The panel were truly experts in the second round, picking all four series correctly! On top of that, the panel also correctly guessed the number of games of two series (Vegas in 6, Montreal in 7). The panel's lifetime record is now 158-100 when it comes to postseason predictions.

Congratulations to Chris Kane, Garrett Finlay, Mike Amato, Puneet Sharma, and Ryan Brudner, who correctly picked all four series in the second round!

Here are the picks for the conference finals:

For the coin toss, heads was the higher-seeded team. The coin toss results aren't counted among the aggregate results – they are used to break potential deadlocks and 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 into who will win the series.

The teams with the highest point totals in each conference during the regular season are the decided favorites in each series. Both favorites also have the advantage of rest. The Hurricanes enter the Conference Final following two four-game sweeps, while the Avalanche have a four-game sweep along with a five-game win. Meanwhile, the Canadiens have needed the full seven games in both their series wins, while the Golden Knights have two six-game series wins.  

Looking for a reason to pick the underdogs? The Habs won all three games they played against the Canes, while the Golden Knights knocked off the Avalanche in their only other playoff meeting (in 2021).

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 has also written 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.

Puneet Sharma is also an associate editor who also writes the Ramblings once a week. He has covered both the Top 10 list and The Journey in the past. Puneet is also a senior writer at Dobber Prospects.

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 DobberHockey.

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 has also co-hosted the Sleepers & Keepers podcast for The Hockey News. 

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

Lucas Main keeps an eye on everything Western Conference in the Wild West column every Monday. He shifts over to line combinations on Tuesdays with Lining Up.

Andrew Santillo shares salary cap league thoughts in Capped on Thursdays. He's a very busy guy, also sharing his DFS picks two days a week.

Ryan Brudner covers what you need to know about NHL betting in his weekday article Puck Picks. He has also written the Geek of the Week column, has written for GoaliePost, and has contributed goalie stats to Frozen Tools.

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

Mike Ouellet focuses on Eastern Conference teams in the Eastern Edge column. He also writes for GoaliePost.

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

Caleb Desjardins authors our popular Top 10 column. He also checks out what’s coming down the pipe schedule-wise with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Victor Nuno shares his extensive prospect knowledge in The Journey every Saturday. Also known as the Fantasy Hockey Doctor, Victor is also the co-host of the Fantasy Hockey Life podcast and is an editor for DobberProspects. 

Garrett Finlay writes for GoaliePost, and he also creates videos for several DobberHockey writers.

Enjoy the playoffs, folks!