Northern Conference
Vienna fans get to see their team in the playoffs in their first season in Austria, but they have to go up against a Goliath. Augustiner goalie Braden Holtby will get stern test but he remains the team’s best chance to advance in an upset against one of the highest-scoring teams in history. Helsinki lost just 3 games on home ice, so they are the clear favorites.
These two teams are coming into the playoffs hot. Oslo is 9-1 in their last 10 games and London is 8-2. They are two of the better penalty killing teams in the league, but Oslo has the hroses in Tyler Seguin, Connor McDavid, Matt Murray and a very solid defense corps.
Sidney Crosby will lead the Frolunda against his favored former team, but Sid and Crew will have theit work cut out for them against fast-skating Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Ondrej Palat and the rest of a high-powered offense. Like Helsinki, the Giants are great pon home ice, having lost just 3 times in Northern ireland this season.
Two of the best franchises in league history go up against each other in Round 1. The two-time defending champs will need to solve Minsk’s always-tight defense led by Maxim Chudinov and Aaron Ekblad if they hope to get to Carey Price and past step one on the road to a three-peat. Looking at team stats, this series is a toss up. Copenhagen’s strength is depth throughout the lineup and they seem to have a certain unknown quality that helps them succeed when they have to.
Southern Conference
The two German clubs battle in Round 1 and the Smurfs are definitely the favorites. Keeping up with Berlin’s top two lines is the key to beating them, but not many squads have the players to accomplish that. The pressure will be on Red Bull blueliners P.K. Subban, Cale Makar, Jindrich Barak and Max Noreau this series. If those four rise to the challenge, much beer will flow in Bavaria in a couple of weeks.
Lisbon has really improved this season and finished 5th in the standings. But this series could be a tight one and the outcome is anyone’s guess. Athens averaged more shots for and fewer against than Lisbon did this season and that bodes well for the Gods. Lisbon’s penalty killing has been speectaculr this season with Juuse Saros guarding the net and that will be a big factor, especially as far as Artemy Panarin is concerned because he excelled in PP situations for Atehsn this season. 16 of his 26 goals came with the man advantage.
Paris finished 19 points ahead of Prague in the standings and goalie Philipp Grubauer was a big reason. He saved 91.5 of the shots that got through to him. A host of veterans helped him as did a high-powered cast on the blueline that included Kris Letang and Ken Kuusk. Prague’s Nail Yakupov and Miro Aaltonen scored more than 70 points apiece and for Sparta to advance, those two will have to score a lot in 4 games.
Milan enters the series of seeds #4 and 5 with all the momentum. The Guerriero, led by Tyler Johnson, are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, while the Eagles are 3-6-1. The two teams seemd evenely matched on defense and in goal, but Milan has the better forwards.
