DobberHockey.com Experts – Round 2

Dobber Sports

2007-04-24

 

Stanley Cup

 

Impressive. That's an understatement, when describing the boys at DobberHockey.com. Individually, some were good…and most were average. Collectively, we were a force.

 

In the first round, the DobberHockey.com panel went 7-1 in their prognostications, only getting the Ottawa/Pittsburgh series wrong – but it was close, as three out of seven of us chose Ottawa.

 

Below…our thoughts on Round two.

First, we'll recap Round 1.

 

Angus:

DET in six was bang on.

ANH in six gave the Wild too much credit.

VAN in six, it took seven.

NSH in seven – no.

BUF in four it took five.

NJ in five it took seven.

ATL in six. Whoops.

OTT in six it took five.

All in all, Angus was 6-2. Our Western Conference columnist was 3-1 on his turf.

 

Notch:

Nailed DET, VAN, BUF, NJ, OTT. Missed on NSH, MIN and ATL. Overall, our Saturday prognosticating champion was 5-3.

 

Burnsy:

Nailed ANH, SJ, BUF, NJ, NYR. Once again, Burnsy vs. Notch were close, as both went 5-3.

 

Lanky:

DET, ANH, VAN, SJ to sweep the West. Only nailed BUF and NYR in the East to go 6-2 and tie Angus as the second-best individual prognosticator.

 

Bugg:

DET, ANH, SJ, BUF – that's it. He went 4-4 and was the loser of the first round!

 

Gunther:

DET, VAN, SJ, BUF, NJ, NYR and OTT – Gunther is the man! He nailed DET in six and BUF in five, and he swept his home area of New York – nailing all their series. If you go 7-1 in the first round, you are going to win a lot of pools, I'll tell ya that much.

 

Dobber:

DET, VAN, BUF, NJ, NYR. I went 5-3. I picked four series to go seven games. One of them actually did, while the other three series were the three that I lost. They were tough calls for me, and I blew all three of my tough calls.

 

NOW FOR OUR ROUND 2 PICKS

Buffalo vs. N Y Rangers

Angus: Rangers in seven. Lundqvist will outduel Miller, and the Rangers defense reminds me of Carolina's of last season.

Notch: Buffalo in seven. Both teams will struggle at home but in Game 7, the home team pulls through.  Great hockey.

Burnsy: Buffalo in six. Miller has to step up and outplay Lundqvist

 

Lanky: Rangers in six. Lundqvist will continue his stellar play, and the very rested rangers will continue their balanced play to get the series win.  Buffalo's lack of great defense will be the difference maker.

Bugg: Buffalo in six. The Rangers have had success because they've patterned themselves after the Sabres. Too bad they're playing that team.

Gunther: Rangers in six. The environment inside MSG during the Atlanata series was crazier than a Yankees vs Red Sox playoff game. Assuming that keeps up it will be very tough for Buffalo to win in NYC. If the Rangers can win one of the first two games in Buffalo they'll win the series.

Dobber: Buffalo in seven. Seeing Gunther's pick almost made me change my mind, because he's on fire and he knows his New York teams. But I gotta stick to my guns. The Sabres are awesome, top to bottom.

DobberHockey Consensus: Buffalo in six.

 

 

New Jersey vs. Ottawa

Angus: Ottawa in seven. The most even series is Ray Emery's coming out party, while Volchenkov and Phillips continue to haunt opposing forwards.

Notch: Ottawa in six. Spezza to Heater, Spezza to Heater, Spezza to Heater, Spezza to Heater. 

Burnsy: Ottawa in six.Convincing win over Penguins has me believing

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Lanky: Ottawa in six. Ottawa's defense and goaltending will overwhelm NJ where TB could not.

Bugg: Ottawa in six. Jersey's forward group coming on, but no match for Volchenkov-Phillips pairing. Meanwhile, Emery capable of stealing games, while Brodeur will face a four-line offense.

Gunther: New Jersey in six. Alfredsson has been playing hot, but Brodeur is Brodeur. When the Devils want to turn it on, they can do so.

Dobber: Ottawa in five. Again – hate to go against the hot hand, but I watched every Ottawa/Pittsburgh game and the Sens could do no wrong. None. Everything they did was right. I think this team could go all the way.

DobberHockey Consensus: Ottawa in six.

 

 

Anaheim vs. Vancouver

Angus: Anaheim in six. The Ducks overpower the Canucks with physical play and a tenacious forecheck.

Notch:  Anahiem in six. Depth mismatch is overwhelming.  Selanne may get 10 points this round.

Burnsy: Anaheim in five. Vancouver will be tired, and even Luongo cant win games when his offense cant score

 

Lanky: Vancouver in seven. Vancouver will have better luck against J-S Giguere than they did Turco.  Anaheim also has nowhere near the quality of defensive forwards that Dallas does, leaving the Sedin's with more room.  Luongo has warmed up, and he's ready to carry this team now. 

Bugg: Anaheim in five. The Nucks struggled with an offense made up of Joel Lundqvist and Jeff Halpern. Even the Wild squeaked one out against the Ducks, but that's all Vancouver will get.

Gunther: Anaheim in five. Luongo and the best penalty killing team will finally meet their match in Anaheim. The Anaheim defensemen will control the flow of the game.

Dobber: Vancouver in seven. Luongo is the best goalie in the league and will win another series for them.

DobberHockey Consensus: Anaheim in five.

 

 

Detroit vs. San Jose

Angus: San Jose in six. The Red Wings can't match the Sharks speed or size and Nabokov shines.

Notch:  San Jose in seven. Too much physical play by the Sharks get them in trouble early, but takes its toll on the Wings over seven games.

Burnsy: San Jose in seven. Very evenly matched but San Jose is confident after rolling over Nashville

 

Lanky: San Jose in five. San Jose is playing like they were supposed to be playing last year during the playoffs, and they are getting points from three lines.  Detroit has great defence that stopped calgary's top lines fairly well, but matchups mean nothing when you face this sort of offensive depth.

Bugg: Detroit in seven. Best series of the quarters. The difference will be systems and discipline- the Wings have one of the best, and the Sharks none at all.

Gunther: San Jose in seven. Hasek is a great goaltender, but his teammates got beat up playing the Flames. The pounding will takes it's toll.

Dobber: San Jose in four. As I said before Round 1 – Detroit is overrated, but Calgary is more so. Well…San Jose is not overrated, and you will see this when Detroit gets embarrassed.

DobberHockey Consensus: San Jose in six.

 

 

BONUS OPINION

The Canucks scored a pitiful 13 goals in seven games in Round 1. They scored eight goals in their last six games…and won three of them! We predict how many goals this team will score in Round 2:

Angus: 12 goals in six games.

Notch: Eight goals in six games.

Burnsy: Nine goals in five games.

Lanky: 19 goals in seven games.

Bugg: 10 goals in five games.

Gunther: Five goals in five games.

Dobber: 13 goals in seven games again.

DobberHockey Consensus: 11 goals

 

 

Jeff Angus authors the Wild West every Tuesday.

Steve "Notch" Johnson gives his winning picks every Saturday.

Chris Burns writes Third Degree Burns every…well…when the mood strikes!

Tim "Lanky" O'Brien authors Leprechaun's Gold every month.

Matt Bugg pens Bugg Bytes every Saturday

Jim Gunther writes Sticks and Stones every Thursday.

Darryl Dobbs runs DobberHockey.com and contributes to several enterprises, including The Hockey News, PoolExpert.com, The Fourth Period and the Forecaster.

 

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UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 29 - 19:03 BUF vs N.J

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY MTL
AUSTON MATTHEWS TOR
NATHAN MACKINNON COL
JACK QUINN BUF
FILIP FORSBERG NSH

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
IGOR SHESTERKIN NYR
IVAN FEDOTOV PHI
FREDERIK ANDERSEN CAR
LOGAN THOMPSON VGK
ALEKSEI KOLOSOV PHI

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency NYR Players
18.9 JIMMY VESEY BARCLAY GOODROW WILL CUYLLE
17.5 VINCENT TROCHECK ARTEMI PANARIN ALEXIS LAFRENIERE
17.1 MIKA ZIBANEJAD JACK ROSLOVIC CHRIS KREIDER

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