After some doubt about whether it was ever going to happen, the 2019-20 Stanley Cup playoffs are almost complete. For either the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Dallas Stars, life in the bubble for two months will all be worth it.

Tampa's win over the Islanders was expected, as 12 of 15 DobberHockey writers picked the Lightning to win. On the other hand, Dallas' win over Vegas should be considered a major upset, as NONE of the Dobber writers picked the Stars to win. These results place the panel's lifetime record at 105-66 when it comes to postseason predictions.

The coin toss matched both favorites from the Conference Finals, going 1-for-2 like many of the writers. 

Experts Panel: Playoff Round 3 Predictions

Experts Panel: Playoff Round 2 Predictions

Experts Panel: Playoff Round 1 Predictions

Experts Panel: Western Conference Play-In Picks

Experts Panel: Eastern Conference Play-In Picks

Stanley Cup Final matchup

Tampa Bay (2, 2) vs. Dallas (4, 3)

For matchups, the first number shows the rank before the play-in tournament, while the second number shows re-seeding rank after the play-in tournament. Each member of the panel picks their series winner as well as their Conn Smythe winner below.

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team. The default is seven games on the coin toss pick.

Overall, the panel likes Tampa Bay to defeat Dallas, with 13 of 15 writers picking the Eastern Conference representative. Victor Hedman, who is having a record-setting performance, is the favorite for the Conn Smythe.

Agree? Disagree? Comments?  

About the panel

Dobber launched this website in 2005 after he was the fantasy hockey columnist for The Hockey News website, The Fantasy Sports Network, and a contributor to The Forecaster. DobberHockey has since grown into the Dobber Sports Network and has work can be found across the Internet, including on Sportsnet.

Ian Gooding is the managing editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat. He has also contributed to many other sites, including Sportsnet, Today's Slapshot, Kukla's Korner, and fantasyhockey.com.

Mike Clifford is an associate editor of DobberHockey and contributor for Rotowire and other fantasy hockey ventures.

Cam Robinson is the managing editor at DobberProspects and, along with Ian Gooding and Mike Clifford, collaborates to Daily Ramblings. He is a regular guest on Vancouver sports talk radio.

Mario Prata is the manager of special projects and marketing for Dobber Sports. He is also a co-founder of the famous The Sports Forecaster magazine.

Eric Daoust manages our valued Frozen Pool section.

Tom Collins writes the weekly Top 10 column that can be found here every Monday.

Rick Roos authors the weekly Roos Let Loose column every Wednesday. He is the former Cage Match writer for Dobber Hockey.

Adam Daly-Frey checks out what’s coming down the pipe with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Alex MacLean authors the salary cap column Capped, which can be found here every Thursday.

Grant Campbell writes the weekly Wild West column every Monday.

Brennan DeSouza writes the weekly Eastern Edge column every Tuesday, and gives us the latest injury information every Wednesday.

Dave Hall pens the weekly prospect column The Journey that can be found here every Saturday. He has also contributed to Dobber Prospects.

Chris Kane writes the Frozen Pool Forensics column on Fridays.

Flip Livingstone is our Saturday game picks author. He is a former NHL writer for theScore with past experience at such outlets as Postmedia, Hockey Night in Canada, and the CBC.

Steve Dotzel provides tips to help you win your daily fantasy leagues on Saturdays.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!