hand are missing some of their top players in Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik. Gaborik hasn’t been in the best of touches recently and hasn’t been up to the mark. This is one of the reasons as to why the Rangers were struggling
to make their way into the cut on their own.
There will be a lot of personal battles going on as Gaborik will look outscore Ovechkin, Alexander Semin versus Nicklas Backstrom and goalie Henrik Lundqvist will looking to come up with some shutout performances.
Philadelphia Flyers versus Buffalo Sabres
This is one of those games like that of the Coyotes and the Red Wings. The Flyers are one of the strongest teams in the league and are expected to come up with a strong show this time out.
Sabres goal keeper Ryan Miller has been in splendid form and come up with some game changing performances and is expected to continue on the dominating roads. On the other hand, the Flyer goal keeper still has a few questions over his abilities in goal keeping
in mind the final part of the season that saw the Flyers slipping from a solid first position to second in the East.
However, when you ask about the game winning position which is in defence and offence then the Flyers have shown that they are way better. Stronger than their counterparts in offence and defence, the Flyers are expected to win the series.
The Flyers also have the added advantage of being the second seeded team in the league and will play with a lot of confidence. The Sabres on the other hand have bagged some strong performance but the fact of the matter remains the same that they haven’t
been able to do it on a regular basis.
Though there are chances of an upset but there is a very low probability of this happening. The level of diversity in the Flyers squad is this much that their star defenceman Chris Pronger is taken out of the equation; the Flyers are still expected to win
the series after five games which is quite an achievement.
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