The panel was correct on six out of the eight playoff series in Round 1, only missing on perhaps the two toughest series of the first round. Florida and Dallas were the two teams that won despite being picked by the minority of writers, but they may have been picked by the majority with different opponents. Perhaps they will be favorites this time around?

Congratulations are in order for Eastern Edge writer TJ Branson, who correctly picked all eight series in the first round! The panel's lifetime record is now 147-92 when it comes to postseason predictions.

Without further ado, here are the Dobber writers' picks for the second round:

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team. The default is seven games for each coin toss pick, as well as for any writers who replied only with series winners. The coin toss results aren't counted among the aggregate results – they are just there to embarrass any of our writers if needed.

Note that the number of games is the average number of games picked by the panel and does not factor in who will win the series.

Strong Favorites

Every team still alive finished with at least 98 points, so every team received at least a handful of votes. Yet it's the team facing the Presidents' Trophy winner that is the most popular pick: the Dallas Stars. Fresh off a Game 7 come-from-behind victory, the Stars face another team coming off a Game 7 come-from-behind victory in Winnipeg. If the Jets pull this one out, Connor Hellebuyck will need to post better numbers.

Too Close to Call

The Vegas/Edmonton series was the closest series of the four, but the Golden Knights were still the clear favorite. The Oilers were a preseason Stanley Cup favorite among many of the writers, but faith has dwindled mainly due to the suspect defense and goaltending. If the Oilers are to make it past the Golden Knights, they will likely have to do it without key d-man Mattias Ekholm for another round.

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.

Ian Gooding is the managing editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat, also providing monthly Top 100 Roto Rankings. 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, writing the Ramblings multiple times per week. He also covers DFS for Stokastic and writes for EP Rinkside.

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.

Brennan DeSouza is an associate editor who writes the Ramblings once a week. He had previously covered Injury Ward, Eastern Edge, and Lining Up.

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.

Rick Roos authors the weekly Roos Let Loose column every Wednesday, covering a variety of topics. He is the former Cage Match writer for Dobber Hockey.

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

Michael Amato is the Goalie Post editor who provides the latest starting goalie information and writes the Goalie Ramblings. He also covers fantasy hockey for Sportsnet and is the co-host of the Sleepers & Keepers podcast for The Hockey News. 

Grant Campbell keeps an eye on everything Western Conference in the Wild West column every Monday.

Chris Kane writes the Frozen Tools Forensics column on Fridays, emphasizing what he finds on Frozen Tools.

Andrew Santillo checks out what’s coming down the pipe schedule-wise with the Looking Ahead column every Friday, as well as salary cap column Capped on Thursdays. He's a very busy guy, also sharing his DFS picks three days a week.

Ryan Brudner shares his expertise of multicategory leagues in the Geek of the Week column every Sunday. He has also contributed to GoaliePost and has contributed goalie stats to Frozen Tools.

Stas Pupkov dives deep into advanced stats with Analytics Advantage every Thursday.

Puneet Sharma handles the popular Top 10 list every Monday, and he lends his prospects expertise to The Journey every Saturday. Puneet is also a senior writer at Dobber Prospects.

TJ Branson focuses on Eastern Conference teams in the Eastern Edge column. TJ is also a host on the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey podcast.

Logan Clarkson details the key injuries you need to know about every Wednesday in Injury Ward. He has also written for GoaliePost.

Eli Feldman covers line combinations every Tuesday in Lining Up.

Chad Simpson has filled in on a few articles this season, most recently Injury Ward.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!