Quick Glance:

Analyzing the numbers leading up to this series is like watching a pendulum. Milan gets the edge in one area, Kosice in the next; then Milan, then Kosice, etc., etc. For example, Milan’s second-leading scorer was named Tkachuk; and Kosice’s second-leading scorer was also named Tkachuk. If you look over the team stats, you will see that Milan will take one more shot than Kosice in the average game and allow two fewer shots. But they will also take one more penalty. So it should be a pretty even series between two teams that raced each other to the finish line for home ice advantage in this series. The clubs had identical 15-23-3 road records so that home ice edge could be big. But Milan won two of the three games they played against each other during the regular season. There’s that pendulum again.

Goalies:

• Milan – Martin Jones, 3.49 GAA, .881 save pct.
• Kosice – Calvin Pickard, 2.89 GAA, .903 save pct.

Top Plus/Minus players:

• Milan – Marcus Pettersson and Evan Bouchard, +30
• Kosice – Matt Coronato, +27

Expert Panel Predictions:

• Commissioner Chuck: Kosice in 7 games. This series shapes up to be a close one, but I’ll tip it Kosice’s way because goalie Calvin Pickard has played better than Martin Jones has this season. And I like the way Kosice dug deep and won the points they needed to at the end of the season. A key for them will be keeping Matty Beniers healthy and protected out there. He was by far their most productive player this season.
• Rose: I kind of expect both teams to lose … but I’ll predict Milan in 6 games. What I mean by my cool and intriguing comment (another example of how cool and intriguing I can be) is that both of these teams have been focused on each other for so long, they are both viewing this series as “the big one.” Whoever wins could be completely out of energy and desire once this one ends. The key to this series, in my cool and intriguing opinion, will be the play of Milan centers Dominic Canic and Aapeli Rasanen who can really score points in the offensive zone and steal pucks outside the O zone. In fact, did you know Milan is the only team with 2 forwards the top 12 in takeaways? I did.