After a fairly strong first round (5-for-8), the panel did not fare as well in the second round with a 1-3 record. The panel picked only Tampa Bay correctly, while missing on the NY Islanders, Vegas, and Montreal. That brings the panel's updated lifetime record to 112-72 when it comes to postseason predictions.

The panel may be justified in its picks, though. For starters, these picks were similar to those of many other expert second-round picks. As well, no division winners (Pittsburgh, Carolina, Colorado, Toronto) are still remaining in the playoffs, which didn't seem probable at the start of the playoffs. The second round was especially killer for the panel's cup winner picks, as 10 of the 18 panelists either picked Colorado or Carolina to win the Stanley Cup before the playoffs started.

Because of the number of perceived underdogs winning in the second round, no panelist was able to pick all four series from the second round correctly. Game picks writer Flip Livingstone and prospects writer Dave Hall were our top prognosticators, picking three of the four series correctly. To add further insult to our other panelists, our trusty coin also picked three of the four series correctly. Sometimes the playoffs are just plain unpredictable.

On to the semifinals. For matchups, the number shows the seeding within the team’s division.

Tampa Bay (3rd, Central) vs. NY Islanders (4th, East)

Vegas (2nd, West) vs. Montreal (4th, North)

No surprise here that Tampa Bay and Vegas are listed as heavy favorites in this series. But as we learned in the last round, should we count out the strong defensive structures of the NY Islanders and Montreal?

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.

Alex MacLean is an associate editor and writes the Ramblings once a week. He was previously the author of the Capped column and also contributes salary cap league rankings.

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.

Logan Doyle 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 does double duty, as he 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 tons of tips to help you win your daily fantasy leagues on Saturdays.

Ryan Sheppard provides you with what you need to know about line combinations in Lining Up.

Scott Royce gives you the fantasy hockey Geek of the Week every Sunday. 

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!