MassMutual East Playoff Preview & Predictions

It’s playoff time and we’re kicking our Playoff Preview & Predictions off with the MassMutual East division.

In extremely surprising fashion, the Pittsburgh Penguins surged to the top of the standings to win the number 1 seed in the division and the right to play the number 4 seed, the New York Islanders.

In the other series we have the 2nd seeded, Washington Capitals, who lead the division for most of the year until being barely passed by Pittsburgh. They’ll take on the Boston Bruins in what should be a helluva series.

1.Pittsburgh Penguins vs 4. New York Islanders

Pittsburgh finished the regular season absolutely on fire as they won 8 of 10 to close out the schedule. Lead by the usual suspects in scoring, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guenztel, and Bryan Rust combined for 59 of the Penguins 196 goals scored. Kris Letang had an oustanding regular season with 45 points in 55 games and depth players like Jared McCann and off-season acquisition, Kasperi Kapanen chipped in regularly.

Tristan Jarry started the season extremely slow but luckily, and they may be where they are today because of him, Jarry was able to turn his season around as he finished the year with a 2.75 GAA and a .909 save percentage. Hardly stellar numbers but telling as to just how bad he began the year.

As for the Islanders. Well these teams sort of had flip flopped seasons. The Islanders began the year like almost every other NHL squad did, in that they started sluggish but gained momentum as the season went along. Matt Barzal lead the way in points and the Islanders received balanced scoring throughout the lineup. Unlike top heavy Pittsburgh, the Islanders had 7 players score 12 goals or more.

New York is one of the more structured and well coached teams in the NHL and they make like easier on their goaltenders. Between veteran Simeon Varlamov and rookie net minder, Ilya Sorokin, the tandem combined to give up the 2nd lowest goal total of 128, which was just 4 behind Vegas.

Pittsburgh won the season series, winning 5 out of 8 games played vs New York.

HW Staff Predictions.

Jim: 4-1 Penguins

Jack: 4-2 Islanders

Steve: 4-2 Penguins

Kyle: 4-3 Penguins

Johnny: 4-3 Islanders

Josh: 4-2 Penguins

Adam: 4-2 Islanders

2. Washington Capitals vs 3. Boston Bruins  

First let’s talk about the Washington Capitals. Washington finished the season strong with a record of 7-2-1 in their last 10 and finished just 5 goals behind Pittsburgh for 2nd most goals scored in the NHL with 191. Yes, there was never a doubt that the Caps could score goals, the question is could they stop their oppositions from scoring on them?

The answer is sort of. They finished middle of the back in goals against this season, giving up 163 goals in 56 games played and their rookie goaltenders had big shoes to fill as Braden Holtby left in the off-season to Vancouver. Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov each finished the year with matching 2.69 GAA but Vanecek’s save percentage (.908) finished slightly better than Samsonov (.902).

Boston is a team I expected to miss the playoffs having lost their now former captain in Zdeno Chara to the very team they’ll face in the first round, the Washington Capitals and Torrey Krug to St.Louis. The “Perfection Line” carried this team once again offensively as Brad Marchand finished with 69 points (nice) and sniper David Pastrnak finished as a point per game player with 48 points and 20 goals.

Trade deadline acquisition Taylor Hall has filled in nicely for Boston and will need to show up when it matters most as I believe Washington has more depth scoring than Boston and this could be the difference in this series.

The other difference maker will have to be Tuuka Rask. In possibly his last season with Boston, Rask finished the year with a .913 save percentage and a 2.28 GAA. Rookie Jeremy Swayman usurped Jaroslav Halak for the backup goalie position as his stellar play was just too good to keep off the roster.

https://youtu.be/eMKOCP1p78s

Washington and Boston each won 4 games against each other during the regular season, splitting the season series.

HW Staff Predictions

Jim: 4-1 Capitals

Jack: 4-3 Capitals

Steve: 4-3 Bruins

Kyle: 4-2 Capitals

Johnny: 4-2 Bruins

Josh: 4-3 Capitals

Adam: 4-3 Capitals

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