Last Minute Playoff Picks

When making these kind of picks I usually base most of my ideas on how these teams have fared against other good teams throughout the regular season. The Falconer did an outstanding recap of this for both the Western Conference and for the Eastern Conference. So a big thanks to him for his input here. For me the big numbers are the record (in regulation), the goal differential and the luck (PDO number), so here they are, all against other playoff teams (but for an in depth look you should really go see Bird Watchers Anonymous):

San Jose 21-13-6
Detorit 23-16-4
Chicago 18-19-8
Columbus 18-19-7
Anaheim 17-20-3
Vancouver 16-19-4
Calgary 15-21-3
St. Louis 15-22-7

Detroit +0.60
San Jose +0.30
Vancouver +0.05
Chicago +0.04
Columbus -0.05
Anaheim -0.15
St. Louis -0.39
Calgary -0.56

Vancouver 101.5
Columbus 100.4
Anaheim 100.3
Detroit 100.1
Chicago 99.9
San Jose 99.3
St. Louis 98.7
Calgary 98.2

San Jose over Anaheim in Six
Detroit over Columbus in Six
Vancouver over St. Louis in Six
Chicago over Calgary in Four

I do wish that Columbus had managed to retain that sixth seed so that I could pick them to advance but I'm not one who believes Detroit's goaltending is going to drag them down so Detroit it is.

Boston 22-12-6
Washington 21-12-7
Carolina 18-16-6
Pittsburgh 20-18-7
New Jersey 21-19-3
New York 16-22-6
Philadelphia 15-21-6
Montreal 13-20-7

Boston +0.88
Washington +0.31
Pittsburgh +0.16
New Jersey -0.14
Carolina -0.15
Philadelphia -0.23
Montreal -0.28
New York -0.36

Boston 103.3
Pittsburgh 101.5
Philadelphia 100.3
Washington 100.1
Montreal 100.1
Carolina 99.5
New Jersey 98.9
New York 98.3

Boston over Montreal in Five
Washington over New York in Five
Carolina over New Jersey in Six
Pittsburgh over Philadelphia in Seven

New Jersey has been impressive this year but most of their damage is against the bad teams. Plus they're the Devils. And this, my friends, is the Gospel of Hockey.

Boston over Carolina in Seven
Washington over Pittsburgh in Six
San Jose over Chicago in Five
Detroit over Vancouver in Five

Detroit over San Jose in Six
Washington over Boston in Six

Detroit over Washington in Six