The NHL recently announced that the league will be moving to phase 2 of their Return to Play plan allowing teams to reopen their facilities on Monday. However, this doesn’t mean that games will resume soon. The league and player’s association still have to figure out other details. One of the major details is the medical protocols in terms of protecting players from COVID-19. Until play resumes, let’s take a look at these predictions from each of the qualifying round series matches starting in the Eastern Conference. We’ll look at the key players, predicted scores and winners in each series.
Note: All teams will be reseeded prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the round robin teams won’t keep their original seed. Example: No. 5 Edmonton Oilers vs. No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks WILL NOT play No.4 Dallas Stars. The winner of that match will play who ever the No. 4 seed is during this playoff format.
No. 5 Penguins vs. No 12. Canadiens
Key Players:
Penguins: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin
Canadiens: Carey Price and Max Domi
Predicted Scores:
Game 1: 3-2 Penguins
Game 2: 2-1 Canadiens (Overtime)
Game 3: 2-0 Penguins
Game 4: Penguins 2-1
Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins
No. 6 Hurricanes vs. No. 11 Rangers
Key Players:
Hurricanes: Sebastian Aho and Dougie Hamilton
Rangers: Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad
Predicted Scores:
Game 1: 2-1 Hurricanes (OT)
Game 2: 2-1 Rangers
Game 3: 3-1 Rangers
Game 4: 3-2 Hurricanes
Game 5: 1-0 Hurricanes (OT)
Winner: Carolina Hurricanes
No. 7 Islanders vs. No. 10 Panthers
Key Players:
Islanders: Mathew Barzal and Josh Bailey
Panthers: Jonathan Huberdeau and Keith Yandle
Predicted Scores:
Game 1: 3-1 Islanders
Game 2: 2-1 Islanders (OT)
Game 3: 3-2 Panthers
Game 4: 2-1 Islanders
Winner: New York Islanders
No. 8 Maple Leafs vs. No. 9 Blue Jackets
Key Players:
Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner
Blue Jackets: Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nick Foligno
Predicted Scores:
Game 1: 2-0 Maple Leafs
Game 2: 2-1 Maple Leafs
Game 3: 1-0 Blue Jackets (OT)
Game 4: 2-1 Blue Jackets
Game 5: 3-2 Maple Leafs (OT)
Winner: Toronto Maple Leafs
You may be wondering: When does a team have “home advantage”? The league determined that games 1, 2 and 5 would give the home advantage to the higher seeded team. Games 3 and 4 would give the home advantage to the lower seeded team. These scores are purely performance based so many of these results may look similar.
Check back to The Game Haus to see the predictions for the Western Conference.