Quick Glance:

The fact that Berlin spanked their little brother in Germany 5 out of 6 times this season is a bit irrelevant now. Little bro is flying high after an exciting Round 2 upset win over Bern, the team that finished the regular season first in the Southern Conference. The Red Bulls are young, in tip-top physical condition and they were so pumped they wanted the Game 1 of their Berlin series to start just an hour after their win over Bern ended. The Smurfs, meanwhile, had a very easy time of it against wilted Bratislava in Round 2 and if the past is any indication, the little blue guys have spent the last week guzzling alcohol, smoking all kinds of things and snorting who knows what up their nostrils with cheerleaders draped across their laps. The first couple periods of Game 1 should be telling. We might be able to see if Munich is still flying high or simply satisfied with beating Bern and making it this far. And we might be able to tell if Berlin is still in the groove they were in the first two rounds or if the week off changed their mindset.

Goalies (in playoffs):

• Munich- Niko Hovinen (2.82 GAA; .900 save percentage)
• Berlin – Calvin Pickard (2.73 GAA; .893 save percentage)

Top Plus/Minus players (in playoffs):

• Munich – Oliver Bjorkstrand, Clayton Keller and Noah Hanifin (+6)
• Berlin- Jonas Brodin (+9)

Expert Panel Predictions:

• Commissioner Chuck: Berlin in 4 games. If they can do it to the powerful Bratislava Eagles, they can do it to other teams. That’s my thinking, at least. Berlin has knocked Munich out of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons and dominated them in the regular season. They seem to have Munich’s number. I see the top lines canceling each other out in this series, leaving room for former Munich players like Loic Lamperier and Lawson Crouse to hurt their former team. Berlin’s superior depth will make a difference.
• Rose: Munich in 7 games. At first I thought, “what can Coach Barry Trotz do for an encore?” after that magnificent series win over Bern … which went exactly the way I called it, btw. (btw means “by the way,” by the way. My niece taught me that when I saw it on her little texting machine.) Then I remembered that Munich’s top line of Clayton Keller, Dylan Sikura and Oliver Bjorkstrand all have more than a point per game in the playoffs and the top defense pairing of Cale Makar and Moritz Seider are just hitting their stride. The Red Bulls are good kids who smile a lot and most of them have great smiles. They obviously really liked winning the last two series and I think they are ready to finally stand up to their mean big brother.