Quick Glance:

Copenhagen was good enough to win the President’s Trophy as the league’s top team. Dublin spiraled down in the last part of the year and placed 14th. So the Guinness Chuggers will need a sudden and resounding turnaround to upset the Tridents in the next couple of weeks. If you look at the top 13 plus-minus ratings in the EURO, you will see six of them belong to Tridents, including all three members of the tenacious second line of Anton Lundell, Boone Jenner and Cedric Paquette. Dublin has a great top line (William Nylander, Matt Duchene and Elias Pettersson) but it lacks the kind of depth Copenhagen has and having Thomas Powell out for the series with a groin injury isn’t helping. The Tridents were third in the league in scoring and their defensive game was second only to Minsk’s.

Goalies:

• Dublin – Alex Nedeljkovic, 3.12 GAA, .903 save pct.
• Copenhagen – Joonas Korpisalo, 2.22 GAA, .911 save pct.

Top Plus/Minus players:

• Dublin – Hampus Lindholm +25
• Copenhagen – Boone Jenner and Anton Lundell +48

Expert Panel Predictions:

• Commissioner Chuck: Copenhagen wins in 4. I can’t see too many teams hanging with the Tridents. To do that, you would need Nathan MacKinnon, or Gabriel Landeskog, or Aaron Ekblad … and Dublin doesn’t have those guys.
• Rose: Dublin in 7. The Luck of the Irish. Ever hear that phrase? Copenhagen will have trouble getting “up” for the Guinness Chuggers and Tyler Ennis will go on a tear with at least 10 points in the series.