GAME 7 PREDICTIONS

The first round of the 2014 playoffs ends with quite a bang. Three Game 7 and here are my predictions. 

San Jose were up 3-0 but were unable to put away the LA Kings, who suddenly found new life and now has pushed the series to a 3-3 tie. I'm not a big believer in history's impact, but the Sharks do have a way of choking in the playoffs. LA clearly has the momentum and are rolling after their poor start so I'm going with the Kings here. 

New York vs Philadelphia is a tough one. The Rangers have won their last three Game 7 but the Flyers are a typical comeback team. Wayne Simmons was great in Game 6 while most of the Rangers were not. I think this one comes down to which of the two goalies can steal the game, Mason or Lundquist. I'm going with King Henrik and his Blueshirts. 

The Colorado Avalanche will host Minnestota in a series which has seen only home wins. The Avs, and especially Nathan McKinnon, have been spectacular at home and I have a feeling they will be again. My guess is this Avalanche will roll to at least the next round. 

Wild find more trouble in Denver

It seems the problems are piling up for the Minnesota Wild. The team that not long ago looked like the best in the league, beating one top team after another, suddenly find themselves in what could be a injury nightmare. First they lost goalie Niklas Backstrom (groin) and last night, against Colorado, they played without top offensive duo Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik (both groin). Being without these three key players is obviously a big problem for the Wild, they are now 0-2-1 after that promising seven wins start.

The Colorado Avalanche had no trouble beating the limping Wild 3-1 and they improved to 5-0 at home, the best opening since the move to Denver. There is less and less doubt (none at all to be honest) in my mind that this team will go far in the playoffs. Guys like Joe Sakic (2 assist last night) and Ryan Smyth (1 goal and 1 assist) will only get better the closer we get to crunch time.

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It must be so frustrating to score and then see the momentum snatched away because the other team replies instantly with a goal. This is what happened the Vancouver Canucks who faced the Detroit Red Wings at home. Granted these Red Wings are red hot right now with five straight wins, but the Canucks are in serious trouble early in the season. They are 1-5-0 at home, tied with Phoenix for last place (not counting New Jersey, who are 0-1-0). Even though several players up front, like captain Markus Naslund, is underachieving, it seems the biggest problem lies at the other end. Four other teams out west have scored more goals than Vancouver, while only two (Los Angeles and Edmonton) have given up more than the 37 allowed by the Canucks.

I predict there will be no playoffs at the end of the tunnel for the Vancouver Canucks. They did virtually nothing during the UFA race, and now they are paying for it.

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Henrik Zetterberg increased his point streak to 12 games. It seems nothing can stop this guy right now. Now he only has 39 more games to reach Wayne Gretzky's point-streak record of 51 games set during the 1983-84 season.