Northern Conference
Stockholm (77 points) at Belfast (114 points)
ROSE: The Eagles will pull the upset thanks to big Zach Bogosian and the right wingers on the team: T.J. Oshie, Blake Wheeler and Brayden Schenn. Bogosian scored 18 goals during the season and it’s not because he was lucky. And while Stockholm’s defensemen scored just as many goals as the right wings this year, Oshie, Wheeler and Schenn will turn it on in the playoffs. Wheeler has 83 points in 85 career playoff games, in case you didn’t know.
COMMISSIONER: Belfast should easily get into Round 2. I really don’t want to argue with Rose, but I don’t know what she is thinking. In their 4 meetings in the regular season, Belfast won both games in Northern Ireland and played even better in Stockholm, winning 6-2 and 5-1. They are the league’s top offensive team and they simply have too many weapons for Braden Holtby, whose 8-18 playoff record will get magnified in his mind every time Belfast tallies.
Moscow (85) at St. Petersburg (101)
ROSE: I don’t want to go to Russia to watch these games, but I will catch them on TV. St. Petersburg is a team on the rise and their GM Ben Stuller has a nice smile. I want him to win. I also want to know if he’s married or not. Just curious, I guess. Yes, Moscow goalie Alexander Salak is very good, but St. Petersburg has a lot of depth – I think third-line center Zack Smith will have a big series – and Ben’s smile. Come on.
COMMISSION: Great hockey analysis as always, Rose. The Krasnyye Zvezdy seem like the best of the two Russian teams, but I see Salak stoning them. Last year in the playoffs, he compiled a 93.0 save percentage and I think he will be a brick wall again for enough games to get the Dynamo into Round 2. I also like the way Ryan O’Reilly of Moscow matches up against Petrograd’s Sergei Mozyakin at center.
Minsk (89) at Helsinki (100)
ROSE: Helsinki is a new-look team under GM Jukka Tuominen and I like the look. They flirted with first place overall and they are exciting to watch with a mix of dynamic rookies and cagey veterans. They absolutely fly out there and sometimes they skate faster than my eyes can see. And they score many, many goals. The Jokerit ranked second behind Belfast in goals per game and against a team that is now weak at the goalie position, that can only mean lots of Finnish fans cheering.
COMMISSIONER: It will be interesting to see how the Jokerit’s top scorer Nicklas Backstrom performs against his former team. In the regular season, he didn’t do well at all. In fact, Minsk beat Helsinki 5 out of 6 times. I look for that trend to continue, especially since the Hussars ended the season with 9 wins in their last 10 games. Only 3 teams averaged more shots per game than Minsk did and none allowed fewer shots against. This team is capable of defending the Cup it won last season.
Copenhagen (96) at London (97)
ROSE: I am writing this from England because my niece and I are going to Game 1 of this series. It should be a very entertaining one. My niece is enthralled by the kid Auston Matthews, who won the Rookie of the Year Trophy last year, but for different reasons, I see Copenhagen winning this one in 7 close games. The reasons? There are two of them. First, the Tridents were the best penalty killing team in the EURO this season, stopping opponents’ powerplay 86.1 percent of the time. London doesn’t take a lot of penalties, but in a series that should be razor-close, that could make the difference. The second reason? Danish pastries. You put British scones next to Danish pastries, and I am going with the Danish pastries every single time. Until the English get better at baking confections, I can’t support their teams.
COMMISSIONER: Hmmmm. OK. You brought up rookies of the year, Rose, and London has a real good candidate for this year’s trophy in Dominik Lakatos, who averaged more than a point per game in his first 80 games. As center of the second line, Lakatos pushed the top-line center Jeff Skinner to his best-ever season, a 90-point year that followed two mopey 45-point seasons. The Ice Lords are loaded with skilled and speedy forwards, and I think Martin Jones is a better goalie than his counterparts in Copenhagen. For those reasons, I look for London to say cheerio to the Tridents in Round 1.
Southern Conference
Bratislava (91) at Athens (120)
ROSE: Athens. Easily. I don’t really have to get into their on-ice superiority, do I? They have Jimmy Howard in goal; Logan Couture, Anze Kopitar, Brandon Sutter, Tomas Vincour, Erik Johnson …. the only thing Bratislava has that Athens doesn’t is a cocky, Mr. Know It All general manager.
COMMISSIONER: That was fairly insulting. I don’t profess to know it all, but I do know that the Gods are down a right wing. Pest Steve Downie is injured and expected to miss most, if not all, of the series. German Tom Kuhnhackl has been inserted into the lineup and has been a minus player on a good team for the last three years. Bratislava Coach Lindy Ruff will be looking for Nick Ritchie to exploit Mr. Kuhnhackl while the top 3 lines to hold the fort. The Gods will look past the Eagles and finally drop a home game and that will be the opening Jonathan Toews and his buddies need to pull off the upset.
Milan (94) at Berlin (110)
ROSE: The Smurfs and I haven’t always been best of friends, but now that my hair color is starting to match their skin color, I see a team that could go far in the playoffs. Milan is a tough opponent, but I think Berlin is better. It’s their turn to have Shea Weber in the lineup this season and he can take over parts of games all by himself. Plus, they are very strong at center, from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 108 points to Erik Forssell’s 30 points on the fourth line. Yes, I inadvertently poisoned Forssell once, but I think that made him a better player in the end.
COMMISSIONER: Nugent-Hopkins has been a real force this season, but he will be going up against Swede Marcus Kruger in the series and that’s no easy task. Milan has played Berlin tough this year. The last 3 times they met, Milan won once (in Berlin) and they took the other two games to shootouts. To win, the Guerriero need to get more than they did in the regular season out of key wingers Kyle Okposo and Tyler Johnson. Maybe they were waiting for the playoffs to step it up. Andrew Hammond, “Il Hamburgerscassinatore” as he is known in Italy, will be the key player in all Milan games, not only in the first round, but in any others they should make. I think they will get past Berlin.
Lisbon (94) at Geneva (102)
ROSE: Lisbon only finished 6th in the conference, but I think they are the sexiest team in the league so I think that quality will push them past Geneva and into Round 2. You put John Tavares and Steven Stamkos next to each other and they look different enough until you notice their smoldering eyes and deep-set confidence. And why shouldn’t they be confident? They are only ranked 1 and 2 all-time in scoring in this league. Defenseman Drew Doughty is a +22 in his last 40 playoff games and he contributes regularly on offense. I’m putting sexy Lisbon into the second round.
COMMISSIONER: What? Hockey, Rose. Hockey. The Geneva Generals finished 13th in the league in Season 8 and they zoomed up to 4th this season. I have them advancing into the second round. They have not proven to be very strong offensively, but they win games often, presumably due to their team depth, organization, determination and goalie Fredrik Andersen, who produced his 6th straight season with a save percentage of 90 or higher. He credits his defensemen for keeping quality scoring opportunities down, so kudos to Keith Yandle, Colton Parayko and their fellow blueliners. Geneva needs only to thwart Tavares and Stamkos and the wins should happen.
Paris (95) at Madrid (100)
ROSE: Spain versus France in Round 1. So much history. It reminds me of when I was young. You know how I brought up all-time leader scorers a minute ago? Well do you know who is the all-time leader in playoff points, playoff assists, playoff shots, playoff takeaways, (and playoff giveaways)? It’s Paris star Evgeny Malkin. He, Kris Letang, Alex Pietrangelo, Ken Kuusk and Travis Hamomic, as well as goalie Tuukka Rask all have loads of playoff experience and I think experience counts.
COMMISSIONER: You should know. But Madrid did better during the season even though they had some really tough luck in shootouts. Derek Stepan, Evander Kane, Craig Smith and Chris Kreider combined for just 3 scores in a total of 23 shootout attempts. The Royals might have finished 3rd in the conference if not for that deficiency. But there are no shootouts in the playoffs, so they don’t have to worry about it. And they don’t have to worry about Malkin’s chief partner in crime, Corey Perry, who will sit out the entire series with a bad back. Look for P.K. Subban to continue his strong offensive play and for Madrid to make some headway in the playoffs this year.
