Round 2 Cometh

First some quick picks;
-Vancouver in 6.  I think Vancouver showed themselves to be the team to beat in the regular season.  #1 in goals, #1 in goals against, #1 powerplay, #2 penalty kill.  Vezina candidate in net.  Nashville can't match up with that and Vancouver will relax a little after barely beating Chicago.

-Detroit in 7.  It's perennial winner Detroit versus perennial playoff loser San Jose.  I don't see the need to make it much more complicated.

-Washington in 5.  Tampa did well to come back from 3-1,  but Washington is much more dangerous than Pittsburgh minus Malkin and Crosby.  Washington seems to be figuring out this playoff thing too.

Flyers v Boston
This is definitely the hardest series to pick.  The teams are relatively even, though I think the Flyers can raise their game to a level that no team in the east can match.  The Flyers showed a resemblance to that team in game 7 versus Buffalo, but who knows against Boston.

The Flyers mostly imposed their will on Buffalo defense, and the series was kept close due to 2 Miller shutouts and awful Flyers goaltending.  A repeat of that goaltending and Boston will win relatively easily.  Also the Bruins' defense is much stronger than Buffalo's so the Flyers won't be able to forecheck at will.  I will predict however, that Pronger plays more and more, and the Flyers PP continues its momentum from the end of the Buffalo series.

Another thing to watch for is Carter.  Carter left game 4 (April 20) with a knee injury.  The Flyers have said nothing about his status, but a report that he suffered a MCL sprain and is out 10-14 days sounded plausible so I'll run with that.  Game one of the Boston series would mark 10 days from the injury, but I don't think Carter has practiced yet.  I think there's a good chance Carter could return for game 3 (14 days) or game 4 (16 days) though.

It's impossible to predict how the Flyers goaltending will perform, but I am going to be an optimist and say that it won't shoot them in the foot, and the Flyers will perform near their game 7 against Buffalo level.

At the end of the season the Flyers kept saying they have been waiting all season for the playoffs start.  Well here they are in round 2, looking to build some momentum.  Pronger is back, goaltending is settled--time to see if there was something behind all that talk because this is it.

Flyers in 7.