EASTERN CONFERENCE

2. Pittsburgh Penguins versus 6. Philadelphia Flyers

Dave: This may not be what the NHL had in mind, but fans know this is going to be a phenomenal series. These bitter division rivals are going to be a lot of fun to watch. This will surely be a physical series with two teams that are very similar. Marty Biron and R.J. Umberger are red hot for the Flyers and they will have to continue their stellar play in this series. The Penguins have balanced scoring, but so do the Flyers. There is no one player to focus on in this series, it will have to be great team play. Philly will try and avenge last season going 0-8 against Pittsburgh while a young Penguins team will look to advance so they can finally put “Sidney’s First Stanley Cup Final” in Crosby’s baby book. PHILADELPHIA in 6

Jeff: This will be a great match-up between in-state rivals that absolutely hate each other. Great matchups all around: Sidney Crosby/Daniel Briere, Ryan Malone/R.J. Umberger, Gary Roberts/Scott Hartnell, Georges Laraque/Riley Cote, Marc-Andre Fleury/Martin Biron, Evgeni Malkin/???, Marian Hossa/???. Sidney has been contained pretty well in these playoffs, but how the Flyers are able to slow down Malkin and Hossa will be the key to this match-up. The goaltending on both sides shouldn’t be the problem, so look for the team who is able to capitalize on the other’s mistakes and penalties to win the series. I see Pittsburgh ending Philly’s Cinderella Story in the “City of Brotherly Love” and sending the Philly faithful silently to the exits and over to “The Bank” for baseball season. PITTSBURGH in 6.

Aaron: A lot of people are going to pay attention to Crosby and Malkin but Pittsburgh is deceptively deep. Not to mention Fleury who has been maybe the best goalie in the playoffs so far. The Flyers have played underdog all year long and will certainly be in that role again. Philadelphia needs a lot of things to go right. They need to contain Crosby and Malkin effectively like they shut down Ovechkin for the most part. They need Biron to play beyond his limits like he has been doing, and they need their hot streaks to continue (Briere, Umberger). This is going to be a great series and probably a long one. I picked against the Flyers verse Washington and Montreal and they won those series to my happy surprise. I hope they prove me wrong again because I think Pittsburgh has one too many weapons rolling along right now. PITTSBURGH IN 6

WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. Detroit Red Wings versus 5. Dallas Stars

Dave: I haven’t been doing so well in the West. I slept on Dallas not once, but twice. I’m not making that mistake again. Marty Turco was on fire last night in a game 6 victory for the Stars. Detroit took care of Colorado convincingly with the sweep, but Dallas is a better team by far. I think Dallas’ offense can match Detroit’s and with Sergei Zubov back on the blue line, the Stars have an ancient but good defenseman like Nicklas Lidstrom. This series will come down to goal tending and Marty Turco looks damn good. DALLAS in 7

Jeff: These two heavy weights will be very interesting. How will Dallas matchup with Detroit? Detroit looks posessed, how they are playing, as they disposed of the Avalanche very quickly. Too quickly if you look back at what “experts” were saying. Detroit has depth at every position, but if Chris Osgood stumbles along the way, Detroit’s Cup dream could end very quickly. But, I just don’t see that happening. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and now JOHAN FRANZEN (of all people) should be able to collect their points in a hard fought series. DETROIT in 6

Aaron: I said it before the start of the conference semi’s, the playoffs are all about who’s playing hot at the right time. Dallas finished the regular season so strong and it’s translated into 2 impressive series wins. Detroit has so much firepower and their big stars are scoring a lot of goals, but they faced inferior opponents to this point. This is a David verse Goliath series, people are looking past what the Stars have done. But I’m going to stick with my pick of Dallas. Turco is finally having a fantastic playoff run after years of early round struggles and this team finds ways to win from lots of guys in that deep lineup. DALLAS IN 7