Belated Cup Conference Semi Finals Preview

I totally dropped the puck on the Stanley Cup Conference Semi Finals preview. By now you surely now the teams and a bit of background. Heck, you even know the first game results. Even though it may seem unfair for me to make predictions this late I'm going to do it anyway...I make the rules on this site!

Detroit (1) vs Colorado (7) - Osgood is locked in the net for now and that's a good thing for Detroit. Colorado looked sharp at times against the Wild and are getting good goaltending by Theodore. Detroit owns the season series 4-0. I think they continue the trend and roll the Avs in 5 after getting over the Nashville bump in round one.

Pick Detroit in 5.

San Jose (2) vs Dallas (5) - San Jose is a big team and each game wears the big guys down a bit. That's why Ron Wilson has been shuffling his lines and line-ups. He needs to keep legs fresh and it showed in his move to sit J.R. in Game 6 vs the Flames. He's a good coach and his depth creates match-up problems. As long as they don't shoot themselves in the foot with bad penalties or poor goaltending I think they win. For Dallas, until last night, I had not watched them play. They seem quick and have some quality players and leadership plus Turks in goal. I still like the Sharks and just like in round one I think they do it the difficult way...seven games.

Pick San Jose in 7.

Montreal (1) vs Philadelphia (7) - I can't pick the Canadiens. By now I hope you have read the Sports Guy's Bruin post and if you did you know why I can't pick the Canadiens. In reality it's going to get more and more difficult to win in Montreal for opposing teams and Philadelphia went and dropped game one to start the series. Still, gotta go grit over granny.

Pick Philadelphia in 6.

Pittsburgh (2) vs New York (5) - I think the Rangers have the better goaltending and veteran leadership but the Penguins have Crosby and Malkin and moxy. The more these young guys win the more it appears there will be many Cup playoff games in Pittsburgh this year and beyond.

Pick Pittsburgh in 5.