Eastern Conference Predictions - Round Two

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens

Sidney Crosby against the team that he worshipped as a kid. Can David take down another Goliath? Is Jaroslav Halak the next Patrick Roy...the next Ken Dryden? Make no mistake about it; the storylines coming into this series are bountiful. For the Halak-led Habs to advance past the defending champs, the recipe is simple - keep doing what you're doing. But, even if they continue to play with the same level of passion and receive another other-worldly goaltending performance from Halak, they still will be in tough to pull off another upset. Pittsburgh will be a much tougher test than were the Capitals - they have a coach who actually makes adjustments, a team that will be more than willing to block shots as the Habs did in their first round series, and possess an overall commitment to team defense that is vastly underappreciated in hockey circles, abroad. Can Hal Gill and Josh Gorges limit Crosby as they did Alex Ovechkin? Can they limit Pittsburgh to one power play goal, as they did against Washington? Can they compete with the deadly combination of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal down the middle?

Prediction: Halak plays admirably, the Habs play hard, but the Pens keep the wheels moving as they did versus Ottawa. Crosby plays well, and Malkin and Staal perform better than they did in Round One.

Outcome: Pittsburgh in five.

(6) Boston Bruins vs. (7) Philadelphia Flyers

This series really peaks my interest for the simple reason that both teams are playing arguably their best hockey of the year. The Bruins are getting great contributions from all over the ice - the Patrice Bergeron-led offense, to the Zdeno Chara-led defense, right down to Tuukka Rask in between the pipes. David Krejci has begun to look like the 70-point player he was a season ago, Milan Lucic is finally showing signs of life after battling to come back from a high ankle sprain, and Marc Savard looks to be good-to-go for Game One. Philadelphia is flying high thanks to the play of Chris Pronger, Matt Carle, and Kimmo Timonen on the back-end, the play of Captain Mike Richards up front, and the solid and steady play of Brian Boucher in net. But, losing the services of Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne will certainly hurt. I'd expect a lot of low-scoring tight games, and as such, special teams will be vital. One big thing going for Boston - they have no problem playing in tight games, even when they fall behind, as was the case against Buffalo.

Prediction: The series is long and low-scoring, and tight games are prevalent. The Bruins continue to receive great play from the duo of Bergeron and Mark Recchi up front, and Rask continues to impress. The Flyers, once again, garner great performances from Pronger and Boucher, but have some trouble breaking through Boston's grueling team defense.

Outcome: Boston in seven.