Flames by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Mats Zuccarello (53)
Goals Leader: Johnny Gaudreau (21)
Goalie: Roberto Luongo (36 W, 0.938 PCT, 1.96 GAA)

Predators by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Evander Kane (53)
Goals Leader: Evander Kane (24)
Goalie: Kari Lehtonen (44 W, 0.926 PCT, 2.07 GAA)

Head to Head: Tied (1-1-0-0)

Analysis:
It’s the Calgary Flames vs. the Nashville Predators in this semi conference final…. Or as the rest of the hockey world knows its as: Roberto Luongo’s Revenge!

Little did Preds GM Tyler Sheddon realize when he traded his bread and butter player for the previous three years to the conference rival Flames that he would have to face him in the very next playoffs. But the Hockey Gods have a twisted sense of humor that way.

Luongo of course was lights out for Calgary this season and is arguably once again the front runner for another Vezina trophy with his league leading 1.96 GAA and 0.938 SV%.

To Sheddon’s defense, he traded his all-star netminder in what he believed to be a rebuilding year for Nashville and is as surprised as everyone else that he made it into the post season. In other words, he’s just happy to be here.

Prediction: Despite the difference in the final standings, this is a very even first round match up. Surprisingly, neither team had one player they could call an offensive beacon this season. Neither team had a player score more than 53 points this season. The Flames only had Johnny Hockey light the lamp more than 20 times this year on their roster while only Evander Kane and Mike Hoffman scored 20 or more goals for Nashville.

So this is going to be a tender battle through and through. But even though Predator’s netminder Kari Lehtonen enjoyed what can only be described as a career season for him this year, you’d have to believe that Lou has extra motivation to take the boots to his former boss and team. Calgary in 5 games.

Stars by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Sean Couturier (77)
Goals Leader: Sean Couturier (34)
Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (37 W, 0.919 PCT, 2.20 GAA)

Jets by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Nazem Kadri (68)
Goals Leader: Nazem Kadri (29)
Goalie: Garret Sparks (22 W, 0.923 PCT, 2.05 GAA)

Head to Head: Dallas (2-1-0-1)

Analysis:
Junya finished at the top of the toughest division in the West. The world as we know it is ending. Maybe he *does* have the SIM figured out? Maybe he isn’t as incompetent as everyone thinks he is? Then again… it’s Junya so probably not….

But what GM Kato has done is build himself an offensive juggernaut. The Dallas Stars seemed to have loosened up on their ‘defense first’ strategy from the previous few seasons and it worked well for them this season as the Stars finished the regular season as the highest scoring team in the Western conference. And their defence didn’t suffer all that much as well as Dallas still finished with the 7^th best goals against total in the league.

On the other end of the rink, the Winnipeg Jets were at one point the hottest team in the league with a 15-3-1-1 record out of the gate to start the season. While the Jets eventually came back to Earth, they still managed to pull out a respectable season; but can they translate this regular season success into post season success, especially considering that their starting netminder is Garret Sparks?

Prediction: Yeah, I got nothin… I was going to try a ‘David and Goliath’ analogy to draw this out, but this series is fairly cut and dry; sorry Doc. Dallas in 5 games.

Avalanche by the Numbers:

Points Leader: Nate MacKinnon (81)
Goals Leader: Evgeni Dadonov (32)
Goalie: Pekka Rinne (38 W, 0.930 PCT, 2.01 GAA)

Stars by the Numbers:
Points Leader: Mark Stone (79)
Goals Leader: Eric Staal (31)
Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist (28 W, 0.915 PCT, 2.45 GAA)

Head to Head: Colorado (3-2-0-0)

Analysis:
Depending on your perspective, this could either have been viewed as a very successful season for the Colorado Avalanche, or it could be viewed as a not so successful year for the Aves. It was a success in the fact that Colorado has finally made it back into their first post season since 2016 and they did it with authority. It was not so successful in the fact that after all of their off-season moves, many people believed the Aves were the front runners to not only win the West, but were perhaps the front runners for the President’s Trophy this season; an expectation that they fell very short from.

Speaking about disappointing seasons, this season can’t be viewed as anything but disappointing if you’re a Chicago Blackhawks fan. The Hawks have consistently been among the elite teams of the league over the years; finishing atop the Western conference in the regular season last year. This season started off well for Chicago with a 19-4-0-2 record through the first quarter of the season before consistency issues saw the Hawks slip into Wildcard positions at points throughout the year. So what went wrong? As the saying goes, a team is only as strong as its weakest link and this season the weak link for Chicago was in net with both Henrik Lundqvist and Robin Lehner putting up some decidedly mediocre performances and numbers as a result.

Prediction: Firepower is not an issue for both of these teams as both teams are stacked up front. Chicago had 6 players score 24 or more goals in the regular season and had 6 players with 50 plus points while the Avalanche had 4 players with 24 plus goals and 4 players with 50 points or more on the season.

Head-to-head Colorado narrowly won the regular season series between the two teams by a 3-2 margin, but with two of those victories coming from a shootout.

Where the separation between the two teams lie is in the crease where Pekka Rinne had himself another stellar season for Colorado posting 38 wins and a wall-like 0.930 SV % and a goals against average of 2.01. Meanwhile “King” Henrik had a less than kingly season managing only 28 wins for the Blackhawks and a very mediocre 2.45 GAA and 0.915 SV%.

All things being equal, better goaltending will always win out. Colorado in 7 games.

Knights by the Numbers:
Points Leader: John Carlson (81)
Goals Leader: Jack Eichel (29)
Goalie: Carter Hutton (24 W, 0.921 PCT, 2.07 GAA)

Kings by the Numbers:
Points Leader: William Karlsson (72)
Goals Leader: William Karlsson (37)
Goalie: Antti Raanta (33 W, 0.931 PCT, 1.98 GAA)

Head to Head: Kings (3-1-0-0)

Analysis:
It’s the Battle of the ‘Foregone Conclusion’ teams in the West! The LA Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights were two of three teams in the league that were virtually guaranteed a playoff spot by Christmas given how shitty the Pacific Division is.

Still, both teams were very impressive down the stretch with LA finishing with a 13-6-1-1 run in their last 20 games and Vegas finishing with an even more remarkable 15-5-0-0 over that same span.

While both teams are equally blessed with firepower to spare, how each team performed over the regular season was vastly different. The Knights finished the regular season with no less than 6 players with 20 or more goals with their blueline, led by John Carlson, chipping in an incredible 54 goals and a combined 270 points.

The Kings on the other hand only had William Karlsson and Evgeny Kuznetsov score 20 or more goals and in fact, those two players were responsible for almost 30% of LA’s entire goal production on the year.

Defensively, the Kings surprisingly finished with the second best goals against total in the league despite their abysmal lack of forward defensive players. The main reason for this of course was the play of goalie Anti Raanta, who finished the regular season with a Vezina worthy GAA of 1.98 and a Sv% of 0.931.

Prediction: Is this the beginning of Rumpy’s Dynasty???  …. In a word… No! If the regular season was any indication, the playoff fortunes of the LA Kings revolves around three players; and if any one of them falters during the playoffs, against a balanced team like the Knights, this will be a quick series. Las Vegas in 6 games.